Onion Dandelion Pakora

I was out walking in the late afternoon sun yesterday when I spied some bright yellow dandelion heads. Remembering a recipe for dandelion fritters, I picked as many flowers as I could cradle in my cupped hand for the walk home. And, I resolved to carry some kind of vessel for future walks now that spring is here and edible things are popping up everywhere. The flowers fared well enough, though they lost a bit of their buoyancy from the cramped quarters.

The fritter recipe I'd saved included flour and beer, and when I was sorting through my GF flours to figure out what I might substitute, I came upon garbanzo flour. At which point I realized I wanted to make pakora with the dandelions, which are GF to begin with. That, food makers, was a very good call. I have never made pakora, but these were easy and delicious. The recipe I used was for onion pakora (with cilantro and jalapeno), and I opted to add the dandelion flowers rather than use them alone because I wasn't sure how the latter would go. Now that I've made them, I would do it - but the combo was great in this iteration.

The pakora recipe also included a "ketchup chutney" that was really good, despite seeming kind of weird. While not a tamarind sauce from Gorkha Palace, it was definitely tamarind-chutney-like, and in what turned out to be a fun "what-can-I-substitute" experiment, I made it with things I had. I did not have chaat masala spice mix, so made my own with heavy substitutions. I'll list them below in case you, like me, want to try this. I was rather impressed with my ingenuity to substitute sumac for mango powder, the most key ingredient in the mix. A substitution search told me to use tamarind powder (didn't have), or lemon or lime juice, because mango powder is tangy. At first I was going to use kefir lime leaves, but the ones I had were 10 years old (I am now rid of said lime leaves) and had no taste. But then I thought of sumac, which is tangy, and brings a middle eastern-Nepalese mash-up to this chaat masala.

I made half of this recipe, and it made 7 pakora clumps. If you are going to make the ketchup chutney, make that first so you can eat these as soon as they are done frying. Chaat Masala spice mix recipe and substitutions are at the bottom.

Ketchup Chutney
1/4 cup ketchup
1/2 Tablespoon water
1 teaspoon chaat masala
1/8 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
squeeze of lemon or lime 

Pakora Batter (serves 2-4)
1 cup Chickpea/Garbanzo Bean Flour
1/2 Tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 green chili pepper, sliced
1/4 cup Cilantro leaves, chopped (I only had parsley)
1/2 yellow onion, sliced into 1/8-inch half moons
1/3 cup dandelion flowers
1/2+ cup luke-warm water
 Coconut oil for deep frying

Make the Chutney (Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.) 
Make the Pakoras.
1. Fill an 8-inch cast-iron skillet half-way up with oil. Heat the oil to 360-375ºF.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, red chili flakes, salt, baking powder, sliced chili pepper, cilantro, sliced onion and dandelion flowers.
3. Slowly add in the water, while mixing with a wooden spoon or your hands. Vigorously mix for a couple of seconds. The batter should be thick, almost like heavy (double) cream and there should be air bubbles throughout.
4. Once the oil is heated, carefully place in heaping tablespoonfuls of batter into the hot oil. Try not to overcrowd the oil because it will result in greasy pakoras. Fry until the pakoras are a pecan-brown.
5. Drain on a cooling rack placed over a cookie sheet.
6. Repeat with the remainder of the batter. Serve the warm pakoras right away with the Ketchup Chutney, and enjoy.

Chaat Masala spice mix, with substitutions:

3 tablespoons cumin seeds* sub powder
1 tablespoon coriander seeds

1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seeds
4 tablespoons raw mango/amchur powder* sub sumac
3 tablespoons powdered black salt* sub sea salt & decrease by half
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper (freshly ground)
1/4 teaspoon asafetida powder* sub garlic or onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ginger powder
1 teaspoon dried, powdered mint* sub insides of a mint tea bag!
1 1/2 teaspoons ajwain/carom seeds* sub thyme

1. Heat cumin, coriander, and fennel seeds on a hot skillet. Dry roast until the seeds begin to turn a little darker and start to give off their aromas. Stir often while roasting, to prevent the seeds from burning.

2. When the seeds have roasted, remove them from the pan and spread on a plate to cool.

3. When cool, mix the seeds with all the other ingredients in a clean, dry, coffee grinder until you get a fine, smooth powder.