Bread Pakora
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Bread Pakora, a popular street food and teatime snack from Indian cuisine, is a perfect snack to serve with a cup of tea in cool relaxing winter evening or rainy afternoon. Similar to bhajji, it is essentially a deep fried snack having crisp outer coating of besan (chickpea flour). There are two different ways to prepare bread pakodas; 1) with mashed potato stuffing, and 2) without potato stuffing. This recipe explains the first option of preparing Bread Pakoda with Stuffed Potato Masala with detailed directions and accompanying photo for each step. Here is the high level overview of the process; bread slices are stuffed with the potato masala and cut into triangle shaped pieces, these are then dipped in the gram flour batter and deep fried until crispy. If you want to make bread pakoras without stuffing then just ignore the stuffing process and dip each bread slices in the gram flour batter and follow the same process.
| Ingredients: |
| 6 Bread Slices |
| Oil, for deep frying |
| For Stuffing: |
| 2 medium potatoes (approx. 200 gm), boiled |
| 1 Green Chilli, finely chopped |
| 2 tablespoons finely chopped Coriander Leaves |
| 1/2 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder |
| 1 teaspoon Cumin-Coriander Powder, optional |
| 1/4 teaspoon Dry Mango Powder |
| A pinch of Garam Masala Powder |
| Salt to taste |
| For Outer Coating: |
| 1 cup Gram Flour (besan/chickpea flour) |
| 1 tablespoon Rice Flour (or gram flour), optional |
| A pinch of Baking Soda |
| 1/4 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder |
| Water (1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons) or as needed |
| Salt to taste |
Directions for Stuffing:
- Peel boiled potatoes.
- Mash or grate them and transfer to a bowl. Add 1 finely chopped green chilli, 2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander leaves, 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder, 1 teaspoon cumin-coriander powder, 1/4 teaspoon dry mango powder, a pinch of garam masala powder and salt.
- Mix well. Taste for the seasonings and add more if required. Stuffing masala is ready.
- Take 1 cup gram flour, 1 tablespoon rice flour, a pinch of baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon red chilli powder and salt in a wide mouthed bowl.
- Add water as needed (approx. 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons) and mix well to make the batter.
- Batter should not be too thick or too thin. It should have consistency like bajii/pakora batter.
- Take one bread slice and spread stuffing mixture evenly over it. Don’t over stuff the mixture.
- Cover it with another bread slice and gently press it. Cut it diagonally into two triangle shaped pieces as shown in the photo.
- Prepare all bread slices (raw pakoras) in same way.
- Heat oil for deep frying bread pakoras over medium flame. Check if oil is hot enough for deep frying by adding a small drop of batter in it. If it comes on the surface gradually without changing the color, it is medium hot and ready for frying. If it doesn’t come on the surface it means oil is not hot enough. If it comes on the surface immediately and turns brown it means oil is too hot. Dip each triangle shaped piece in batter.
- Coat it evenly on all sides with the batter.
- Gently lift it with your hand and slide it in the medium hot oil.
- Deep fry until bottom surface turns light golden brown. It will take approx. 1-2 minutes.
- Flip it and deep fry another side until bottom surface turns light golden and crispy. Fry both sides until it turns crispy and light golden brown on all sides.
- Remove it from the oil using a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate lined with paper napkin. Deep fry remaining bread pakodas in same way and serve hot or warm.
Tips and Variations:
- Add 1-2 cloves of crushed garlic in stuffing masala in step-2 for additional flavor.
- Spread 1-2 teaspoons green chutney or garlic chutney evenly on inner side of bread slices before spreading the potato masala. This gives a nice flavor to it.
- Add boiled green peas or paneer or sautéed (stir-fried) onion mixture to make the stuffing.
- Add salt while boiling the potatoes to enhance the taste.
- Make sure that the batter is not too thick or not too thin. If it is too thick, add little water to dilute it. If it is too thin, add little flour and mix well.
- Deep fry pakora immediately after dipping it into batter. Keeping them aside after dipping in batter or keeping them in batter will turn bread soggy and difficult to deep fry. Dip one pakora at a time and slide it in hot oil for deep frying.
Taste: Mild spicy with crispy outer layer.
Serving Ideas: Serve bread pakora with tomato ketch up and tea as the afternoon snack. It can be also served in the kids party with green chilli chutney and tomato ketchup.