Chicken pakora is served in so many different ways at restaurants across the UK. The chicken breast meat can be cut into long strips or simple bite-sized cubes that are perfect served as finger food. Often, the meat is dyed bright red to make it look spicy hot, although usually it’s not very spicy at all.
After trying many different possibilities, I decided to revisit my friend Bob Arora’s recipe from Sachins in Newcastle. It’s simple but the spices all work together so well. Bob only recommends1/2 tsp chilli powder, but I added a whole teaspoon because I like my pakoras on the spicy side. I’ll leave that one up to you.
I like to serve this Indian fried chicken with coriander, garlic and chilli raita. You might like it with takeaway-style pakora sauce, that sweet-and-sour red sauce that pakoras are often served with, and I have included a nice one. It’s so good!
The chicken pakoras in the accompanying photo were made by cutting the chicken into very small cubes and then squeezing them together in the batter. These really went down a treat once the photo was taken.