These Rice Pakoras are crisp and soft fritters made with leftover cooked rice, gram flour, herbs and spices.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 5 minutes
  • Cook time: 20 minutes
  • Total time: 25 minutes
  • Yield: 2 · 2 to 3
  • Category: Snacks
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

  • 1 cup cooked rice ((can be freshly cooked rice which has cooled down or leftover cooked rice))
  • 1 medium onion, (finely chopped, or ½ cup finely chopped onion)
  • 1 green chili (chopped or ½ teaspoon red chilli powder)
  • 1 inch ginger (- finely chopped or grated)
  • ¼ cup chopped coriander leaves
  • ½ teaspoon ajwain ((carom seeds) - optional)
  • ½ teaspoon cumin powder
  • ½ teaspoon coriander powder ((ground coriander))
  • ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder ((ground turmeric))
  • 1 pinch asafoetida ((hing))
  • 5 tablespoon besan ((gram flour or chickpea flour))
  • 5 to 6 tablespoon water (or as required)
  • salt as required
  • oil for deep frying

Method

making rice pakora batter

  1. Take the rice in a small bowl or pan. Mash the rice with your hands or with a spoon. Mashing the rice gives a soft texture to the pakoras.
  2. Its always better to use rice which are cooked really well.
  3. If the rice appears dry after removing from fridge, then just sprinkle some water on it and microwave for a few minutes.
  4. Add all the rest of the ingredients to the rice - besan/gram flour, chopped onions & ginger, coriander leaves, green chilies and all the spice powders. Add salt.
  5. Mix well and keep aside for for 8 to 10 minutes. The onions would release their juices and make the mixture a bit soft. Then you can add water as required.
  6. After adding water, stir and mix very well.

frying rice pakora

  1. Heat oil for frying in a kadai or pan.
  2. When the oil becomes medium hot, then take spoonfuls of the pakora batter and drop it in oil. Keep the temperature to medium to medium-high heat.
  3. Let the rice pakora get cooked & browned lightly and then you turn them over and continue to fry. You will need to flip them a few times so that they are evenly cooked.
  4. Deep fry till the rice pakoda are crisp and golden. Then remove them using a slotted spoon draining extra oil in the kadai.
  5. Drain on kitchen paper towels so that any extra oil is absorbed.
  6. Serve rice pakora hot or warm with green chutney or tomato sauce or tamarind chutney or mint chutney. They can also be served with roti or bread.

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.