Pakora () is a

fritter A fritter is a portion of meat, seafood, fruit, vegetables, or other ingredients which have been Batter (cooking), battered or breading, breaded, or just a portion of dough without further ingredients, that is deep-frying, deep-fried. Fritters ar ...

originating from the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

. They are sold by street vendors and served in restaurants across

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

. They often consist of vegetables such as potatoes and onions, which are coated in seasoned gram flour batter and deep-fried. Other spellings include pikora, pakoda, and pakodi, and regional names include bhaji, bhajiya, bora, ponako, and chop.

Etymology

The word ''pakoṛā'' is derived from

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

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'. The word ''Bhajji'' is derived from the

word ''Bharjita'' meaning ''fried''. Some divergence of transliteration may be noted in the third consonant in the word. The sound is a hard 'da' in the

Telugu language Telugu (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language native to the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where it is also the official language. Spoken by about 96 million people (2022), Telugu is the most widely spoken member of ...

and the 'ra' sound would be an incorrect pronunciation. The sound is the

retroflex flap The voiced retroflex flap is a type of consonantal sound, used in some Speech communication, spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , a letter ''r'' with tail, and the equivalent X-SAMPA ...

, which is written in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

with the letter ड़, and in

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

with the 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 for this sound, because etymologically, it derives from ड . The occurrence of this consonant in the word ''pakora'' has given rise to two common alternative spellings in English: ''pakoda'', which reflects its

etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

, and ''pakora'', which reflects its

phonology Phonology (formerly also phonemics or phonematics: "phonemics ''n.'' 'obsolescent''1. Any procedure for identifying the phonemes of a language from a corpus of data. 2. (formerly also phonematics) A former synonym for phonology, often pre ...

History

An early variation of pakora appears in Sanskrit literature and Tamil Sangam literature but the recipe is not clearly provided as they only mention it as 'a round cake made of pulse fried in oil' and 'crispy fried vegetables' which were served as part of the meals. Early known recipes come from Manasollasa (1130 CE) cookbook which mentions ''"Parika"'' (pakoda) and the method of preparing it with vegetables and gram flour. Lokopakara (1025 CE) cookbook also mentions unique pakora recipe where gram flour is pressed into fish-shaped moulds and fried in mustard oil.

Preparation

Pakoras are made by coating ingredients, usually vegetables, in a spiced batter, and then deep frying them. Common varieties of pakora use

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...

, masoor dal (lentil), suji (semolina), chicken, arbi root and leaves,

eggplant Eggplant (American English, US, Canadian English, CA, Australian English, AU, Philippine English, PH), aubergine (British English, UK, Hiberno English, IE, New Zealand English, NZ), brinjal (Indian English, IN, Singapore English, SG, Malays ...

, potato,

chili pepper Chili peppers, also spelled chile or chilli ( ), are varieties of fruit#Berries, berry-fruit plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for their pungency. They are used as a spice to ...

, spinach, paneer, cauliflower, mint, plantain or baby corn. The batter is most commonly made with gram flour or a mixture of gram flour and rice 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, ginger, cardamom, turmeric and coriander.

Serving

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

Regional names

A gram-flour fritter is known in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

as ''pakoda'' or ''bajji'', in

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

as ''bhajia'', in

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

as ''bhaji'', and in

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

and

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

as '' bajji'' or ''pakodi''. ''Pakoda''in

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

(some parts) "Jhal pitha" may be interpreted in these states as deep-fried balls of finely chopped onions, green chilis, and spices mixed in gram flour. In

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

, it is known as ''bora''.

Gallery

File:Pakoramumbai.jpg, Pakoras being deep-fried in gram flour batter File:Pakora (6005558506).jpg, Onion and green leaf pakoras File:Taste of the Himalayas at farmers market - May 2018 - Stierch 07.jpg, Onion pakoras served with mint chutney File:Chicken pakora in Jätkäsaari.jpg, Chicken pakoras File:19th June 2015 Pakora.jpg, Close-up of spinach pakora File:Aesthetic Pakoda.jpg, Onion pakora File:Bread Pakoda 1.jpg, Bread pakora made by frying bread slices coated with gram flour File:Pakoras in Jaipur.jpg, Pakoras sold in

Jaipur Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...

File:Food-Chicken-Pakoda.jpg, Another variety of chicken pakoras File:Kadhipakora Rayagada Odisha 0017.jpg, Pakoras used in ''Kadhi Pakora'', a yogurt-based curry eaten with rice File:Palak Pakoras.jpg, Spinach pakoras File:Kadhi Pakora.jpg, ''Kadhi Pakora'' : pakoras in a spiced yogurt gravy served with rice or roti

References

{{Doughnuts Indian snack foods Indian cuisine Vegetarian dishes of India Hindu cuisine South Asian cuisine Vegetarian cuisine Indian fast food North Indian cuisine Desi culture Stuffed dishes South Indian cuisine Bangladeshi snack foods Bangladeshi fast food Pakistani snack foods Pakistani fast food Nepalese cuisine Bangladeshi cuisine Fritters