These quick and easy fresh corn fritters are great for an appetizer or a tea-time snack. This recipe brings back so many memories from my childhood. This used to be a regular snack that my mother would make during monsoon season in India. We would enjoy these pakoras with a warm cup of chai.
This recipe is very flexible, you can use canned or frozen corn to make these fritters but we highly recommend using fresh corn. This is also a gluten-free recipe as it uses chickpea flour, rice flour, and cornstarch. We serve these sweet, spicy, savory, and absolutely delicious fritters with fresh yogurt, tangy tamarind & date chutney, and cilantro & mint chutney.
Let’s Make Corn Pakoras/Fritters
Start with some Serrano peppers, ginger, salt, turmeric, and red chili powder in a food processor to prepare a fine paste.
We are using fresh corn for this recipe, you can obviously grate your fresh corn using a box grater. It takes a lot of time, care, and effort but we decided to use a quick method to obtain fresh corn kernels. Here are some useful tips that we would like to share with you.
- Firstly, place the tip of the shucked corn cob on a bowl, placed upside down, inside a larger bowl.
- Then, hold the corn on the cob steady and using a sharp knife, cut corn with downward strokes.
- Now, transfer the kernels into a food processor and roughly process them.
Now, add the prepared corn mixture into a large mixing bowl, add chickpea flour, rice flour, and cornstarch. If you can substitute cornstarch for rice flour and vice versa. Adding cornstarch or rice flour helps to get fritters that crispy outer layer. Crush some of the roasted cumin seeds between the palm of your hands and add them to the batter. Add some lemon juice, baking soda, and whisk the mixture until it’s light and airy. We kept the recipe simple but oftentimes we would like to add finely chopped red onions and cilantro stems to the batter to amp up the flavor profile.
Ready to Fry
Heat enough canola or vegetable oil in a heavy bottom pot to 365°F / 185°C. Once the oil comes to the temperature drop the fritter batter by hand or with the help of a spoon into the hot oil, and fry until golden brown. Remove and drain these fritters on a paper towel. Serve the fritters with your favorite chutney, sour cream, or even ketchup.
This fritter can be served as “Chaat” as well. Break them in half or smash them with the back of a spoon and layer them on a plate. Top them with yogurt, cilantro-mint chutney, tamarind-date chutney, sprinkle some chaat masala, chopped red onions, chopped cilantro, pomegranate seeds, some chili flakes, et voila! You have your perfectly flavorful, street style, tangy, sweet, and spicy Corn Pakora Chaat.
Fresh Corn Pakora (Corn Fritters)
Ingredients
- 4 cob Sweet Corn large
- 1 cup Chickpea flour
- 1 tbsp Rice flour
- 1 tbsp Cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds roasted and hand crushed
- 1 Serrano Pepper
- 1 inch Ginger
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric
- 1/2 tsp Red Chili Powder
- 1 Lemon Juice medium size lemon, fresh squeezed
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- Oil for frying
Instructions
- Add serrano peppers, ginger, salt, turmeric, and red chili powder in a food processor to prepare fine paste.
- Cut corn off the cob, place kernels in a food processor and roughly process.
- Remove the corn mixture into a large mixing bowl, add chickpea flour, cornstarch, rice flour, hand crushed roasted cumin seeds, lemon juice and baking soda. Whisk the mixture until it's light and airy.
- Heat oil in a heavy pot to 365 degrees F (185 degrees C).
- Drop the fritter batter by hand or with the help of a spoon into the hot oil, and fry until golden brown.
- Remove and drain on a paper towels. Serve the fritters with your favorite chutney, sour cream or ketchup.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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