Bread pakora recipe, a quick bread snack recipe – Bread pakora also known as bread pakoda is a popular breakfast, tea time snack and a popular street food of India, mainly in Mumbai. One gets to see these even in the tiffin centers & restaurants across India. There are 2 ways these are made, First one is plain bread pakora and the other is potato stuffed one.
The plain one are made without stuffing. The other ones are made similar to the bread rolls or bread bonda but not the same.
To make plain bread pakora, just dip the bread slices in batter and deep fry. You can use the same recipe mentioned below, skip making the stuffing.
Here the potato stuffed Bread sandwich is dipped in pakora batter i.e the besan batter and fried.
These crisp fried delicious bread pakora are heavy and go great as a weekend or party snack.
You may like these Bread snacks recipes and crunchy Pakora recipes.
Step-by-step photos
Preparation to make bread pakora
1. Steam or boil 3 medium sized potatoes until just cooked. Do not over cook as they turn soggy. I steam them in a pressure cooker. You can also use a steamer or just boil in the pan with little water.
You can also pressure cook the whole potatoes in cooker for 2 to 3 whistles. When the pressure releases, remove and check. They have to be fork tender. Peel the potatoes.
I have used very few green peas which I steamed along with the potatoes. You can skip if you do not like them. Set these aside to cool. Mash them up well with a masher.
2. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a pan. Add 1 teaspoon ginger paste, 1 to 2 chopped green chilies and 1 sprig curry leaves. North Indian bread pakora is made without mustard but you do find them in other regions. If you like you may add ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds here.
3. Saute them all until aromatic. Turn off the stove.
4. Add 1/8 teaspoon hing, ½ teaspoon red chili powder, ¼ teaspoon turmeric and ½ teaspoon garam masala. Mix well.
5. Add the mashed potatoes, sprinkle half teaspoon salt and mix well. You can also add coriander leaves & squeeze in some lemon juice. Taste test and add more salt if needed.
stuffing masala for bread pakora
6. Place the bread slices on a board and then spread the potato masala. You can also spread this green chutney first and then spread the spiced potatoes.
7. Cover with another slice of bread. You can also spread green chutney on the both the slices.
8. Press the bread slices well to hold the stuffing properly. Cut them diagonally.
9. Similarly prepare all the stuffed bread. Set these aside.
How to make bread pakora
10. Begin to heat the oil in a pan. I used about a cup of oil for frying. You can shallow fry or deep fry. To a mixing bowl, add the below ingredients:
- ¾ cup besan
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder
- ¾ to ½ teaspoon ajwain ( carom seeds)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 to 3 tablespoons rice flour or cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
11. Mix all the ingredients well. Then pour water just as needed to make a thick batter.
12. The consistency must be similar to the chilli bajji batter.
Frying
13. Check if the oil is hot first. To check drop a small portion of the batter in the oil. It has to rise slowing without browning a lot. This is the right temperature. When the oil is almost ready, keep it to medium flame and proceed further.
14. You will have to gently lift the stuffed bread and dip in batter. Make sure it is coated on the sides as well. Hold towards the 2 edges and lift them from the batter. Gently swipe the excess batter.
15. Drop in the hot oil. Do not disturb for few minutes. If you use a large pan then you can fry 2 to 3 in one batch.
16. On a medium high flame, fry until one side turns golden. Then turn it to the other side and fry until both the sides turn crisp and golden. Remove them to a colander.
17. To fry the next batch of bread pakoras, ensure the oil is hot but not extremely hot. We want the oil to be moderate hot.
Serve bread pakora hot with Green chutney or sauce.
Chutney for bread pakora recipe
1 cup coriander leaves
½ cup pudina / mint leaves
1 tbsp fried or roasted gram / dalia
½ tsp jeera/ cumin
Salt as needed
2 to 3 hot green chilies
few drops of lemon juice
¼ inch ginger
1 to 2 small to medium garlic cloves
Lemon juice as needed
How to make
1. Blend all the ingredients together with 2 tbsps water. Add lemon juice and mix. Ready to serve.
Tips to make bread pakora
Bread: You can use any bread of your choice. Since the bread is coated with batter and fried the bread pakoras will not absorb oil even with fresh bread.
