Bread pakora

Triangles of white bread in gram flour batter, often with potato between two slices.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 8 slices white bread
• 400 g potatoes, boiled and crushed
• 2 green chillies, chopped
• a 3 cm piece of ginger, grated
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon amchur, dried mango powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• a handful of coriander leaves
• 200 g gram flour
• 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• about 200 ml water
• oil for deep frying

Method

1. TRIANGLES OF WHITE BREAD IN GRAM FLOUR BATTER, OFTEN WITH POTATO BETWEEN TWO SLICES. Its article gives the shape, the batter and the filling in one sentence: the snack IS PREPARED BY DIPPING TRIANGULAR BREAD SLICES IN A SPICY GRAM FLOUR BATTER AND FRYING THEM. STUFFING SUCH AS MASHED POTATOES IS COMMON. Triangles, not squares or fingers.
2. AND ITS NAME IS HONEST ABOUT WHAT IT IS. The article notes it is ALSO KNOWN AS BREAD BHAJI (OR BAJJI), and takes pakora back to the Sanskrit PAKVAVATA, from PAKVA ('COOKED') AND VATA ('A SMALL LUMP'). It is a pakora whose vegetable is a slice of bread.
3. MAKE THE POTATO FILLING FIRST AND KEEP IT STIFF. Crushed potato with chilli, ginger, cumin, amchur, salt and coriander, mixed and left to cool. Spreadable but not wet.
4. SPREAD IT ON FOUR SLICES, TOP WITH THE OTHER FOUR, AND PRESS. Right to the edges, about a centimetre thick, then pressed down firmly so the sandwich holds when it is lifted by one corner.
5. CUT EACH SANDWICH CORNER TO CORNER INTO TWO TRIANGLES. Eight triangles. A sharp knife in one stroke: sawing drags the filling out of the sides.
6. THE BATTER WANTS TO BE THICK, AND THE BREAD GIVES YOU NO SECOND CHANCE. Gram flour, chilli powder, salt, soda and water to the consistency of double cream. Bread soaks, so dip and lift in one movement -- held in the batter it will collapse.
7. FRY AT A MEDIUM HEAT, TWO OR THREE MINUTES A SIDE. Hot oil browns the batter before the bread inside has dried out, and the result is greasy. Medium, until even gold, then out onto a rack.
8. SERVED WITH CHUTNEY OR KETCHUP, AND ITS ARTICLE ALLOWS THE EASIER COOKING TOO. IT CAN BE DEEP-FRIED OR PAN-FRIED, AND IS SERVED WITH CHUTNEYS OR KETCHUP -- it names tamarind, and coriander with lime.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes