======================================================================= An all-time favourite, known in western India as 'kanda bhajia'.

The trick to ma king crisp onion pakodas is to refrain from adding any water to the mixture. The water released by the onions after applying salt is enough to bind the ingredie nts together. Add your private note Ingredients 2 cups thinly sliced onion 1 to 2 green chillies, chopped 1/4 tsp chilli powder 1/4 tsp turmeric powder (haldi) 3/4 cup besan (Bengal gram flour) 2 tbsp hot oil salt to taste oil for deep-frying Method 1. Cut the onions into thin slices, apply salt and keep aside for 10 minutes. 2. Sprinkle besan and add all the remaining ingredients except the oil for fr ying and mix well. 3. Drop table spoonful's of this mixture into hot oil. 4. Deep fry in till golden brown. Drain on absorbent paper and serve hot. ======================================================================= Indian Cooking Recipe : Pyaaz ke Pakode Ingredients: 2 cups besan 1 cup rice flour 2 onions, chopped a small piece ginger, grated 4 green chillies, chopped red chilli powder cup cashews a few curry leaves 2 to 3 tsp ghee 4 tsp cooling oil a small bunch corainder, finely chopped 1 tsp salt cooking oil Method: Combine besan, rice flour, chilli powder, corainder and salt. Heat 4 tsp of oil and 3 tsp of ghee in a pan and add it to the above. Now add chopped onions, green chillies and mix everything well. Make small balls and deep fry in oil. ======================================================================= Ingredients:

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3 medium sized Onions - thinly sliced 4 green chillies - slit lengthwise & then chopped Red Chilli Powder - as per taste Gramflour (Besan) - 4 tbsps Rice flour - 1 tbsps Salt - As per taste Water - 1/2 cup Oil - for frying

Method: After slicing the onions just work them with your hands to separate the slices. Now in a separate bowl add the gramflour, rice flour, red chilli powder, chopped green chillies & salt. Pour some water to it & make a paste. The paste shouldn' t be very thin or thick. Now, add the onions to this batter. It should be such t hat the onions stick to it & the batter shouldn't drip. In a wok add oil to fry the crunchies. When the oil is about to smoke scatter small portions of these pa kodas in the wok. These will get fried fast as the coating is not major & as the oil was very hot. As soon as you finish adding pakodas into the oil lower the f lame. Keep turning them. When they start browning take them off the oil onto pap er napkins. Note: 1. These are best served with green chutney & tomato sauce 2. Riceflour has been used to make it tastier & crunchier ======================================================================= INGREDIENTS: Besan, 1 cup. Rice flour, 1 tablespoon. Onions, small, 2. Curry leaves, a handful. Ginger-garlic paste, 1 teaspoon. Chili powder, 1 teaspoon. Salt as per taste. Red food color, (optional), 1 pinch. Oil, 1 cup for deep frying. PREPARATION: Cut the onion into long thin strips. Chop the curry leaves into small pieces. Ta ke a cup of besan or gram flour in a dish. Add a tablespoon of rice flour, food color, and salt per taste and mix the flours well. Add the chopped onions, curry leaves, and ginger-garlic paste to the flour mixture. Mix everything well witho ut water. If it is too powdery, add few drops of water and knead everything well . The mixture should not be too powdery also with just enough water to coat the flour into the onions. Heat a pot with a cup of oil. When the oil is hot enough, take some of the pakora mixture and put them slowly into the oil spreading the pakora mixture as they are added into the oil. They should be clumped together a nd added to the oil. When the pakoras turn golden-brown take them out of the oil , drain them on a paper towel and serve hot. ======================================================================= For 1 cup water, we used 2 cups of wheat flour and salt(according to taste). Kne ad well till you get a uniform dough.

- Immediately after dough is made, roll them into puris. If you keep the dough f or a long time before making puris, they soak up lot of oil. - Do not stack the puris one on top of other. I have seen one of my friend stack s them and keeps touching them and patting them. Please touch/pat a soft toy or a pet if you like patting so much, don t do it with puris. Again, they soak up oil and don t puff up when stacked. So, spread them on a paper or a plate. - Heat oil in a pan/kadai. The oil should be of perfect temperature to get perfe ct puris. Cut a tiny bit of the dough and put it in oil. If it raises to top imm ediately, your oil is ready and you can start frying your puris. If smoke is com ing out of oil, then that means it is too hot and not suitable for frying - Slide a puri slowly in hot oil. Some people hold the puris for a long time in hand, please stop doing that, as soon as you lift, please slide them in oil. If it rises to top immediately, oil is on correct temperature.

- Now press the puri slightly with a spoon. This helps them in puffing up. - Turn them upside down and fry from other side. (In the whole process of frying puris, if some of them become dark too soon, you will know temperature is too h igh. Keep adjusting temperature. You might fail for once or twice, but with prac tice, they come out perfect. I have had my share of failures before, each failur e taught me something new). '

* Puri dough should be made little harder than chapathi dough. This prevents puri from retaining more oil when it is deep fried. Also once dough is prepared , make the puris immediately. I always follow this method and they always turn o ut perfect. They don t even soak any oil. * Do not stack the puris one above the other after rolling them (before fryi ng). * Mix 1 cup of milk and 1-2 tea spns of sooji(rava) with wheat flour while m aking the puri dough. Keep the dough aside for sometime. Make puris. * Mix a little sugar and rice flour with wheat flour while preparing the dou gh. Make puris. * Prepare puri dough with milk instead of water. Make puris. * Add one or two drops of red vinegar to oil while frying puris. =======================================================================