Vegetable Pakoda with Mint Yoghurt Dip

Preparation

• 1
  <em>For the dip:</em>
• 2
  Peel and chop the onion. Deseed the chilli and chop. Peel and coarsely grate the ginger.
• 3
  Place the vegetables in a food processor or blender with the yoghurt and blitz a few times. Roughly tear then add the mint leaves and blitz again briefly. Tip into a bowl, stir in 3-4 teaspoons of lemon juice, season to taste with salt and black pepper then chill until needed.
• 4
  Garnish to serve with a few mint leaves and perhaps a light dusting of chilli powder.
• 5
  <em>For the pakoda:</em>
• 6
  In a large bowl, whisk the flour and water together to make a smooth batter, making sure there are no lumps. Leave to one side for 15-20 minutes and prepare the vegetables.
• 7
  Peel and finely chop the onion. Peel the potato and cut into small dice. Peel the carrot and ginger and grate them. Deseed the pepper and chop into small pieces.
• 8
  Season the batter with a sprinkling of salt and black pepper, add all of the spices and whisk again. Stir in all of the prepared vegetables. [The batter looks fairly thin at this point, but the mixture will bind together when heaped in the hot oil.]
• 9
  Preheat the oven to very low so that you can keep cooked batches of pakoda warm.
• 10
  Pour sunflower oil into a small frying pan, about 3 cm. deep, and heat. Carefully place about a tablespoon of the mixture into the hot oil, pushing the edges in so that it all clumps together into a patty, then repeat another 4-5 times
• 11
  don’t overcrowd the pan, you will need to do several batches. Leave them to cook for roughly 2 minutes before gently turning them and cooking the other side
• 12
  they should be crisp and golden. Lift out onto an oven tray lined with kitchen paper and keep warm.
• 13
  Serve hot, as soon as they are all ready, with chutney or mint and yoghurt dip.