Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Chingri Pakoda -- Shrimp Pakoda




BS lost her very first tooth last week, last Wednesday to be precise. Major excitement ensued.More than the tooth, it was about the Tooth Fairy and the cash she would bring.

I had no clue that Tooth Fairies brought wads of dollar bills.

A shiny quarter was all I knew. Apparently I am wrong, as suggested by little neighbor girl.

The little neighbor girl has raised the bar pretty high saying Tooth Fairy got her thirty dollars. T-HIRT-Y DOLLARS for a baby tooth !!! What was TTF(The Tooth Fairy) thinking. I am guessing there is a scam going on and it might involve Goldman but really T-HIRT-Y Dollars ?

Since this was BS's very first tooth, I did not want her psychologically snubbed by TTF's bias and so she got Fifteen dollars from TTF next morning, crisp 5 dollar bills under her pillow.

Later I learned that little neighbor girl might have duped me. Tooth Fairy still gives out single dollar bills so there I am the stupid adult.

To quickly retract my sin of giving too much cash to a 6 year old I made BS buy ten dollar worth of craft supplies with that money and now BS is left with 5 dollars which she has promised to give to her Mom when the need arises. In fact BS thinks her Mom can become rich herself if she loses her own tooth too.

Before that happens her Mom decided to celebrate the occasion by making Chingri Pakora or Shrimp Pakoda. It did not matter that BS did not even want to take a bite, everyone else enjoyed it to the bits.

Update for Indo: The toothless girl did not fancy pakodas on that particular day. She has her very own independent food ideas that change each day !!!





Fry some up, they are perfect on a rainy day with a steaming cuppa. Ok, they are good on any day and we will also serve it as a bhaja (something fried) to go with rice and dal. If you don't eat shrimp, don't lose heart, you can use sliced paneer or mushroom and they will taste as good.


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Chingri Pakoda -- Shrimp Pakoda


This recipe makes about 15-16 pakodis with 15-16 shrimp

Clean and de-vein shrimp. If using frozen defrost them. Remove shell and the tail. Toss the shrimp with 1/4 tsp of lime juice, 1/4 tsp of Roasted Cumin powder and salt. You can also add a little garlic paste and Red Chili powder, I usually don't. Keep the shrimp marinated for 10-15 minutes. If shrimp is large in size, chop in bite size pieces and then marinate.

In a mixing bowl add

1 cup of Besan/Chickpea flour
a pinch of Baking Powder
1/4 tsp of Red Chili Powder
salt to taste
Add 3/4 cup--1 cup of water gradually to above, mixing with a fork to make a smooth batter.

Note 1: You can add a tsp of rice flour to the batter to make it more crispy
Note 2: Sometimes I will add an egg to the batter. If you do that add less water.

To the batter add about 1/4 cup of finely chopped onions and 2 green chili finely chopped(optional) and mix well
This time I added 2 tbsp of crispy fried onions(the kind you can put in biryani etc.) to the batter and it tasted heavenly

Heat enough Oil for deep frying in a kadhai. Test if the oil is hot enough by dropping a little batter into it.

Dip a shrimp in the batter so that it is well coated. With a tablespoon scoop the shrimp along with some batter and gently drop it in hot oil. At this point heat should be high-medium. After a minute reduce the heat to medium. When the pakoda starts turning golden at edges flip and fry the other side. Approx. it will take 2-3 mins on each side. This is enough for the shrimp to get cooked.
Note: When you are doing several at a time, carefully separate each pakodis in the hot oil so that they do not lump together.

Once the pakoda looks brown and crunchy, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel

Sprinkle Amchoor or Chaat masala on the pakodis and serve with a Hot & Sweet Ketchup

24 comments:

  1. ooof! amar jibe jawl aashchhe, ki darun dekhte pakoragulo. mmmmm ..... Bong Mom, you bring out the best petuk in me. keep it up. will try with mushroom or paneer as well.

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  2. No way! you made pakoda that the tooth loss girl could not enjoy? I am going to enjoy them in the sun.

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  3. Sigh! Got an ilish last weekend ... chose it over some real good prawns. How I wish I had picked some up too. Double sigh.
    BS er phokla mukher kotha kemon shonacche? Love to hear that lisp from kiddos. :-)

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  4. Yum, made with shrimp... That must taste excellent!

