Pakora needs to be deep-fried which means big dangerous pots of hot oil. These pakoras are flat, however, which means they can be fried in a frying pan with about three centimetres of oil in it. This is marginally less hazardous and has the added advantage that the temperature of the oil is easier to control. As with all deep fried food, these pakoras can be a bit greasy, but there are steps you can take to cut down the greasiness. The first thing is to use a light oil. Corn oil is fairly heavy and clings to things and generic 'vegetable' oil is usually the worst of all. Sunflower oil is much lighter, as is grapeseed oil or peanut oil. The second thing you can do is lift your pakoras directly onto some absorbent paper when you take them out of the pan. Build up layers of pakora sandwiched between sheets of paper. This will keep the pakoras hot as well as absorbing most of the oil from them.
You need gram flour for this recipe - that's flour made from chick-peas. You'll get it in the health-food shop, but if you're lucky to live near a shop stocking imported Indian food, get it there. The quality will probably be better and it will be fresher. While you're there, pick up a load of spices too (see the Herbs and spices link for advice if you need it). You'll also need some kind of spoon with holes in it for lifting the pakoras out of the oil.
The quantities given here will make a fair heap of pakora. Even if you don't want to make so many, it's best to make too much batter mix than too little.
3 cups of gram flour
I cup of wheat flour
2 cups of yoghurt
Salt
Cold water
I tsp. garam masala
Half tsp. chilli powder
Oil
1 large aubergine
1 small marrow
1 large onion
First the batter mix. Put the gram flour, youghurt and salt in a bowl and mix together. Add cold water gradually and mix it in until the mixture has the consistency of cream (like pancake batter if you know what that looks like).
Next, the vegetables. Peel the marrow and cut into 1cm thick slices. Take the pulp and seeds out of the centre. Cut the onion into half cm slices and the aubergine into 1cm slices - do the aubergine last, after the oil has started to heat up, as it will go brown in the air quickly. You'll have more than enough vegetable slices, so plan to use the best ones first - leave the ends till last.
Mix the wheat flour with the spices and sprinkle it on a plate - this is for dipping the vegetable slices in before dipping in the batter mix.
Heat the oil in a large deep frying pan. It's ready when a small cube of bread browns in 30 seconds, so keep a few cubes handy for testing. When the oil is ready turn the heat down a little, take a vegetable slice, coat both sides with the flour and spice mixture, dip it into the batter mix and then transfer it quickly and gently to the pan of oil. Use your fingers, but be careful. Don't pile the pakoras on top of each other. Float them side by side. Fry for about 4 minutes on one side then turn them over and cook for another 3 minutes. They should be golden rather than brown when they are ready . Lift them out, place on a layer of several sheets of absorbent paper and repeat the process with another lot of vegetable slices. Turn the heat up if the oil seems to cool but if it starts smoking it's too hot, so turn it down.