Delhi nutrition coach calls good old pakodas a healthy snack for all seasons

On September 4, nutrition coach Sangeeta Khanna launched her book, Pakodas: A Snack For All Seasons at The Imperial Culinary Club along with a live cookout. Khanna’s book explores a myriad range of pakodas indigenous to different parts of India, along with their varied ingredients and flavours.

We catch hold of Khanna to know more. Excerpts:

Why did you choose pakodas as the subject of your book?
It wasn’t a sudden thought. Rather it was born out of the frustration after I heard people saying pakodas are junk food and cause obesity, heart disease and what not. People keep eating cookies and cakes, and shun the good old pakodas. I felt we needed to reclaim the good food our ancestors ate and stayed healthy with. 
 
Tell us more about your book. 
The book enumerates several pakodas from almost all corners of the country and also discusses why these are healthy. The book also talks about the right kind of oil for deep frying, the method of frying and the kind of pots and pans, with some tips and tricks to the method of making pakodas easier for amateur cooks as well. The book includes pakodas that are shallow fried, steamed and made using unique cooking methods. There are recipes of curries made with pakodas and chutneys to pair up with these. I’m hoping this book will help people enjoy pakodas without any fear or bias.

As you strongly believe in the health benefits of traditional Indian homemade food, how do pakodas fit in this?
Pakodas are made from healthy flours, mostly of lentils, and are perfectly healthy when fried in traditional cold-pressed oil. It includes healing spices that are potent antioxidants like turmeric, ajwain seeds, chillies, and additional herbs or leafy greens. If the pakodas are paired with fresh homemade chutneys, the nutritional value of this snack is even higher. Which other modern-day snack is better than this? 
 
What kind of research went into writing the book? 
It took me three years to collect all recipes and cooking methods but most of it has been a work of a lifetime. I grew up in many parts of the country, and we always had neighbours and friends who belonged to different regions. There was always an exchange of recipes and nostalgic talks about the food of the past. All the chai-pakoda parties on weekend evenings have added more fodder to this book, I believe. In the past three years, I made it a point to talk to many elders and friends from across India so that I can understand the specific methods and ingredients used in the making of the regional variants. I also ended up taking inputs from street food vendors who make pakodas day and night for living. 
 
Can you shed some light on the health benefits of traditional Indian homemade food? 
Home-cooked food is always healthy when made from scratch, following mostly traditional recipes and using good quality ingredients. It seems like too much effort when one enumerates everything in one sentence. But it was a way of life till a couple of decades ago before people started using bottled sauces and hyper processed oils and taste enhancers to cook food when not eating packaged food or going out for meals. In fact, Indian home-cooked food is as healthy as the food of other old world civilisations because the agriculture, the crops, the ingredients and the seasoning, everything evolved along with human metabolism. In modern times, as the lifestyle has become sedentary and food, the only instant gratification for most people, easily becomes prey to many myths. The worst myth being Indian food is heavy and fattening. 
 
What are you working on now?
Another book is in the process, also about food but in a slightly different way. There are also some exciting projects where I am working on, wellness concepts and improvising traditional recipes for the modern audience.