Corn pakora are crisp and tasty fried corn fritters made with besan or gram flour, sweet corn, spices and herbs.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 20 minutes
  • Cook time: 25 minutes
  • Total time: 45 minutes
  • Yield: 14 · 14 pakoras
  • Category: Snacks
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups corn kernels (or two medium corn cobs)
  • 1.5 cups gram flour ((besan))
  • 2 to 3 spring onions with greens (or 1 medium sized onion, chopped)
  • 1 green chili, (chopped)
  • 1 inch ginger, (chopped)
  • ¼ teaspoon red chili powder (or cayenne pepper or paprika)
  • ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder ((ground turmeric))
  • ¼ teaspoon garam masala
  • 1 pinch asafoetida ((hing))
  • ¼ teaspoon crushed black pepper (- optional)
  • ¼ teaspoon fennel powder (- optional)
  • salt as required
  • ½ cup water (or as required)
  • chaat masala (- as required for sprinkling on the pakoras)
  • oil for deep or shallow frying

Method

Boiling corn

  1. Boil two medium corn cobs in a pressure cooker or in a pan or Instant pot.
  2. Drain the water and let them cool. Remove the corn kernels with a knife carefully.
  3. Should yield approx 1.5 cup corn kernels.

making corn pakoda batter

  1. In a bowl, add corn kernels and 2 to 3 spring onions with their greens.
  2. Next add ginger (finely chopped) and green chilli (finely chopped).
  3. Add red chili powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder, asafoetida (hing), crushed black pepper (optional), fennel powder (optional) and salt as required. Stir and mix well.
  4. Now add gram flour (besan) and water. Mix very well. Make a smooth flowing batter of medium consistency.

frying corn pakoda

  1. Heat oil in a kadai or pan.
  2. Drop spoonfuls of the batter in medium hot oil carefully. Depending upon the size of the kadai fry the fritters. Don't overcrowd the kadai.
  3. When one side is firmed up and looks crisp, gently turn over with a slotted spoon. Fry the second side till golden and crisp. You can turn over as needed a few times so that the corn fritters are evenly fried.
  4. Remove the fried corn fritters with a slotted spoon and drain them on paper towels to remove excess oil.
  5. Serve corn fritters hot or warm with green chutney, mint chutney, cilantro chutney, mango chutney or tomato sauce.
  6. While serving, sprinkle some chaat masala on the corn fritters.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.