Paneer pakora recipe, how to make punjabi paneer pakoda (2024)

Paneer pakora is a easy and tasty Indian snack recipe made with paneer or Indian cottage cheese, chickpea flour or gram flour and some spices. This is a best monsoon snack that tastes wonderful with masala chai or ginger chai. Vegetarian and gluten free.

For more evening snacks recipes please check samosa, hara bhara kabab, aloo tikki, falafel recipes.

Pakora- The Quintessential Indian Snack

What Is Pakora?

Pakora also known as pakoda is a very popular Indian snack often served as evening snacks with tea. Pakoda means fried fritters in Indian languages.

Making pakoda at home is super easy and you need very few simple ingredients. The basic batter for all pakora recipes is made with chickpea flour or gram flour, a wee bit of rice flour, some ajwain seeds, red chili powder and salt.

You basically prepare a thick batter with these ingredients, dip the vegetable or paneer and deep fry in hot oil until crispy and golden brown. Delicious, fresh, hot homemade pakora ready in minutes.

So what are the popular varieties of pakora you ask? Along with this paneer pakora there are few more popular ones like onion pakora, aloo pakora, cashew pakoda, gobi pakora, cheese pakoda.

These are all basically the same recipe where you dip the ingredients in pakoda batter and they are deep fried. Best evening snack with tea.

You can serve crispy pakora with green chutney, tomato ketchup, schezwan sauce or even mint chutney. They taste excellent when served with piping hot masala chai. In this post I am sharing a very detailed guide with step by step photos to make Punjabi paneer pakora recipe. Please do read, try out and tell me how you liked it 🙂

Why This Recipe Works?

This recipe of paneer pakoda is my keeper recipe that I have been making over a decade. With this recipe you will be able to make paneer pakora that are crispy from outside with soft melt in mouth paneer that is perfectly seasoned.

It is a really easy recipe, all you need are 30 minutes and few simple ingredients. If you have pantry staple ingredients like gram flour, rice flour handy this snack will be ready in no time.

These are wonderful bite size appetizers, snacks for kids parties and usually liked by all. Also this paneer pakora recipe is best for sudden guests. You can mix the batter by the oil is getting heated.

In north Indian pakora recipes usually rice flour is not used. But in south India we use a bit of rice flour in pakoda recipes as it makes them super crispy and also light.

Here also I have added some rice flour to make super crispy paneer pakora. You can also add corn flour.

In this recipe, I marinate the paneer with few spice powders to make it flavorful. This way you will have perfectly seasoned paneer cubes instead of bland ones. Also while serving do

If you are looking for super simple snack recipe perfect for this weather do not miss this put. Make and enjoy this paneer pakora that is

crispy outside with melt in mouth paneer cubes

easy to make simple recipe

tastier than restaurants

perfect evening snacks with tea

always a hit with kids.

How To Make Paneer Pakora Recipe

Marinating Paneer

This is an optional step which infuses some flavor and seasoning into paneer cubes. You can leave out this step if you prefer.

Cut paneer into 1 inch cubes or batons.

Place the paneer cubes in a mixing bowl and add 1/4 teaspoon red chilli powder, 1/4 teaspoon garam masala , 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder and 1/4 teaspoon ginger garlic paste.

Toss and mix the seasonings well with paneer cubes. In the meanwhile heat oil for deep frying in a deep heavy pan or kadai for frying the pakoras.

Preparing The Batter

Combine 3/4 cup gram flour besan , 3 tablespoons rice flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add salt to taste, a pinch of chaat masala powder. Next add 1/8 teaspoon ajwain seeds or carom seeds, a big pinch of chili powder to the flours.

Now remove 2 tablespoons hot oil from the pan and add to the batter ingredients. Adding hot oil yields super crispy pakora.

Now add 3/4 cup water and mix well to form a batter. Make a thick yet flowing batter. Add water little by little and not at one go.

The batter should be thick yet flowing without lumps.

Deep Frying Punjabi Paneer Pakora

Before frying check the oil temperature, just drop a small bit of gram flour batter to the oil. If it raises steadily after a second oil is ready for frying. If using a candy thermometer the oil temperature should read 375 F or 190 C.

Now using a spoon dip each marinated paneer cube into the batter and coat very well.

Drop the batter coated paneer slices in the hot oil. You can fry 6-8 at a time depending on the size of the size of the pan.

Stir gently and fry the paneer pieces until they turn crispy and golden from all sides in medium flame.

Drain the fried paneer pakoda using a slotted spoon to a strainer or kitchen tissue.

Transfer the fried punjabi paneer pakora to a serving plate and sprinkle with chaat masala or mango powder (amchur) and place some lemon wedges. Serve paneer pakodas hot with your favorite chutney or sauce like green chutney, chilli garlic chutney, mint chutney etc.

Variations With Paneer Pakoda Recipe

Stuffed paneer pakora– This is another popular variation of this recipe which I follow when I am not too lazy 🙂 Here you are basically spreading green chutney or red chutney on a thin paneer slice and sandwiching it with another slice. This is further dipped in batter and deep fried.

Plain pakora without marinade– To make this version just skip the marinating part from the recipe.

Serving Suggestions

Once fried serve these pakoras right away. Sprinkle some chaat masala or amchur and serve with some lemon wedges. You can also add finely chopped onions.

Serve hot with green chutney, red chutney and do not forget the chai 🙂

Pro Tips To Make Crispy Pakoras

Batter consistency– To prepare the batter with right consistency is the first key for making crispy pakodas. The besan batter should be thick enough to coat the paneer but not too thick. If the batter is too thick, they will remain un cooked from inside and the paneer pakora will be doughy.

So, when making batter, keep an eye on consistency and do not add more or less water than required. If the besan or chickpea flour is very coarse, you can sift it once and use.

Add rice flour– to make paneer pakora that is super crispy and lighter, adding rice flour is the key. A small quantity of rice flour really makes the difference.

Oil temperature– this is crucial to make crispy paneer pakora. If the oil is too hot the pakodas will get burnt and remain doughy inside. On the other hand if the oil is not hot enough, the pakodas will soak up loads of oil and turn very soggy.

Quality of paneer– To make best paneer pakora use best quality paneer. Easy right? I always prefer to use homemade paneer. You can cut paneer in various shapes to make this pakora more attractive.

Baking soda- This is the typical ingredient added to pakoda batter in restaurants. I do not use it but you can add a pinch of baking soda to the batter for more fluffy paneer pakoras.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to make crispy pakodas?

To make crispier pakoras adding rice flour to the batter will highly help. Next you can also double fry them to make it super crispy. First fry them in low flame until they are half done . Second them flash fry in high heat.

Which oil is best for making paneer pakora recipe?

Any cooking oil with high smoking point is good. In north Indian mustard oil is used for frying pakoras. I use peanut oil for frying. You can use any vegetable oil or rice bran oil.

Are paneer pakoras healthy?

Just like any deep fried food, these are heavier so best enjoyed in moderation and not every day.

why are my pakoras oily?

Pakoda turn oily when fried in oil that is not hot enough. Also if the batter turns out thin pakodas will be oily.

More Paneer Recipes

Palak paneer

paneer biryani

paneer ghee roast

easy paneer khurchan

I hope you will try this paneer pakora recipe and enjoy as much as we did. Please give a star rating★in the recipe card below if you have tried this recipe. Follow us onPinterest,Instagram,Facebook for more recipes and ideas.

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