A snack that could be found at a stall of a street vendor to one
of the most popular restaurants of the city for sure is 'Pakora'. This lumpy,
deep fried, spicy and crispy snack best complements with khatti and meethi
chutney or tomato ketchup. It is crispy from the outside, and soft and tender
from the inside. Generally, there is no specific time to enjoy it, but a rainy
day, with a cool breeze and masala tea create the best environment to enjoy
pakoras to the fullest.
Varieties of Pakoras:
The pakora is a vegetarian snack, which is prepared from
chopped or sliced potatoes, onions with a few sliced veggies (veggies could be region specific) and chilies dipped in
chickpeas flour batter and deep fried till these lumpy chunks do not turn to
golden brown colour. There are few popular verities of pakoras like payaz pakoras prepared from onions, aaloo pakoras prepared from sliced potatos and palak pakoras prepared from spinach.
Bread Pakora: I believe it requires a separate blog and could easily be classified as a completely different snack. What makes it different is its shape and the way it is prepared, like rest of the pakodas everything is mixed with pickpeas flour and then made a batter, but for bread pakora batter is prepared separately and sliced bread is deeped in the batter just before frying.
Preparation: First bread is sliced in a triangular shape, boiled potato mixed with spices used as a filling placed between the bread slices and just before the frying it is dipped in chickpeas flour batter then placed in the frier and served with khatti and meethi chutney or ketchup.
Names:
The word 'Pakora' is derived from the Sanskrit language word 'Pakvavta' means a cooked small lump. Word Pakora is mostly used in the north Indian state and in other Indian states it is known with different names like in Maharastra and Gujrat known as 'Bhaji' or 'Bhajia' and in Southern Indian states as 'Bajji'.
Brief History:
There is no specific date and place where this snack was
first prepared or how it gained popularity. The interesting thing is that it was and is still enjoyed in almost every Indian state and countries of the Indian subcontinent. But, yes there have been few pieces of evidence of how this snack reached different parts of the world from India. Like 'tempura' a
famous Japanese dish actually inspired by Indian pakoras and Portuguese
merchants get the credit for taking this recipe from India to Japan. These merchants on their way to Japan had a halt in the Indian state named Gujarat and where they had their first interaction with pakoras. It was a totally new experience for them to have tasted something veg with taste. The Japanese
version of pakoras (Tempuras) is made from the wheat flour at the place of the chickpeas floor which gives a crispy touch to tempura and they used meat and seafood in the place of veggies.
In the beginning of the last century, many people started
experimenting with the nonveg version of the pakoras, which gave birth to
some popular snacks like egg bonda or egg pakora, fish pakora and chicken
pakora, but the traditional and original form of pakoras was Vegetarian.
Now:
Mostly in India, the popularity of snacks is region specific, like vada pav is more popular in Maharastra especially in Mumbai and tandoori chicken in north India, but pakora like samosa is popular pan India. Its taste might vary from region to region but it is liked by everybody. There is no doubt in saying that it is one of the favorite snacks of every party or celebration in India and in Indian subcontinent. In the last couple of decades wherever Indians have gone, they have introduced it to the locals and that has led to its global presence.
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