Ponk Vada | How to make Fresh Jowar Pakora ~ Simple Delicious Food Recipes

Ponk Vada or Pakoras made with fresh tender Jowar is a delightful snack made during the winter season when it is freshly available.

Ponk or fresh Jowar is perishable produce that doesn’t stay good for long. It should be cooked within a short period or can be frozen. I haven’t seen or heard about fresh jowar in Madras, so when Vaishali said it is available in her place, I asked for her to get for me.

This was way back in February and this post has been lying in my draft for so long. I had plans for this post, yet something or the other came up and finally, it helped me fix my theme for this week.

We are starting the 3rd week of BM#104 Sweets & Snacks and this week is our own choice. While I had so many ideas to pick, I finally settled with Vadas for the whole week. I will be doing traditional Indian Savories in Cooking 4 all Seasons and had tough task deciding on a theme for this week in this space.

The first in the series of Vadas is this Ponk Vada, typically made in Gujarat when fresh tender Jowar is available. The whole concept of such fresh grains was new to me, even though we used to have jowar and bajra crops in our village. That was, of course, many years ago. However, I still remember checking those out when I was a kid.

I asked Amma if she had ever cooked with the fresh tender grains, she was surprised and pleasantly shocked to see these tender green ones. They taste slightly sweetish with a nutty aftertaste. It was superb handling it. When Vaishali gave it to me, I had shown to Amma and we had a lengthy conversation on how it used to be during those years back in our paternal grandmom’s village.

Anyway, this recipe came about when I saw this in Srujan’s feed on Instagram. Her posts are always so captivating as her writing and I love reading it in detail. So when she was talking about Ponk Vada, I had to check it out. I almost made it sometime soon, yet had to wait for so long to write about it.

So I have a Ponk Vada, and if you are interested to know what traditional snack I have, check out Cooking 4 all Seasons.

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Ponk Vada
Week 1 – Sweets (Indian Traditional Sweets)

Day 1 is Arcot Makkan Peda
Day 2 is Burhanpur Jalebi
Day 3 is Ghevar
Day 4 is Motichoor Ladoo
Day 5 is Ghotua Ladoo
Day 6 is Bandar Laddu

Week 2 – Snacks from the same State (Andhra)

Day 1 is Kara Sev
Day 2 is Kobbari Chegodilu
Day 3 is Karam Gavvalu
Day 4 is Garlic Kara Sev
Day 5 is Venna Murukulu
Day 6 is Palakayalu

Step By Step Pictures to make Ponk Vada

Ponk Vada | How to make Fresh Jowar Pakora

Ingredients Needed:

1 cup Jowar / Ponk, Tender ones
1/2 cup Onions
4 to 5 cloves Garlic
1 inch Ginger
2 to 3 nos Green Chillies
3 tbsp Rice Flour
1 tbsp Cooking Oil
3 tbsp Besan / Gram Flour
3 tbsp Jowar Flour
2 to 3 tsp Lemon
Salt to taste
1 tsp Pepper powder
1/4 tsp Carom Seeds / Ajwain
A Pinch Baking Soda

How to make Ponk Vada

Wash and drain the ponk. Reserve 2 tbsp aside and take the rest in a mixer along with green chilies, garlic, and ginger.
Grind to a coarse paste and the flours, salt, oil, lemon juice, pepper powder, sugar, and ajwain.
Mix everything together to a thick batter, the paste should be thicker than dropping consistency.
Heat oil in a Kadai, when ready to fry add a pinch of baking soda/eno to the batter and add hot oil to the batter.
Drop a tbsp of batter into hot oil and deep fry on medium heat.
Cook till it cooks through and drain on to a kitchen towel.
Serve with a hot drink.

Tender Jowar Pakora

Ponk Vada | How to make Fresh Jowar Pakora

Ponk Vada or Pakoras made with fresh tender Jowar is a delightful snack made during the winter season when it is freshly available.

Ingredients

1cup Jowar / Ponk, Tender ones
1/2cup Onions
4 to 5cloves Garlic
1inch Ginger
2 to 3nos Green Chillies
3tbsp Rice Flour
3tbsp Besan / Gram Flour
3tbsp Jowar Flour
1tbsp Cooking Oil
2 to 3tsp Lemon
Salt to taste
1tsp Pepper Powder
1/4tsp Carom Seeds / Ajwain

Instructions

Wash and drain the ponk. Reserve 2 tbsp aside and take the rest in a mixer along with green chilies, garlic, and ginger.
Grind to a coarse paste and the flours, salt, oil, lemon juice, pepper powder, sugar, and ajwain.
Mix everything together to a thick batter, the paste should be thicker than dropping consistency.
Heat oil in a Kadai, when ready to fry add a pinch of baking soda/eno to the batter and add hot oil to the batter.
Drop a tbsp of batter into hot oil and deep fry on medium heat.
Cook till it cooks through and drain on to a kitchen towel.
Serve with a hot drink.