Vora Pakora

I don't know if this happens in North America, but kids in Pakistan tend to make fun of each others' names quite often, specially if its not the common ones like Smith, or Brown or John. So my last name was associated with the fabulous Pakoras. Considering they are one of the hit appetizers at the Larch gatherings I don't mind it so much anymore.

So Pakoras, Pakoras, Pakoras. I don't exactly know if its an Indian dish or a Pakistani dish, or elsewhere but tends to lean towards the sub-continental side. Pakoras consist mainly of chick pea batter, spice goodness and anything you can deep fry, thats basically in a nutshell. I generally make mine pretty simple, as I am always in the hurry to feed people.

So here are the details.
chick pea powder (as much as you like). Depending on the first ingredient, you can decide the quantity of the rest of the ingredients. I usually don't have habit or measuring, except if I am nervous (then you surely measure)
salt
pepper
chopped cilantro
roasted garlic
fried red onions(maroon)
shallots
cayenne
red chilli powder
chilli flakes
rubbed marjoram
turmeric
ginger powder
a bit or garam masala

For deep frying:
Loads and loads of sunflower/ canola oil ,no butter for this one :( and anything you can dip in the batter and deep fry. I generally use mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, Jalapeno peppers, spinach.

If you are a measuring geek, then suck it up and try this one without measuring. If you really can't get it than here's a little tip on the recipe. If you make 2 cups of batter than use half a medium size onion, 3 cloves of garlic, a handful of cilantro, couple of shallots and use your imagination for the spices, most of these are strong so be gentle with them. Otherwise you will have a regretful next morning.

Oh, another note with the Jalapeno peppers, if you really want to spice it up you can stuff chilli flakes, habanero sauce, the batter, and then dip it in the batter and deep fry. Take them out and sprinkle chilli flakes. This one is a guaranteed burner.

Sunday Market

Coming from Pakistan, weekend markets mean getting up pretty early on a Saturday or a Sunday and and then heading of to a fragrant street for an intense bargaining sessions with the vendors, till noon. The Kitsilano market on 11th at Larch (Vancouver) is slightly different in that respect.

First ,I was there a bit early(9:30am), the farmers and other vendors do not start selling before 10am. But that did give me the opportunity to interact with the farmers before the market got crazy. I also noticed quite a bit of extra-curricular activities, as part of a farmer's market. There was face painting, a masseuse, a lady selling jewelry, a crepe cart and a couple of guitarist smack in the center of mail aisle. This made it more of a weekend fair than a farmer's market. But it did attract quite a bit of customers.

This was at Greg's stall. They were selling sweet peppers, hot peppers and eggplant. The sweet peppers were crisp and a had a slight twang to them.
I could not resist the colorful hot peppers above, but could only afford five.

Scrumptious Okanagon pears. I believe these were part of the first pick.

The triad of onions below were quite a reasonable quality and size. I always feel onions need to be particular size. And these ones were to my liking. I went for the French ones.
These are probably the most presentable mushrooms I have ever seen in a market. I just ran out of cash. Otherwise I would have invested in one of these baskets.


So on the whole, the farmer's market was quite a success. I am divided in my opinion about the other vendors providing services and selling novelties. It takes away from the true farmer's market flavor, on the other hand it did invite more customers from the neighborhood.

Bad News

So multi-tasking isn't always a productive habit.
I was trying to manage a number of things in one window, and i deleted my food blog.
Sorry about this mishap. I'll try to restore a new one pretty fast.