Ingredients

350 g organic potatoes
1 onion, halved lengthways then thinly sliced
150 g gram (chickpea) flour
50 g organic rice flour
1 tsp turmeric
1 green chilli, seeds in, finely chopped
½ tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking powder
15 g fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
250 ml cold water
organic peanut oil, for deep frying

for the chickpea and tomato sauce

1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 red chillies, seeds in, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 x 400 cans organic chopped tomatoes
2 x 400 g cans organic chickpeas, drained and rinsed
½ tsp sea salt
1 tsp garam masala
10 g fresh coriander, chopped
1 tbsp organic peanut oil

to garnish

finely chopped fresh coriander

Method

1. Place the gram flour, rice flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and add 250 ml of fresh water. Whisk into a smooth batter.

2. Peel and grate the potatoes. Wrap the grated potato in a clean tea towel and squeeze firmly to remove excess moisture, then tip the potato into the gram flour mixture. Add the sliced onion, chilli, mint leaves and turmeric and stir to combine. Set to one side.

3. For the chickpea and tomato sauce, place the red chillies and garlic into a blender and process until you have a rough paste. Pour one tablespoonful of peanut oil into a deep pan and place the pan over a high heat. As soon as the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds and mustard seeds. They will immediately start to sizzle. After 30 seconds, carefully add the chilli and garlic paste. Stir vigorously for 30 seconds then add the chopped tomato along with the sea salt and 250 ml fresh water. Stir to combine all the ingredients. Bring to a simmer, then add the chickpeas. Reduce the heat to keep the sauce at a gentle simmer. Place a lid over the pan and cook for a further 10 minutes, stirring every so often. Remove from the heat and stir in the garam masala and the chopped coriander.

4. Pour groundnut oil into a deep pan to a depth of around 5 cm. Heat the oil over a high heat until a cube of bread dropped carefully into the pan browns within 30 seconds. Carefully lower tablespoonfuls of the pakora mixture into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan as this will lower the temperature, so cook the pakora in small batches. Once they are crisp and golden all over, remove the pakora from the hot oil with a slotted spoon. Drain on kitchen paper. Meanwhile, gently reheat the chickpea and tomato sauce.

6. To serve, place a generous helping of the chickpea and tomato sauce on each plate and top with a few of the potato and mint pakora. Scatter with a little chopped coriander.

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