Pakora

A pakora is a fritter of vegetables or other ingredients coated in a seasoned gram flour batter and deep-fried. It comes from the Indian subcontinent, where it is sold by street vendors and served in restaurants across the region.

History

The pakora belongs to the frying tradition of the Indian subcontinent. Fried lentil cakes appear in Sanskrit and Tamil Sangam literature, although those texts do not describe the recipe in detail. The first cookbooks that explain its preparation are the Lokopakara, dated to around 1025 CE, which describes gram flour pressed into moulds and fried in mustard oil, and the Manasollasa, from about 1130 CE, which includes a vegetable version.

The name derives from the Sanskrit pakvavaṭa, a compound of pakva ('cooked') and vaṭa ('a small lump'). Regional names vary: pakoda or bajji in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, bhajia in Gujarat, bhaji in Maharashtra, and bajka or tarua in the Bhojpuri region, among others.

With the migration of Indian and Pakistani communities, the pakora reached takeaway restaurants in Europe and beyond. It is especially popular in England, and in Scotland it has given rise to variants such as the haggis pakora.

Culture

Pakoras are mainly eaten as a snack or starter, and in India they are often served as an appetiser in restaurants. They are usually accompanied by chutney, such as mint chutney, or by raita, a yogurt sauce. At Indian weddings they are offered to guests alongside masala chai.

Gram flour is the common base, binding the ingredients and giving the crisp coating. The most frequent varieties include onion, spinach (palak pakora), paneer, cauliflower, potato and chicken. Onion pakoras are also called bhayi or bhuyia. A well-known dish is kadhi pakora, in which the fritters are served in a spiced yogurt gravy with rice or roti.

Today pakoras form part of street food and of Indian restaurant menus around the world, where they are offered alongside other fried snacks.

Trivia