Bread Pakora - Bread slices Fried With Gram Flour Batter
Bread Pakora or Bhajia
Mamta Gupta
Bread pakoras are often sold by street hawkers and small tea stalls in India, crisp and hot, freshly made as you watch. They are tasty and quite filling, we often had them for breakfast while growing up. You can make them on their own or make a few when you are making any other type of pakoras, as part of a mixed pakora platter. Pakoras are also known as bhajia or bhajies in UK (not bhaji). The word bhaji is generally used for a dry vegetable dish, without gravy.
Makes 16
Ingredients
4 bread slices (thinly sliced), cut into 4 squares or riangles each
1 cup besan or gram flour or chickpea flour
1/2-3/4 tsp. carom seeds or ajwain
A large pinch of baking powder
1/2 tsp. chilli powder, adjust to taste
Salt to taste
1 tbsp. chopped coriander leaves
1-2 green chillies, chopped finely, adjust to taste
Water to make batter
Oil for deep frying
(You can add other things to the batter, like Chat Masala , 1 tbsp. of dry methi/fenugreek leaves, 1 finely chopped onion etc. , but in our house, we prefer them simple and crisp.
Optional
1 chopped onions added to the to the batter
Instructions
Cut Bread slices into desired shapes (like triangle, rectangle, finger shape)
Sift besan/gram flour in a bowl. This will remove/break any lumps in the flour.
Add carom seeds, baking powder, chilli powder and salt. Make a batter with water of dropping consistency.
Add coriander leaves and chopped chillies. Mix.
Heat oil in a karahi/karahi or wok. It should not be smoking hot. Very hot oil will result in pakoras cooking too quickly and not getting crisp. When you drop a test spoon of batter in it, it should sizzle and rise to the surface slowly.
Dip one bread piece at a time in batter, shake of excess batter and gently drop it in the oil from the side of the wok.
Fry until golden brown (not deep brown) and crisp.
Serve hot with Green Mango Chutney or Tomato Ketchup.
Also see Chat Selection
Notes
Also see Chat Selection
