Cashew pakoda is a popular snack in Tamil Nadu, especially in snack shops. Munthiri pakoda as we call in Tamil, is also a special item for tea time snack.
Perfect for special occasions, when hosting guests or as a treat to your family as snack.
This is similar my Onion pakoda recipe on this site, and pairs well with this Masala tea recipe as well as this ginger cardamom tea.
This one reminds me of my FIL who first got home when I was newly wed. I think it is his favorite, Vj too loves it.
He usually buys snack from A2B. Every year when we visit, he will buy this for Vj along with my favorite snacks.
I wish I had tried this earlier! Never thought I can make it at home and it turned out really good too.
It was same as the one we buy in sweet and snack stalls. I partially adapted this recipe from this video.
Ingredients
For this recipe, below are ingredients available easily at home.
- Cashews
- Gram flour
- Rice flour
- Mint & coriander leaves
See recipe card for full list, quantities.
Substitutions
This recipe is naturally gluten free.
- Ghee - instead of ghee, you can use same amount oil (1 tbsp) to make it vegan
- Coriander leaves - You can skip it and just use mint leaves.
- Fennel seeds - Some people does not like fennel seeds (like Vj) so like me you can add powdered or just use cumin seeds.
Variation
The recipe turns out best as such. Here are some variations you can make to tweak a bit.
- Spicy - add chili powder to make it extra spicy as well as a deep golden hue.
- Onion - add sliced or chopped onion (1 medium sized) along for a flavorful one.
- Kid friendly - Though we are adding finely chopped green chilli and you will not even find it that spicy, you can also crush/ grind green chilli and ginger along and add it to the dough.
- Flavorful - Like the a2b cashew pakoda, you can add coarse ground coriander seeds and fennel seeds in this recipe. You can skip coriander leaves in that case.
See this Peanut pakoda recipe on my website!
Video
Is video more your thing? Watch how to make cashew pakoda in my Youtube channel.
Storage
Store the pakoda in an air tight container in shelf. Good for 2-3 days.
The dough is best when prepared and used immediately as otherwise it may affect the color.
It turns red too fast before it gets crisp if we refrigerate or freeze because of the cooking soda.
Top tip
- If you add less water than needed, the fried pakoda may taste slightly burnt as they turn crisp. So add enough water.
- Too much water in dough also can affect the crispiness. This is meant to be crispy and stay good for couple of days.
- Key in this recipe is to use hot oil and ghee for the crisp end result. Also you should use cooking soda as mentioned which helps in soft and crispy result.
- Cooking in low flame is must. Otherwise this texture will not be achieved.
Related posts
Recipe card
Cashew pakoda recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup Cashews
- ¾ cup Gram flour
- 2 tablespoon Rice flour
- 1 tablespoon hot ghee
- 1 tablespoon hot oil
- 2 tablespoon Coriander leaves
- 2 tablespoon Mint leaves
- 1 sprig Curry leaves
- 1 tablespoon ginger
- 2 Green chilli
- 1 teaspoon Fennel seeds
- ⅛ teaspoon Asafoetida Optional
- 3 pinch cooking soda
- Salt
- Oil for deep frying
Instructions
- Take both flours, cashews firstly in a mixing bowl.¾ cup Gram flour, 2 tbsp Rice flour, ½ cup Cashews
- To this add all other ingredients.1 tbsp hot ghee, 1 tbsp hot oil, 2 tbsp Coriander leaves, 2 tbsp Mint leaves, 1 sprig Curry leaves, 1 tbsp ginger, 2 Green chilli, 1 tsp Fennel seeds, ⅛ tsp Asafoetida, 3 pinch cooking soda, Salt
- Mix well to resemble a crumble.
- Add water little by little in a sprinkled way to get a slightly sticky dough.
- Heat oil in a kadai. Once hot, put the flame to low.
- Take a small portion of dough (say 1 tbsp) and flatten it roughly. Drop it in oil gently.
- Repeat to fill the kadai. Let it be undisturbed for 2 minutes.
- After that, stir occasionally to let it fry evenly. It may take 9-10 minutes.
- How you will know it's done? Check the cashews if it has turned golden in color.
- Also, there will be a pleasant smell of gram flour, cashews and mint wafting.
- Never let the mint, coriander turn black. It will make pakoda smell over fried.
- Drain in paper towel and repeat to finish the dough.
Video
Notes
- If your pakoda gets dissolved in oil while frying, that means you have added more ghee/ oil in dough and less water. To trouble shoot, you can sprinkle little more water and mix again.
- Make sure to use fresh stock of cooking soda.
- Do not over fry until the coriander, mint leaves to turn black. It will give burnt smell as gram flour will be over fried.
- I fried in two batches. The second batch made the oil frothy, it is quite normal (especially if you use peanut oil)
Instructions
1. Take both flours, cashews firstly in a mixing bowl. - ¾ cup Gram flour, 2 tablespoon Rice flour, ½ cup Cashews
2. After that, add all other ingredients:
1 tablespoon hot ghee, 1 tablespoon hot oil, 2 tablespoon Coriander leaves, 2 tablespoon Mint leaves, 1 sprig Curry leaves, 1 tablespoon ginger, 2 Green chilli, 1 teaspoon Fennel seeds, ⅛ teaspoon Asafoetida (if adding), 3 pinch cooking soda
3. Then add water little by little in a sprinkled way to get a slightly sticky dough.
4. Heat oil in a kadai. Once hot, put the flame to low.
After that, take a small portion of dough (say 1 tbsp) and flatten it roughly.
5. Drop it in oil gently.
6. Continue to repeat filling the kadai. Let it be undisturbed for 2 minutes.
7. After that, stir occasionally to let it fry evenly. It may take 9-10 minutes.
8. How you will know it's done? Check the cashews if it has turned golden in color.
Also, there will be a pleasant smell of gram flour, cashews and mint wafting.
Never let the mint, coriander turn black. It will make pakoda smell over fried.
9. Finally drain in paper towel and repeat to finish the dough.
Hint: If you want you can raise the heat (medium) towards end to get desired golden color.
Best with tea/ coffee. I had with milk tea.
Food safety
Below are some safety tips, especially if you are new to kitchen.
- Never leave cooking food unattended.
- Use oils with high smoking point like sunflower oil to avoid harmful compounds ( I used cold pressed peanut oil).
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove.
- Never roll the dough to a ball tightly as it may burst.
Leave a Reply