Onion Pakoda is a famous street food from India. These bhajiyas are crispy and crunchy onions mixed in chickpea flour and spices.
These fritters are known by many dierent names. Some call it Kekda Bhaji as it resembles a crab, some call it Kanda Bhaji which literally means onion fritters and some call it Onion Pakoda. This is one of the many famous street foods of Bombay. It’s like a quick on the-go snack for us Indians. On the way back from work, a pit stop to one of these food stalls on the street is a common thing that many of us do. 
I remember, my dad would get for us freshly made kanda bhaji on most evenings and we would sit and enjoy this together. Also during the monsoon season, this is one of the most made dish in Indian homes. Rains, chai and bhaji is like the world’s best combo ever! Even today when it rains heavily here in the US, we crave for a hot plate of onion pakodas and wish someone would make and serve us!
But then reality hits and I realize that no one will come and make it, I will have to do it myself! Sigh! See the thing is, these fritters are best enjoyed when someone else makes it for you!
My college friend visited us along with her family this Thanksgiving. Her daughter had a great time visiting the magical land of Disney and we had a great time reminiscing our college days. We played board games, went midnight shopping, restaurant hopping and of course did lots of cooking. She insisted that she wanted to prepare something for us and on KR’s request, decided to make Indian Vada Pav. While we were going about with the prep, it began to rain and our eyes lit up immediately. We both had the same thought – Kanda Bhaji! KR was in for a double treat and he was not complaining!
My friend told me to let her do it and I was tempted to see her style of cooking so I obliged. Her way of making kekda bhaji was dierent to mine and boy I was glad for that! I captured all the process shots and then when I was photographing the nal result, her daughter was watching me. That is when I thought of including her in the pictures and asked her to be my hand model. She graciously agreed and I loved the results.
Crispy Onion Pakoda
- Total Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 onions
- 1–2 tbsp ajwain/carom seeds
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 cup chickpea flour/besan use as needed
- 3–4 tbsp semolina/rawa
- 1 tbsp chilly powder
- 1/2 tbsp turmeric powder
- salt as required
- oil for frying
Instructions
- Slice onions and transfer them to a mixing bowl. Add ajwain seeds/carom seeds and chopped cilantro to it. Then add besan/chickpea flour, semolina, chilly powder, turmeric powder and salt.
- Adding water little by little, give it all a good mix. It should not be too thin. Refer the pic to know the consistency.
- Heat oil to fry. Once its hot enough, add spoonfuls of the batter and fry till they turn golden. Take them out onto a paper towel to soak off the excess oil.
- These onion pakodas are best enjoyed hot! Serve them immediately with some green chutney/meetha chutney/ketchup! If you are like me, you will gobble it up as is. I heard from another friend that they use caramelized onions in the recipe to give it more flavor. I plan to try that the next time.
- You can also follow the exact same steps to make cabbage bhajiyas instead of onions. Just use shredded cabbage instead of sliced onions.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Side
Wow I’m from India i love these Pakoda I recommend you to try other recipes like pav baji, cheese Pakoda and many more its very tasty