on Apr 04, 2019, Updated Jul 12, 2024
What is Bread Pakora?
It is a very famous Indian snack especially popular in Punjab, that you’ll find at most Indian street food stalls and small restaurants. It’s basically bread sliced coated with a gram flour batter and deep fried. It’s a hot favourite snack to munch on during the monsoons, there’s nothing like a cup of hot chai with freshly made hot bread pakoras. These pakoras can be prepared with or without a stuffing, today I’m posting a plain version of it. There is just something divine about coating bread slices and frying them in hot oil. A bite into these pakoras are sure to make your day super special, it might not be the healthiest snack to binge on, but with these pakoras, the added calories are definitely worth it. We always look forward to our evening chai or a cup of hand-beaten coffee with a light snack. Some of the other snack recipes you could try are Sesame Grilled Paneer, Spicy Sabudana Khichdi, Palak Pakora and Red Rice Kanda Poha.
Ingredients
You will need basic ingredients to make Bread pakora. These are mostly available in any Indian pantry and if not you can easily buy them from any Indian Grocery Store. Use fine besan to make this recipe. You can add chopped coriander leaves, green chillies, and grated ginger in the besan batter to make the pakoras more flavourful. Ajwain also adds a nice taste to the dish and makes it easily digestible but you can choose to skip it. If you are making Aloo Bread Pakoda, you will need potato filling to stuff inside the bread slices. You can also add onion paste, ginger-garlic paste and green chilli paste in the besan batter.
How to make Bread Pakora without stuffing?
To make this delicious Indian snack, bread slices, you could use brown bread or white bread depending on your choice is cut diagonally into slices and kept aside. All the ingredients like besan, salt, finely chopped green chilli, finely chopped coriander, ajwain, and turmeric, except for the bread slices are mixed in a bowl. Water is added to the mix in order to make a nice batter. The batter is checked such that it forms a thin layer on the back of a spoon. Then oil is heated in a pan, and once the oil is hot, the heat is kept at medium-low. The prepared bread slices are then dipped into the besan batter and dropped carefully into the hot oil. The bread is to be fried on both sides until it gets a golden brown hue. Bread slices are taken off the heat and transferred onto a tissue lined plate. It’s important to see to it that the pan is not overcrowded while frying the pakoras, as they may stick together if not done right.
How to make Stuffed Bread Pakora?
You can stuff the bread pakoda with paneer or aloo. The stuffed Bread Pakora is also called Sandwich Bread Pakoda as there is a filling sandwiched between two slices of bread. To make stuffed bread pakodas, make a filling of your choice using either paneer, potato, or a mixture of both. To make Aloo Bread Pakoda Filling, heat 2 teaspoon oil in a pan. Add hing and cumin seeds to it and let them crackle for a few seconds. Add ginger paste and green chillies and fry for a few seconds. Now add chilli powder, turmeric powder, anardana powder, chaat masala, and garam masala powder. Add mashed boiled potatoes and salt and mix everything well. Top with chopped coriander. Cool the filling and use it to stuff the bread pakoda. You can make the other filling in the same manner. I also make Egg Bread Pakora sometimes. To make it, grate boiled eggs and add coriander, green chilli, salt and pepper to it. Now apply some ketchup on the bread triangles and sandwich the egg filling between two triangles. A filling made using fresh green peas will also taste delicious. Be creative and come up with your own filling ideas 🙂 Take two triangles of bread and sandwich the filling between them. Now dip the slices in besan mixture and fry. Stuffed Bread pakoras are heavier to eat but tastes delicious because of the filling. You can also stuff these with a chicken filling. Paneer Bread Pakoda is another favourite. Slather the bread triangles with spicy chutney and keep a thin triangular piece of paneer in between two slices. Now dip this in batter and fry. Cheese Bread Pakoda can be made by keeping a slice of cheese between the bread and then frying it. The cheese melts while frying and tastes amazing.
Serving Suggestions
These pakoras taste best when hot with some coriander chutney. This bread pakoda is just the perfect snack to eat with your evening tea; it’s enjoyed by children and adults alike. I also like to serve some tomato ketchup along with the Green Chutney. Sweet Tamarind Chutney also goes well with it. You might also like Matar Kachori Double ka Meetha Crispy Corn
Step by Step Recipe
Mix all the ingredients except bread slices in a bowl. I made these using some rice flour as well as you can see in the pic below, but personally liked the ones made without adding rice flour. You can try adding some and see if you like the texture.
Add water and make a batter. Batter should be just good enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Heat oil for frying. Once the oil is hot, simmer the heat to medium low. Dip the bread slices in the batter and drop them in hot oil.
Deep fry until golden brown from both the sides. Drain on a tissue lined plate. Serve hot with coriander chutney. Do not over crowd the pan while frying the pakora.
