Those who gorge on Pakoras know very well that it's difficult to imagine them without potatoes, no matter if it's Sliced Potato Pakora or Mashed Potato Pakora, as potatoes are a universal symbol of trust when it comes to satisfying taste. However, its cousin sweet potatoes have a uniquely sweet taste and soft texture and can also turn into savoury Pakoras if properly utilised. The Sweet Potato Pakora or Bajji of Karnataka aren't a highly loved snack and street food for no reason. The process and ingredients of making these are just the same as Aloo Pakora with the preparation of spiced gram flour batter, coating the thin potato slices into the batter and deep frying them. The only new or uncommon part is replacing the potatoes with sweet potatoes which changes the experience.
A Loved Snack Of Karnataka-Sweet Potato Pakoras
Sweet Potato Pakoras are a highly enjoyed snack in Karnataka, especially Mangalore, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi. These are locally called Genasina Podi, where Genasina means sweet potatoes and Podi refers to fritters or pakoras. Genasina or Kareng Podi are enjoyed as an evening snack with Masala Chai and are a great accompaniment with rice and rasam too.
Nutritional Worth Of Sweet Potatoes
The health benefits of sweet potatoes may make you like the Sweet Potato Pakoras and the sweet potatoes even more. The tuber vegetable fulfils 400% of the vitamin requirement of your body, which in turn nourishes the immune system and the health of the eyes. The low glycaemic index of potatoes can also help in controlling blood sugar. They are known to be great for bones, and reproductive health and for lowering the risk of developing cancer. With these and many more benefits sweet potatoes are today acknowledged the world over as a superfood.
Preparation: 20 minutes
Cooking: 10 minutes
Servings: 2-3
Ingredients :
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 1 cup gram flour
- 2 tbsp rice flour
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp red chilli powder
- ¼ tsp asafoetida
- ½ tsp carom seeds
- 1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
- Water as per requirement
Method:
- Wash sweet potatoes well and cut thin slices and immerse them in water.
- Meanwhile, take gram flour in a bowl, add rice flour, salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, asafoetida, carom seeds and coriander leaves to it and mix the dry ingredients well.
- Then add water and mix the dry mixture with water to get a thick pakora batter. Keep it aside.
- Take the sweet potato slices out of the water and coat them in the batter well.
- Heat oil in a wok, and dip the batter-coated sweet potato slices into hot oil and deep fry until it turns golden on both sides.
- Serve hot with the chutney of your choice.
- This recipe uses little raw sweet potatoes for making pakoras as the completely ripe ones will not taste right with salty and spicy ingredients. These are popularly enjoyed with Masala Chai. It follows the usual process of making any Besan Pakora, with the incorporation of sweet potatoes.
