Onion pakoda/ Thool pakoda

Onion pakoda is a popular snack in TamilNadu and sold widely in tea shops and road side kiosks. It is loved by all and is a very crunchy and tasty tea time snack. This is also a quick to prepare dish that you can serve your guests as starter. Onion pakoda with semiya/ rava kesari is a combo I love most. The fried onions give a wonderful caramelised taste to the crispy pakodas and you just cant stop munching on them. This tastes very good with rice also. 

The addition of cashew nuts gives a lovely surprise to those who randomly bite into it. 

Ingredients

2 large sized onion (thinly sliced)

Few cashew nuts

1 cup besan (sieved well and lumps removed)

1/2 cup rice flour

1/2 ts asafoetida/ hing

Few curry leaves

1 ts grated ginger

1 ts chilli powder (optional)

Pinch of baking soda (optional)

Preparation

- Slice the onions very thin. Add little salt to them and rest for 15 minutes. The onions will leave out their moisture.

- Then add all the remaining ingredients - cashew nuts, hing, curry leaves and grated ginger. Mix them well.

- Now add besan, rice flour and chilli powder. Mix them well without adding any water. The water from the onions will help them bind well together. If needed sprinkle just little water. 

- Heat oil in a medium flame. Set the flame constant throughout the cooking process for even heating. 

- Now either make small balls or spread the mixture randomly over the oil and fry them until they are golden and crisp. 

- Fry till the sizzling of oil stops. If you prefer a less crunch you can remove them beforehand. 

(For more crispy pakoda - add more onion slices, less flour with equal proportion of besan and rice flour. 

For firm pakoda - less onion slices with more flour mixture and rice flour should be half the proportion of besan or even less)