Filling: There are 2 ways one can make the filling. The easiest way is to go simple without the tempering like I made for this bread rolls. The second method is the way I have shown below in the step by step pictures.
Both ways they taste good, but the method I showed below is more flavorful. Recipe method is roughly adapted from Chef Tarladalal’s site.
Potatoes: Boil the potatoes just until cooked and not mushy. Over cooking them will make them mushy which doesn’t go well for the stuffing. So it is good to steam them in a steamer, cooker or instant pot.
Peas: I love the addition of green peas to the stuffing. However they are optional. If using you can steam them along with the potatoes.
Spices: Garam masala, turmeric and red chilli powder are the spices used for the potato filling. For the batter, carom seeds (ajwain) are used as much similar to the other pakora recipes. You can adjust all of these spices to suit your taste.
Amchur or lemon juice: I have not added any of these two. For a slight tang you can add one of them to the filling.
Batter consistency & frying
Batter: The consistency of the batter is the key in this recipe. Do not make the batter too thin as the bread will soak up moisture from the batter and the pakoras may turn soft & oily.
The batter has to be in between too thick and too thin.
Frying: You need to be gentle while dipping the sandwiches in batter and even while sliding them to the oil. Bread pakoras have to fried on a medium heat until crisp and golden.
Frying them on a high flame will brown them quickly from outside without cooking the batter well. So the flame has to be medium. If you fry them on a low heat, they will soak up excess oil.
Variations
You can even add some crumbled paneer or some grated mozzarella cheese to the filling.
More Bread snacks
Bread Pizza
Bread upma
Stuffed bread rolls
Egg bread toast
Recipe
Bread pakora recipe | How to make bread pakora | Bread pakoda
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
- 6 slices bread
- oil as needed for shallow or deep frying
For stuffing
- 1 ½ cups potatoes cubed (3 medium)
- ¼ cup green peas (optional)
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 sprig curry leaves (optional)
- 1 pinch asafoetida (hing)
- 2 green chilies chopped
- 1 teaspoon ginger paste
- 3 tablespoon coriander leaves finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder
- ½ teaspoon garam masala
- ⅛ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice or as needed
For batter
- ¾ cup gram flour (besan) (can use coarse besan for crunch)
- 2 to 3 tablespoons rice flour (or cornstarch)
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder
- ⅛ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
- ½ to ¾ teaspoon carom seeds or ajwain or vaamu
- Water as needed
Instructions
Make stuffing
- Steam or boil potatoes just until done without making them mushy.
- You can also boil the potatoes in a cooker for 2 whistles. I prefer to steam them as it is easy to keep an eye.
- You can skip green peas. If using then steam the green peas too along with the potatoes.
- When they are done, peel and mash them well and set aside.
- Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a pan
- Then saute ginger, green chilies and curry leaves (optional) until it begins to smell good. Turn off the stove.
- Add red chili powder, garam masala and turmeric. Mix well.
- Transfer mashed potatoes, peas, half teaspoon salt and coriander leaves. Squeeze some lemon juice if you like. Mix everything well. Taste test and add more salt if needed.
How to make bread pakora
- Arrange 3 bread slices on a chopping board or plate.
- Optional – If you have green chutney or sauce, you can also smear that to one or both the slices.
- Place the potato masala over 3 bread slices. Cover each slice with another one.
- Press gently and cut each sandwich to 2 triangles. Set these aside.
- Heat oil in a pan for shallow or deep frying. You can use as less as possible if using a nonstick pan.
- While the oil heats prepare the batter. In another bowl, mix together besan, ajwain, red chili powder, salt, rice flour and turmeric.
- Pour water just enough to make the batter that is neither too thick nor too thin. It must be similar to the mirchi bajji batter.
