Egg Methi Pakoda

Chef. Sanjeev Kapoor of the "Khana Khazana" fame needs no introduction. He was one of my inspirations during my formative years in cooking. I used to religiously watch his cooking show every Sunday at noon and I still have all the handwritten recipes that I would jot down every week while watching his show. While browsing through his website last week, I came across these egg methi pakodas. They sounded like a delicious yet healthy protein rich pakodas and I decided to make these as part of the Valentine day celebration. This is an excellent dish for kids as well, as these would add some good protein to their diet. The methi / fenugreek leaf enhances the flavor of the pakoda, but we can always leave the methi out. I shaped these pakodas to look like eggs and deep fried them to a nice golden brown color. They were awesome. I served these with some sweet and spicy sauce (regular ketchup + spicy Shiracha chilli sauce). I modified the recipe and proportions slightly to suit our taste.

I served these pakodas on this lovely oyster platter with chinese print. We bought this platter and mini sauce serving bowls from China Town in Montreal, Canada when we were on vacation couple of years back.




Ingredients -
3 Eggs
1 cup chopped methi/ fenugreek leaves
3 tbsp chopped cilantro leaves
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 inch ginger finely chopped
3 green chillies finely chopped
1 stalk spring onions finely chopped
3 tbsp gram flour/ besan
1/4 tsp carom seeds/ ajwain
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp chaat masala
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 pinch soda bicarbonate
salt to taste
oil to deep fry

Method -
1. Boil water and cook eggs for about ten to twelve minutes or until hard-boiled. 2. Drain and immediately put into cold water. Remove shell and finely chop.
3. Mix methi leaves, coriander leaves, onion, ginger, green chillies and spring onions.
4. Sprinkle besan and mix well.
5. Add ajwain, red chilli powder, chaat masala, cumin powder, soda bicarbonate and salt.
6. Add chopped boiled egg, sprinkle a little water and mix to combine all the ingredients well.
7. Heat sufficient oil in a deep frying pan/ kadhai,
8. Shape the mixture into small oval balls and drop in the hot oil. You may need to wet your hands to shape the balls.
8. Reduce heat to medium and deep-fry the pakoras in small batches without overcrowding the kadhai.
9. Turn the pakoras occasionally for even browning.
10. Once they are golden brown, drain onto an absorbent paper.
11. Serve hot with sauce/ chutney of your choice.