Meals for under £10: Chicken Pakora

WHO could resist these chunks of fiery loveliness – spicy chicken marinated with zing of lemon, then deep-fried in a batter for a crispy shell.

Pakora is usually a vegetable dish but chef Hari Ghotra, who works at The Tamarind Collection of Restaurants, and her husband have spent ages trying to perfect the best fried chicken.

The results were so good, it is now a family favourite – think southern fried chicken with a kick.

For more recipes by Hari see Harighotra.co.uk

You’ll need:

2 cloves garlic

3cm piece fresh ginger, roughly chopped

2 green chillies, chopped

Juice from ½ lemon

2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp cumin seeds (crushed)

1 tsp red chilli powder

2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves

5 chicken thigh fillets, trimmed & chopped into bite-sized pieces

100g gram flour

Handful of coriander, chopped

Method:

Place the garlic, ginger, chillies, lemon juice, garam masala, cumin seeds, chilli powder, dried fenugreek leaves and 1tsp salt into a pestle and mortar and blend to a rough paste.

Place chicken in a bowl and add the paste, mix to marinade and leave for at least 20 mins – the longer the better. After marinading, heat a little rapeseed oil in a wok to a medium heat.

Sprinkle coriander into the chicken mix, then sieve in the gram flour. Mix together by hand. Add a small amount of water if required to ensure the chicken is coated in thick batter.

Test your oil is hot enough by dropping a little batter into the oil. If it browns and rises immediately then it is ready. Very carefully place the pieces of chicken into the oil one at a time and fry until crisp and golden brown.

Move the pakora around, cooking until golden brown, then drain on kitchen paper.

Once golden brown and crisp remove from the oil and set on some kitchen paper.