Spicy Spinach & Chickpea Pakora

Spicy Spinach & Chickpea Pakora (Fritters)

Ingredients for the Pakora

This recipe will make approx 20 pakoras

450gms Fresh spinach, washed and quickly cooked and thoroughly drained...make sure all water is squeezed out.
400g tin of cooked & drained chickpeas
1 red onion very finely chopped
1 large garlic clove  "     "
1 green chilli
1 red chilli
½ tsp chilli powder
1 heaped tsp ground coriander
1 heaped tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground fennel seeds
1 tsp black onion seeds (optional)
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp sea salt
½tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 cup of gram (chick pea) flour
oil for deep frying

For the yoghurt sauce

5inch piece of cucumber grated.... squeeze out all the juice
around 4 tbsp natural yoghurt (I used Greek)
1 tbsp chopped mint or coriander
½ of a chopped red chilli
seasoning
mix everything together

Method.

Whiz the chickpeas in a food processor until coarse.....not too fine
Add the spinach and give it a blast, place everything into a bowl
Add all the other pakora ingredients and mix well.
Lighten slightly with a couple of tbsp of water so that the mix is still thick but spoonable.
Place a couple of layers of kitchen towel on a tray ready to drain the excess oil off.

Heat the oil until hot enough to fry a small cube of bread to golden in 15 secs.
Take great care with the hot oil (
Place just 1 dessertspoonful of the batter initially, cook till golden and check  for seasoning adjust the remainder as necessary.
Place heaped dessertspoons of the batter into the oil
Fry in small batches, I made about 5 at a time, they cook fairly quickly, just make sure they're golden brown and hot right through.
Remove with a slotted spoon
Place on the kitchen towel...keep warm until you've cooked them all

Serve with the yoghurt dip or with any other sauce you may prefer