Saffron Indian restaurant in Greenville has an outstandingly delicious food buffet that never fails to elicit oohs and ahs from us. On our last visit we sampled some cabbage pakoras (fried fritters) that were especially good. On our return home I checked the web for recipes and found many - each of which used different seasoning. I chose a simple one with only "chilly" powder and salt for seasoning. They were very blah. After I fried the first one I added onion and garlic powders. I think some sort of Indian spices would probably make them more exciting.
Here's the recipe from which I worked:
1 cup besan (chickpea flour)
1 cup rice flour. (I wasn't sure exactly what type so I used the Mochiko flour I had in the house for Korean recipes.)
ghee (clarified butter) 2 tsp
chili powder - 1.5 tsp (I used only 1 tsp - probably too little)
salt - 3/4 to 1 tsp salt
baking soda - a pinch
cabbage - 2 cups - sliced thinly.
My addition half a thinly sliced onion
cilantro - 1/2 cup (coriander leaves - chopped)
Instructions:
Take besan and rice flour in a bowl. Add ghee, chile powder, salt and baking soda. Add cabbage and cilantro (onions too).
Mix all together and add...
water - 1/2 cup plus - Use just enough to bring the mix together forming a dough. Okay if you see some powder
Grab a little bit of the mix and form into a flattish ball - not too big - maybe 1 1/2 to 2 tbsp of mix.
Deep fry till browned.
Serve with Chinese duck sauce or Indian Tamarind Sauce. I tried making one of the Tamarind sauces I found online, using tamarind concentrate. Both my husband and I preferred the duck sauce.
Note: The box in the image is Korean and contains a jar of honey. It was given to me by my Korean daughter's birth mother when she visited her in Korea.
Update, March 2024: Covid did away with the lunch buffet, and I just checked their menu. No more buffet, sadly.