Haggis pakora is a delicious starter that will use up your Burns Night leftovers. Surprise your guests with this fusion of Scottish and Indian cuisine, which cleverly brings haggis together with a favourite Indian fried snack.

For more inspiration on how to serve up haggis leftovers, try our millerighe haggis pasta with pesto, a wonderfully warming lunch for a cold winter’s day.

HAGGIS PAKORA

Pakora is a vegetarian Indian fried snack coated in a chickpea flour batter.

Having cooked and eaten in Scotland a lot I am now a firm believer that just because you can deep-fry something doesn’t mean you should. However, in this case, the haggis works extremely well and makes a delicious starter as haggis pakora.

Makes 12

• 150g chickpea/gram flour
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp paprika
• 300ml buttermilk or yoghurt
• 2 tbs milk
• 1 lime (juice and zest)
• 3 spring onions, finely chopped
• 10g finely chopped coriander, stalks and all
• 1 litre (approx) sunflower oil for deep-frying
• 250g cooked and cooled haggis, chopped into 12 chunks

To serve

• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• 1 green chilli, finely chopped
• 4 sprigs coriander
• 4 portions green tomato chutney

To make the batter, mix the flour with the spices in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Whisk in the buttermilk or yoghurt, milk and lime juice and zest. It will be quite a thick batter. Stir in the spring onions and coriander.

In a heavy-based pan or deep-fat fryer heat the oil until a cube of bread dropped in fizzes and turns golden.

Dip pieces of the haggis into the batter. Then, using a slotted spoon, lower into the oil.

Fry in batches till golden (it will take only a couple of minutes), then remove and drain on kitchen paper.

Serve the haggis pakora hot with wedges of lime, a sprinkling of chilli, fresh coriander and some green tomato chutney.