Bakarwadi in Marathi Maharashtrian traditional crispy, deep-fried, disc-shaped, sweet and spicy snack popular in western state Maharashtra in India. It was already popular before 1960 when these were not Gujarat nor Maharashtra state; they were both Bombay State and both cultures added their own flavors in each other's recipes.

History

It is believed that Bhakar comes from

Bhakri Bhakri () is a round flatbread (roti) often used in the cuisine of the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Karnataka in India. The bhakri prepared using jowar or bajra is coarser than a regular wheat chapati. Bhakri can be either soft ...

and once rolled with masala stuffing (Vadi) and cut and fried it becomes Bhakar-Vadi. Chitale Bandhu of

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

and Jagdish-Farsan of

Vadodara Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capita ...

popularized the snack by distributing it nationally and internationally. It was popularized by Raghunathrao Chitale, a Marathi businessman. In the 1970s, Narsinha Chitale tasted Bakarwadi, a popular Gujrati snack made by his neighbor. The only difference was that the neighbor made a 'Nagpuri' variant of the snack. Popularly known as 'Pudachi Vadi,' this "Nagpuri" variant was an extremely spicy roll, whereas the Gujrati staple snack has many garlic and onions. The amalgamation of the spicy Pudachi Vadi and the shape of Gujarati Bakarwadi is the iconic Chitale Bakarwadi. The combining the spiciness of the Nagpuri Pudachi Vadi and the shape of the Gujarati Bakarwadi and deep fry it for more crispiness,” says Indraneel. The recipe, perfected by Narasinha’s elder sister-in-law, Vijaya, and wife, Mangala, went on sale in 1976. This iconic Chitale-Bakarwadi was launched in the market in 1976 (Chitale Dairy since 1939,Chitalebandhu Mithaiwale since 1950 and Chitale-Bakarwadi since 1976), and shortly the brand saw a massive surge in demand for this snack. Jagdish-Farsan(Since 1938) (Jagdish Bhakharwadi) is famous during 1938-1960 in Gujarat. Many other brands like Haldiram also started to manufacture this snack.

Recipe

Bakarwadi is made from

gram flour Gram flour or kadala maavu is a pulse flour made from a variety of ground chickpea called Bengal gram or ''kaala chana''. It is a staple ingredient in the cuisine of the Indian subcontinent, including in Indian, Bangladeshi, Burmese, Nepali, ...

dough made into spirals stuffed with a mixture of coconut, poppy seeds and

sesame seed Sesame ( or ; ''Sesamum indicum'') is a flowering plant in the genus '' Sesamum'', also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cu ...

s. It is then fried until it gets crispy. It can be stored for weeks and enjoyed as an evening snack.

In popular culture

Bhakharwadi aired on Sony SAB from 2019 to 2020. The comedy revolves around two neighboring families in

- one

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

and other

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

- that differ in their attitudes towards the snack.

References

External links

{{commons Indian desserts Indian snack foods Indian fast food Gujarati cuisine Maharashtrian cuisine