Pakora

Not to be confused with Pacora.

Pakora

Pakoras
Alternative names	Pakoda, pikora, bhajiya, pakodi, ponako, pakura, fakkura, phulauri, bora, chop
Type	Fritter
Course	Appetizer or snack
Place of origin	South Asia
Region or state	South Asia
Associated national cuisine	India Bangladesh Pakistan Nepal
Main ingredients	Vegetables Gram Flour Spices
Variations	Potato Eggplant Onion Cauliflower Spinach Mixed vegetables Paneer Chicken
Similar dishes	Kyet thun kyaw Pholourie

Pakora (pronounced [pəˈkɔːɽa]) is a spiced fritter originating from the Indian subcontinent, sold by street vendors and served in restaurants in South Asia and worldwide. It consists of items, often vegetables such as potatoes and onions, coated in seasoned gram flour batter and deep fried.

The pakora is known also under other spellings including pikora, pakoda, pakodi and regional names such as bhaji, bhajiya, bora and chop.

Preparation

Pakoras are made by coating ingredients, usually vegetables, in a spiced batter, then deep frying them.

Common varieties of pakora use onion, eggplant, potato, spinach, plantain, paneer, cauliflower, tomato, or chili pepper, but other foodstuffs can be made into pakoras such as meat or fish.

The batter is most commonly made with gram flour but variants can use other flours, such as buckwheat flour. The spices used in the batter are up to the cook and may be chosen due to local tradition or availability; often these include fresh and dried spices such as chilli, fenugreek and coriander.

Serving

Pakoras are eaten as a snack or appetiser, often accompanied with tamarind sauce, chutney or raita. They are also offered with masala chai to guests at Indian wedding ceremonies.

Pakora in Jaipur

Regional names

A gram flour fritter is known in Gujarat as bhajia, in Maharashtra as bhaji, in Andhra Pradesh/Telangana and Karnataka as bajji or "Pakodi". In Tamil Nadu as Pakoda. In Bengali it may be called bora (বড়া) or chop (চপ) depending on how and when it is eaten. Pakoda may be interpreted in these states as deep fried balls of finely chopped onions, green chilis, and spices mixed in gram flour.

Etymology

The word pakoṛā is derived from Sanskrit पक्ववट pakvavaṭa, a compound of pakva ('cooked') and vaṭa ('a small lump') or its derivative vaṭaka, 'a round cake made of pulse fried in oil or ghee'.

Some divergence of transliteration may be noted in the third consonant in the word. The sound is a hard 'da' in the Telugu language and the 'ra' sound would be an incorrect pronunciation. The sound is the retroflex flap [ɽ], which is written in Hindi with the Devanagari letter ड़, and in Urdu with letter ڑ.

However, in the International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, the Hindi letter ड़ is transliterated as <ṛ>, popular or non-standard transliterations of Hindi use <d> for this sound, because etymologically, it derives from ड /ɖ/. The occurrence of this consonant in the word pakora has given rise to two common alternative spellings in English: pakoda, which reflects its etymology, and pakora, which reflects its phonology.

Gallery

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  Pakoras with curry sauce in Zürich

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  Close-up of pakora containing spinach

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  Banana pakora, made from green raw banana slices dipped in Singhara flour (water chestnut flour)

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  Onion pakora

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  Groundnut pakor

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  Buckwheat pakora, which are made during Hindu fasting seasons and holidays

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  Bread pakora, made by deep-frying bread slices coated with gram flour

See also

• List of deep fried foods
• List of Indian dishes
• Bhaji – deep fried fritters served as fast food in India
• Bread pakora – Indian fried snack
• Haggis pakora
• Samosa
• Vada – Category of savoury fried snacks from India