Wintertime is around the corner in Queensland Australia, the sun is setting earlier and so of course sun downers are happening earlier and earlier. It remains a challenge to keep on creating new sun downer snacks to entertain the stream of friends on Impi. So yesterday, left with 500 grams of fresh baby spinach, I created spinach pakora, which were devoured before I finished frying the last batch!

Ingredients

• 500 grammes of fresh baby spinach
• 1 medium onion
• 2/3 of a cup of gram flour, also called besan or chickpea flour
• 1/3 of a cup of rice flour or corn flour
• 2tbsp of white sesame seed
• about 1/2 cup of water
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 2 tbsp of madras curry powder
• 3 red chillies
• 2 tsp of cumin seeds
• a little salt
• a little oil for cooking the spinach
• good clean deep frying oil (I prefer rice bran)
• a lemon

Method

• Cook the spinach in a little olive oil for a few minutes, drain well and cool.
• Chop the onion in medium thick slices.
• Prepare the batter by mixing the flower, baking soda, sesame seed, salt, chili and spice.
• Add water little by little so you obtain a medium thick batter, adjust the water to get the right consistency. It should be quite thick, but not stiff…
• Let the batter stand for at least 30 minutes.
• Add spinach and onion. Stir it and add a little water if it is too dense.
• Heat your frying oil. Check for heat.
• The oil is hot enough when a small amount of batter pops up to the oil surface.
• Take 2 spoons to help put small balls of batter in the oil.
• Fry until golden and drain on kitchen paper.
• Serve with lemon.
• Enjoy with friends.