There are certain Indian foods you don't give up. Monsoon pakoras are one of them. The question isn't whether to fry — it's what you're frying in, and what that oil does to your food and your body over a lifetime of monsoon evenings.
Most Indian kitchens use refined sunflower oil or refined palmolein for frying. These oils are cheap, neutral-tasting, and widely available. They are also heavily processed — extracted using hexane solvents, bleached, deodorised, and stripped of the natural antioxidants and fatty acids that make traditional Indian cooking oils worth eating.
Cold-pressed groundnut oil is different. And it matters most precisely when you're using oil at high heat — which frying is.
What Happens to Oil at Frying Temperature
Deep frying and shallow frying in Indian cooking happens at 170–190°C. At these temperatures, the structure of cooking oil undergoes rapid chemical change. The rate and type of that change depends entirely on the oil's composition.
- Polyunsaturated fats (PUFA) — the dominant fat in sunflower and soybean oils — are chemically unstable at high heat. They oxidise rapidly, producing aldehydes, peroxides, and other degradation compounds that are ingested with every bite of food cooked in that oil.
- Monounsaturated fats (MUFA) — the dominant fat in groundnut oil (~46% oleic acid) — are significantly more heat-stable. They oxidise at a much slower rate, producing far fewer harmful compounds at frying temperatures.
- Saturated fats — most stable of all at high heat, which is why ghee (predominantly saturated) is Ayurveda's preferred cooking fat.
Groundnut oil's ~230°C smoke point is one of the highest among traditional Indian cooking oils — meaning it remains stable well within the temperature range of home frying.
The issue with most refined oils isn't just what's missing. It's what's been added by the processing — hexane residues from solvent extraction, bleaching agents, and deodorising chemicals that the refining process cannot fully remove.
Cold-Pressed vs Refined Groundnut Oil for Frying
Refined Groundnut Oil
- Hexane-extracted (solvent residues)
- Bleached and deodorised
- Vitamin E largely destroyed
- Natural resveratrol removed
- Neutral taste — no character
Cold-Pressed Groundnut Oil (TBOF)
- Mechanically pressed — no solvents
- Single-filtered, not bleached
- High natural Vitamin E (antioxidant)
- Resveratrol intact — anti-inflammatory
- Nutty character enhances food flavour
Vitamin E in cold-pressed groundnut oil isn't just a health claim — it's functionally relevant during frying. Vitamin E (tocopherols) acts as a natural antioxidant that slows the oxidative degradation of the oil at high temperatures. This means the oil remains more stable across multiple uses (though we still recommend replacing frying oil regularly) and produces fewer harmful oxidation byproducts in the food.
Classic Pakora Batter (Cold-Pressed Groundnut Oil Method)
Serves 4 · Ready in 20 minutes
- 1 cup besan (chickpea flour)
- ½ cup Khapli atta (adds fibre, slightly denser crust)
- 1 tsp ajwain (carom seeds)
- ½ tsp turmeric, 1 tsp chilli powder, 1 tsp cumin powder
- Salt to taste · Water to make a medium-thick batter
- Two Brothers Cold-Pressed Groundnut Oil for frying
Filling options: sliced onion, potato rounds, paneer cubes, methi leaves, raw banana slices.
Frying method: Heat oil to ~180°C. Test with a small drop of batter — it should rise to the surface within 2 seconds. Fry in small batches (crowding cools the oil and makes pakoras absorb more oil). Drain on a wire rack, not paper — this keeps the crust crisper.
The Khapli difference: Adding ½ cup Khapli atta to the besan batter creates a denser, crispier crust that absorbs slightly less oil during frying than a pure besan batter. A genuinely useful practical tip.
How Often Can You Reuse Frying Oil?
Cold-pressed groundnut oil can be reused for frying 2–3 times if handled well — strain it through a fine mesh after each use to remove food particles that would otherwise burn and degrade the oil faster. Discard when it becomes dark, foamy, or develops an acrid smell. Refined oils degrade faster when reused because they start with fewer natural antioxidants.
The Glyphosate Certification
Two Brothers' wood-pressed groundnut oil carries glyphosate-free certification from The Detox Project — one of the few cooking oils in India with this third-party certification. Glyphosate is applied to many commercial groundnut crops and can pass through into oil during processing. Cold-pressing retains the full profile of the groundnut, including any pesticide residues — which is why the source and certification matter even more for cold-pressed oils than for refined ones (which are processed so aggressively that residues, along with everything else, are largely removed).
Related reading
Two Brothers Cold-Pressed Groundnut Oil — no hexane, single-filtered, glyphosate-free certified, high Vitamin E. The natural choice for Indian frying.
Shop Groundnut OilFrequently Asked Questions
Q1. Does cold-pressed groundnut oil have a strong peanut smell?
Yes — a mild, pleasant nuttiness. This is considered a quality indicator, not a defect. Refined groundnut oil is deodorised to remove this smell entirely. If you find the flavour too strong for a particular dish, use it for frying (where the heat mellows it) rather than in salad dressings.
Q2. Is groundnut oil safe for people with peanut allergies?
Cold-pressed groundnut oil retains peanut proteins that refined groundnut oil does not. People with peanut allergies should avoid cold-pressed groundnut oil. Highly refined groundnut oil (where processing removes most proteins) may be tolerated, but this should be confirmed with an allergist.
Q3. What temperature should I heat groundnut oil for pakoras?
170–185°C is the ideal range. At this temperature, the batter sets quickly, sealing the surface and reducing oil absorption. Below 160°C, pakoras absorb significantly more oil before the crust sets. A kitchen thermometer is the most reliable way to check; otherwise, the drop test (batter rises within 2 seconds) works well.
