Bread Pakora with Potato Filling

Introduction

The pakora is normally thought of as a vegetable fritter, yet the same batter-and-oil method works just as well on a sandwich of bread and potato, which is how bread pakora came about. Each triangle is dipped whole in a gram flour batter and fried until the crust is crisp and golden, while the filling inside stays hot, soft and generously spiced. It turns up at tea stalls and in home kitchens throughout North India, above all in the colder months when something hot and filling is welcome with a cup of tea, and it offers a way to turn ordinary sliced bread into a snack with far more body than toast.

Origin & Cultural Context

Bread pakora is a late arrival to the pakora family, because it could only exist once sliced white bread had become an everyday item in Indian homes, something that spread through the cities during the twentieth century as bakeries and packaged loaves multiplied. Tea stalls and home kitchens in Delhi, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh are where it is most often found, while other regions have their own stuffed and fried breads under different names and with different fillings, so it is not tied to a single place. The dish shows how a foreign staple, in this case bread, was pulled into an old technique of batter and hot oil, and it is a fair reminder that Indian street cooking has always taken in new ingredients while keeping its methods, rather than standing still as a closed tradition.

Method

1. Prep

   Season the mashed potato

   Combine the mashed potato with the green chilli, ginger, turmeric, chilli powder, roasted cumin, amchur, coriander and salt, and stir until the seasoning is evenly spread. Taste it and correct it, because the filling has to be boldly flavoured by itself, given that the bread and the batter around it are fairly mild.

2. Prep

   Build the sandwiches

   Smooth a generous, even layer of filling over one slice of bread, taking it right to the edges, and lay a second slice on top. Press down lightly so the layers stay together, then cut the sandwich on the diagonal into two triangles. Do the same with the rest of the bread and filling.

3. Prep

   Whisk the batter

   Mix the gram flour, rice flour, chilli powder, turmeric, ajwain, baking soda and salt, then pour in water a little at a time to get a smooth, medium-thick batter that fully coats the back of a spoon. It should be looser than the batter used for mixed-vegetable pakoras, because it has to cover a flat surface evenly instead of clinging to loose pieces.

4. Cook

   Coat and fry

   Bring the oil to 170°C (340°F). Hold each triangle carefully so none of the filling slips out, dip it all the way into the batter so every cut edge and both faces are covered, and lower it gently into the oil. Fry 2 to 3 pieces together, turning once, for about 3 to 4 minutes in all, until they are deep golden and crisp on every side.

5. Cook

   Lift out and drain

   Remove the pieces with a slotted spoon and rest them on a wire rack. The bread inside traps heat and steam during frying, so leave each batch for about a minute before serving, which lets the centre settle and stops it from being scalding and mushy.

6. Serve

   Serve while hot

   Bread pakora is at its best straight away, while the coating still crackles and the filling is hot, with tomato ketchup, tamarind chutney or a mint-coriander chutney on the side.

Substitutions

Any plain sliced bread will work, whole wheat included, and a slice that is a little stale actually holds together better than very fresh, soft bread, which tends to tear in the batter. Many cooks add a thin layer of grated cheese to the filling. For something simpler, replace the potato with just a thin smear of green chutney.

Adjusting the Spice Level

Since both the filling and the batter carry spice, it is easy to end up with something hotter than you meant if each is seasoned at full strength, so keep the batter mild, even leaving out its chilli powder, when the filling is already assertive, or the other way round. The fresh green chilli in the filling gives the most noticeable heat and is the simplest thing to adjust. A thin coat of green chutney on the bread before the potato goes on is a common way to add both heat and tang without changing the potato mixture.

Storage & Reheating

Storage: Bread pakora is best eaten fresh, because the bread inside goes soft quickly and does not keep the way a drier fried snack does. If you have to hold them, leave them uncovered at room temperature for up to an hour and crisp them again in the oven before serving; refrigeration and freezing are not recommended, as the texture of the bread suffers badly.

Reheating: Warm them in an oven or toaster oven at 180°C (350°F) for 6 to 8 minutes. A microwave will heat the filling but makes the coating soft and the bread somewhat soggy.