Haggis pakora is a Scottish
snack food that combines traditional Scottish
haggis
Haggis ( gd, taigeis) is a savoury pudding containing sheep's pluck (heart, liver, and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and cooked while traditionally encased in the animal's stomach though n ...
ingredients with the spices, batter and preparation method of Indian and Pakistani
pakora
Pakora () is a spiced fritter originating from the Indian subcontinent. They are sold by street vendors and served in restaurants in South Asia and UK. It consists of items, often vegetables such as potatoes and onions, coated in seasoned gram ...
s. It has become a popular food in Indian and Pakistani restaurants in Scotland, and is also available in prepared form in supermarkets.
Origins
Haggis pakora has been described as a "highly improbable Indo-Caledonian alliance making use of the Scots' most potent culinary weapons: sheep pluck (
heart, liver and lungs) and deep-fat frying." It has more fondly been called "an inspired example of Indo-Gael fusion". Haggis pakoras are just one of the many haggis
fusion foods that have arisen in recent years. Others include haggis samosas, haggis spring rolls, haggis lasagna and haggis quesadillas. Often these use vegetarian haggis rather than the traditional haggis made from a sheep's stomach stuffed with the chopped up lung, heart and liver of the sheep mixed with oatmeal.
The dish appears to have been the creation of the
Sikh community during a Scottish Mela held at the SEC in 1992–3, where, with collaboration with the Exec. Chef at the time Bill McMeekin, he was asked for ideas on how to combine Scottish produce and Indian culinary influences. During some practical experiments, it was found that haggis could be used in the same way as other pakora ingredients. Haggis pakoras have become popular appetizers in Indian restaurants in Scotland, where they appeal to what an English food writer (Felicity Cloake) sneeringly described as “the Scottish predilection for deep-frying anything that will stay still long enough to be dunked in batter”. In 2013, it was reported that a
Greenock meat products company had launched prepared haggis pakoras. The product had won the Best Innovative Product prize at the BPEX Foodservice Awards 2013. The Scottish celebrity chef
Tony Singh served haggis pakora at a pop-up restaurant during the 2015
Edinburgh Festival
__NOTOC__
This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...
.
Preparation
The haggis is cooked in its skin in the normal way. The skin is discarded and the contents (meat, oats, etc.) broken up with a fork.
The mixture may be spiced with
ginger,
cumin seeds,
coriander seeds,
turmeric
Turmeric () is a flowering plant, ''Curcuma longa'' (), of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae, the rhizomes of which are used in cooking. The plant is a perennial, rhizomatous, herbaceous plant native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast ...
and
garam masala
Garam masala Hindustani_language.html"_;"title="rom_Hindustani_language">Hindustani_/_(''garm_masala'',_"hot_spices")is_a_Spice_mix.html" ;"title="Hindustani language">Hindustani / (''garm masala'', "hot spices")">Hindustani_language.html" ;"tit ...
.
A thick batter is made of
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, ...
,
chili powder
Chili powder (also spelled chile, chilli, or, alternatively, powdered chili) is the dried, pulverized fruit of one or more varieties of chili pepper, sometimes with the addition of other spices (in which case it is also sometimes known as chili p ...
,
cumin, salt,
yogurt
Yogurt (; , from tr, yoğurt, also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. The bacteria used to make yogurt are known as ''yogurt cultures''. Fermentation of sugars in the milk by these bac ...
and
lemon juice
The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China.
The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culina ...
.
The meat is shaped into balls, coated with the batter and then deep fried in oil.
The pakora is fried for 3–4 minutes, and is ready when the batter is crisp and golden.
Haggis pakoras may be served with a dipping sauce made of chopped
tomato
The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...
es,
ketchup
Ketchup or catsup is a table condiment with a sweet and tangy flavor. The unmodified term ("ketchup") now typically refers to tomato ketchup, although early recipes used egg whites, mushrooms, oysters, grapes, mussels, or walnuts, among o ...
,
cayenne,
paprika,
chili sauce
Chili sauce and chili paste are condiments prepared with chili peppers.
Chili sauce may be hot, sweet or a combination thereof, and may differ from hot sauce in that many sweet or mild varieties exist, which is typically lacking in hot sauces ...
, lemon juice and
beef stock
Stock, sometimes called bone broth, is a savory cooking liquid that forms the basis of many dishes particularly soups, stews, and sauces. Making stock involves simmering animal bones, meat, seafood, or vegetables in water or wine, often for an ...
.
They may also be served with a creamy yogurt sauce.
Haggis pakoras may also be made from vegetarian haggis, and may be served with mango chutney in place of the dipping sauce.
Another variant places vegetarian haggis inside mushroom caps, which are then battered and fried as before.
Notes
See also
*
List of deep fried foods
This is a list of deep fried foods and dishes. Deep frying is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, such as cooking oil. This is normally performed with a deep fryer or chip pan, and industrially, a pressure fryer or vacuum ...
*
List of Indian dishes
This is a list of Indian dishes. Many of the dishes on this list are made all across India. Indian cuisine encompasses a wide variety of regional cuisine native to India. Given the range of diversity in soil type, climate and occupations, these ...
*
List of Pakistani dishes
*
*
*
*
*
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{refend
Scottish cuisine
Deep fried foods
British snack foods
Pakora, haggis