Bread Patties Recipe-Bread Pakora-How to make Bread Pakoda

Bread Pakoda or Bread patties is a crunch bread patties stuffed with spiced Potato filling, coated in seasoned gram flour batter and deep fried. It is one of the most popular Pakoda dishes that can be relished in Mumbai street food.

Dear readers, monsoon has finally expanded over most of Maharashtra and in particular, Pune, Mumbai and Konkan coast has been receiving plenty of rainfall. While my partner-in-crime is a sucker for winters, I am in love with rains.

I believe nothing could depict human emotions in a more apt way than the rains. A mild drizzle, a gentle shower or a torrential downpour, each a different form of rains and each depicting different shades of human emotions. Personally, I feel more connected with rains as it defines my personality.

Leaving aside the inconvenience caused in form of waterlogged roads and traffic snarls which are witnessed in every Indian metro city despite the month of planning by the city corporation to avert the crisis, I look forward to this season of the year with much excitement.  The reason for this admiration are quite a few.

Monsoons brings with it a whole host of dishes that are best enjoyed during rains. Pakodas and hot masala Chai being my utmost favorite.

In India the season of rains should officially be declared as “Chai-Pakoda season”, and pakoda also known as Bhaji or Bonda depending on which part of India you are in, should now officially be our national food!

Quite recently I happened to read an interesting piece of writing in Hindustan times by none other than the renowned journalist, columnist and celebrated food-writer Vir Sanghvi.  Titled ‘Take pride in the bonda or pakora. It is our gift to the world’, this column was an attempt by Mr. Vir Sanghvi to put the Bhajia at the pedestal that it so rightly deserves. In his words,” we Indians should take pride in the bonda or pakora. It is our gift to the world! Batter coated, deep fried and enjoyed across the country, the bhaja, bhajia, bonda or pakora is one dish for which we can take full credit.”

With that thought, we decided to celebrate next few weeks of Monsoon with some popular and delicious fritters/pakoda recipes. These are the dishes that are so widely prepared and served by the street food vendors pan India. These recipes are ideal for your chai pakoda parties, kitty parties and you can serve it to your family for tea-time snack.

We are starting our monsoon recipes series with this crunchy bread patties, also known as Bread Pakoda as you travel up north. Mumbaikars would find it easy to associate this dish with Batata Vada as the stuffing that goes in Bread Patties is much similar to what is used in Vadas but that is where the similarity ends. In Mumbai different street food vendors in their bid to attract more clientele, improvise this dish to different degree. However, a change that many of these vendors make and which is bound to produce great or dismal results is change in chutneys. Applying different kinds of chutneys on the bread slices is a way to elevate this street food experience.

I am using two kinds of chutneys in this recipe- Coriander Chutney and Red garlic Chutney, each applied on bread slices before bread pakoda is filled with stuffing, sealed, batter-coated and then deep-fried. This batter is seasoned with carom seeds to help ease of digestion, especially during rainy season.  If you can’t spare enough time for potato stuffing, there is an easy version of Bread pakoda which skips the stuff part. Season the besan batter with some powdered spices, apply chutneys on bread slices, dip them in batter and fry it in sizzling hot oil. I make this version when I don’t have time to boil potatoes and make stuff.

Enjoy this interesting snack for your tea-time. If you want to experience the feeling of Mumbai street food, then relish it with some Dry Garlic Coconut Chutney (Lasun Khobra), also popularly known as Wada-Pav Chutney and some deep fried Salted Green Chilies for some added zest.

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Bread Patties Recipe-Bread Pakora-How to make Bread Pakoda

Prep time:  15 mins

Cook time:  15 mins

Total time:  30 mins

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients

• 4 Boiled Potatoes (300gms)
• 1 Cup=125gms Gram Flour
• 6 Bread Slices
• 5-6 Curry Leaves
• 5 Green Chilies
• 1-inch Ginger root
• 7-8 Cloves of Garlic
• 1 small=60gms Onion-finely chopped
• ¼th Cup Fresh Coriander Leaves
• Coriander Chutney
• Garlic Chutney
• ½ tsp Mustard Seeds
• 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
• ¼th tsp Asafoetida Powder
• ½ tsp Turmeric Powder
• ¼ths tsp Red Chili Powder
• ½ tsp Carom Seeds
• Salt
• 1 tsp Lime Juice
• ½ tsp Sugar
• Cooking Oil

Instructions

1. Let's grind a green masala paste. Add Ginger, Green Chilies, Curry Leaves, Garlic, Lime Juice. Grind into a coarse paste. Coarse Green Paste is ready. We have used 1 tsp water while grinding
2. In a large bowl, put Gram flour. Add Turmeric Powder, Red Chili Powder, Carom Seeds. Add Salt to taste. Add 2 tbsp hot Oil in this batter. Add half quantity green masala. Reserve other half for stuff mixture and mix well.
3. Gradually add water and mix well. Whisk well. More you whisk the batter, it will be lighter and Pakoras will be soft and fluffier. Light and airy gram flour batter is now ready.
4. We have whisked well for 6-7 mins. Let's check the consistency. It must coat the back of the spoon. We have used ¾th Cup water. Cover and keep aside.
5. Heat 2 tbsp Oil in a Pan. Add Mustard Seeds, Cumin Seeds, Asafoetida Powder and chopped Onions. Fry until Onions become light brown in color. Onions become light brown in 4-5 mins.
6. Add Coriander Leaves. Add remaining masala paste and Salt. Cook well. We have cooked masala for 3-4 mins to get rid of raw flavor. Now add Sugar and mashed Potatoes. You can also add ¼tsp Turmeric Powder, if you want yellow colored stuffing. Mash potatoes well with the masala. Mash Potatoes well so that it can be spread on Bread Slices.
7. Add Coriander leaves and mix well. Remove the stuffing from the heat and allow it to cool down completely. Potato stuffing has cooled down now. Let’s start now
8. We have taken 2 Bread Slices. Do not trim the edges. Apply Green Chutney on one of the slice and spread it. Apply and spread red chutney on other slice. Now put Potato stuffing and spread it evenly with your palms. Put the other slice on top and cut into two triangles with a knife. Similarly, assemble all Pakoras
9. Let's check if Oil has become hot enough. Put few drops of batter. If it rises up on the surface immediately, then Oil is hot enough. If it sinks, then Oil in not sufficiently hot.
10. Dip stuffed Bread slices in batter and coat well. Drip the excess batter. Do not keep bread slices in batter for long. It may become soggy and may break while frying. Put coated bread slices in Oil
11. Fry Bread Pakoras from both sides on low-medium heat until it becomes golden brown in color. In about 2 mins, Bread Pakoras is ready. Remove from Oil
12. Make this Bread Pakora for your next Pakora Party. Serve with Dry Garlic-Coconut Chutney

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