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  5. Kids are very smart Sandeepa these days..never mind being made a victim of their such innocent traps, amaar je koto baar eyi rokom hoyeche LOL..Eyi je kid der niye ,choto-2 khushi hoye na life e te , mone hoye jibon sarthok ..tai na :-)...
    tahole ki ki crafts banalo BS?

    ami chingri mach'er moshor dal diye pakoda banE ..darun lagey khete, blog e te recipe ache ..parle try korbe bhalo lagbe..
    hugs and smiles

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  6. Check this out Sandeepa!
    http://www.toomanychefs.net/archives/001828.php

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  7. Hello Bongmom!
    I'm visiting your blog after quite some time 'coz I was away from the blogging world for a while.Anyway,tomar shrimp pakoda looks just awesome(and I'm sure it tastes awesome as well!)My husband is tremendously fond of 'Chingri' and I hope to fry some for him someday very soon:)Thanks for the fried onion part..that sure is a lovely innovation!Kokhono drop in koro!Take care!:)

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  8. ANother milestone! "BS thinks her Mom can become rich herself if she loses her own tooth too." - cute! :)

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  9. eita durdanto khete hobe, kono sondeho nei....

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  10. Omg, cant take my eyes from the click, very tempting pakodas..

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  11. Amader chotobelay tooth fairy chilona. tai takao paini. tabe han amar maa o tomar moto kichu special banato jedin daant porto sedin. chingri pakora ki darun dekhte hoeche. khete aro bhalo habe jani.

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  12. (Sigh), it has been such a long time since I deep fried anything. This looks so good.

    LOL, on getting conned by a 5 year old. Now I know what to do when my four year old loses his tooth.

    About Riechl's show on PBS: The series is already on in our part of the country. It is every Sat at 11.30 AM. Click on the link I put up and enter your zip code to find listing in your area.

    http://www.gourmet.com/adventureswithruth

    And yes, I too am in love with her writing. Have read her one memoir and can't wait to finish the others. :)

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  13. Oh yes the fairy indeed come with dollare well in our case it was franc sign :-)
    We have a small box filled with S teeth.
    And for the pakoda i am sure gonna make them for one evening when i give drinks and snacks. Just the thought makes me drool over the table :-)

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  14. Pakorar click ta durdanto lagche..jive jal ene dile.jadio ami ei kichu din age baniechilam, kintu abar tomar ta dekhe jal ese gelo..ami chingrir pagol..
    Meyer kache darun thakecho..bar high hoye geche, next gulor janya aar kam hale chalbe na..mane rekho, experience theke bolchi...
    Sandeepa, ami ekhon Recipe Junction theke blogging karchi..come to my space ...see you

    Indrani(Appyayan)

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  15. Ha ha :) smart neighbour girl - she wouldn't have meant to con you - just that for the lil ones, even a dollar would be like 30 dollars I guess!

    The pakodas look amazing - just right for the rains here

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  16. Thanks for sharing the Tale of the Tooth Fairy. Even if you were conned, at least your readers are now up-to-date with current TF market rates! :D Those pakodas look really good. I feel like some shrimp pakodas now! With chai!

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  17. Wow! Such a funny story! All I knew about was quarters, either - in my toothless days it started with dimes and then inflation raised it to quarters. :-) Maybe the neighbor girl was estimating that she has 30 teeth in all (an overestimate too?). The shrimp pakodas look delicious. I have a slight phobia of hot oil, but this looks tempting enough to try overcoming it.

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  18. Sharbori
    Thanks :)

    Indo

    I think bees might be the issue in my case and also overgrowth

    Sharmila

    Katha te kono lisp hoche na. Amra oke bolechi or kotha beriye jabe, fank diye tai khub rege geche

    Meeso

    Thanks You

    Jaya

    Standard stuff. You know pic frames to paint, wooden models to put together, plasticine fridge magnets that kids need to paint on. Oi Michaels ba A.C.Moore bole ekta dokan hoy na ekhane oikhan theke.

    Tomar Pakoda nishchoy try korbo, in fact ami link update kore debo

    WWW

    Thanks, yeah anything with shrimp tastes so good.

    Notyet

    Thank you

    Vani
    Yeah :) LS is getting hers while BS is losing some

    Kuntala
    Kono katha hobe na

    Priya
    Thank you

    Sayantani

    Amra indur(mouse) er gorte dant ditam, tomra korte ?

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  19. Jaya

    Will do. Love her

    HC

    I save that first tooth too :)

    Indrani

    Ei jachi, ekhuni

    Miri

    No, no, I don't think her intention was that at all. But she likes telling good funny stories. Me, the adult should have known better.

    SS

    Yeah current TTF rate is a quarter to a dollar. That has my stamp.

    WWT

    Kids will tell you stuff they imagine or want to happen you know :) Hot Oil, I have a story for that. Just do it, use a shield or something :)

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  20. A shield, hm. This is a good idea...I wonder if the lid of my kadhai is big enough to hide behind...

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  21. Looks yumm and quite easy to make. Will try out this weekend. Thanks for sharing...

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  22. I remember the first time it happened to my daughter..she was more excited that I wanted to preserve it..:)..shrimp pakodas look great!

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  23. aaj eta banacchi! amra dujonei khub excited!

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