Zucchini Pakoda

One of my friends, once gave me 2 biggggggg sizedddddd zucchinis. I just wondered (????) what to do with them.....So made a sidedish, baked some in the oven and broiled some.....but nothing was good to eat....All my trials went to the trash only as a waste.

One day, for a potluck dinner.....simply thought of making onion pakoda.... but BOOM !!!! my zucchini came to my mind. So just modified the onion pakoda recipe & made zucchini pakoda..... the taste was awesome & everybody loved it....more than the other items I made for that potluck dinner.

Ingredients

Zucchini - 1 (medium sized)
Big onion - 1/2 (sliced lengthwise)
Green chillies - 4 (sliced lengthwise)
Ginger - 1 inch piece (sliced lengthwise)
Curry leaves - 15 Nos. (chopped)
Coriander leaves - few (chopped)
Besan (Gram flour / kadalai Maavu) - 1 cup + (1/2 cup, if required for final adjustments)
Rice flour - 1/2 cup
Jeera (Cumin) - 1/4 sp
Red chilli powder - 1/2 sp (optional)
Garam masala powder - 1/2 sp
Salt - To taste
Oil - 1/4 cup + for frying
Water - Never add water since zucchini oozes out more water

Method

1. Grate the zucchini along with the skin, with a mandoline slicer or a grater.
2. Mix the grated zucchini, onion, green chillies, ginger, curry leaves & coriander leaves in a separate bowl.
3. Mix the besan flour, rice flour, jeera, red chilli powder, garam masala powder, salt and 1/4 cup oil in another bowl.
4. Now, add the zucchini -  onion mixture into the besan flour mixture and mix throughly with hand. (All ingredients need to be coated with flour)
5. Do not add water since zucchini oozes out more water & mix the ingredients.
6. Add besan flour & rice flour in the appropriate proportion, if the mixture is too watery.(whenever required)
7. Heat oil in a pan.
8. When the oil is medium hot, take small balls from the mixture and fry in oil.
9. Once they turn brown, take them out of the oil and place them on a paper towel to remove the excess oil.
10. Serve as an appetizer / side for variety rice.

Mandoline Slicer & Grater

Note

1. Since zucchini keeps oozing out water all through the preparation, besan flour & rice flour can be added in the right proportion every now and then.
2. Else, the grated zucchini can be kept for 10 min in a bowl and the excess water can be removed using a strainer, before adding to the onion mixture.