In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients well and leave it covered for 5 minutes. The onions will release some of the moisture due to the salt, use that to bring it together into a dough, using a few sprinkles of water as required. Don't make it too wet or it may not crisp up.

Make bite sized pakodas by pressing it into logs in your slightly oiled palm.

Preheat the air fryer at 200 C by turning the timer to 5 minutes, but the machine is preheated when the indicator light goes off.

Place a sheet of parchment or lightly oiled aluminium foil on the basket, but leaving some part of the edge open. This is optional, but just makes the cleaning easier. Place pakodas in a single layer and air fry for 5 minutes. After this, you can remove the basket, turn them around to the other side or give it a shake and keep for 5 more minutes, until all sides are golden brown.

Serve immediately with green chutney / tamarind chutney or ketchup. You can also use these to make Pakoda Kadhi or in a Moar Kozhambu.

Verdict: The colour turned beautifully golden, and it had a crunch on the outside. The inside of the pakoda was well cooked. But I guess the highlight of the pakoda is the juiciness that comes from deep frying and this will take some getting used to, otherwise for the 2 tsp oil used, it was really delicious!.