- Check if the oil is hot by dropping a little amount of batter in the oil. The batter has to rise without browning. This is the right temperature.
Frying bread pakora
- Do this only when the oil is ready to fry. Place each sandwiched bread in the batter and gently coat it with the batter on both the sides. You may need to use both your hands.
- Swipe off the excess batter and Gently slide this to the hot oil and do not disturb it for a minute.
- You can add 2 or more pakoras in one batch depending on the size of your pan.
- Fry bread pakora on a medium heat until golden on one side. Then turn them to the other side and fry till both the sides turn crisp and golden. Remove to a colander or kitchen tissue.
- Ensure the oil is moderately hot and not extremely hot before you fry the next batch of bread pakora. If needed reduce the heat/flame before adding the next one.
- Serve bread pakora hot or warm with green chutney or sauce.
NUTRITION (estimation only)
Notes
Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.
For best results follow my detailed step-by-step photo instructions and tips above the recipe card.
© Swasthi’s Recipes
Noorulain says
Hy swathi
I am always on ur website for ideas , have made ur bread pakodas twice, it’s been my favourite. I have tried few others dishes earlier.
Just a small query – I made the bread pakodas today but the oil I guess sweept in, And the bread kept breaking when I tried picking from the batter,
Any suggestion.
swasthi says
Hi Noorulain,
Thank you. If the bread is too fresh and soft it can absorb the moisture from the batter too quickly and break. Also ensure after dipping they should straight away go for frying. Lastly if the batter is too runny, bread will absorb the moisture too quickly and will break. May be white bread is too soft for this. I use multigrain bread. Hope these help.
Swapnil says
Thanks for bread pakora recipe This recipe very tasty
swasthi says
Welcome Swapnil
Gurdev says
Awsome website! Great stuff
swasthi says
Thank you!
Dr Manasi joshi says
I am a big fan of yours. Whenever I have to prepare a dish I always go through your recipe..you have made cooking really simple and fun for me specially the kids recipe as I have a year old kid. Bread pakora recipe was awesome too.
Thank You for posting all of them..
swasthi says
Hi Dr.Manasi
You are welcome. So glad to know the recipes are useful. Hope your little one enjoys the food! Thank you so much!
🙂
Janu says
Awesome bread pakora recipe. Thank you
swasthi says
You are welcome. Thank you so much for the comment.
Annu says
All YummY Recipes
swasthi says
Thanks Annu
Ankith Rathore says
Thanks for helping people like me with your amazing and yummy recipes. I use this daily as my family has gone to village and I’m here, studying for my exams. Thanks a lot again.
swasthi says
Hi Ankith
You are welcome. Glad to know the recipe is useful. Good luck for your exams. God bless!
Ria says
Just reached your page after googling a recipe. Everything looks really great, especially the step by step instructions with pictures! I can’t wait to try out your recipes.
swasthi says
Hi Ria
Thank you so much. Happy to know you liked the blog.
🙂
XYZ says
It’s really mind blowing
Mega says
Yummy I made these with your aloo gobi sabzi stuffing that was left over. Turned out awesome. Thank you
swasthi says
Welcome Mega
Thanks for trying. Aloo gobi in bread pakora is a good idea. Glad you liked it.
Mrs. Udaya says
Hi Swathi:
I am Mrs. Udaya from Bangalore. I tried a variety of your dishes and I must say they have come out very well. Your step by step picture is very appealing and you make it look so simple. Thank you so much Swathi. God bless
swasthi says
Welcome Mrs. Udaya
Glad to know you. Thanks a lot for the wishes. Happy to know the recipes worked out good.
🙂
Chandana says
Hi swasthi,tried this bread pakora today and turned out awesome…Great job..Nice presentation…..
swasthi says
Thanks chandana
Glad to know they came out well
priya kushwaha says
it’s ossamm but can u plz send me the recipes by mail..
swasthi says
Thanks Priya
You can subscribe to our recipes on the side bar through email subscription
Raaja Anandhan says
Wow. This will be a great recipe. Thanks for sharing.
swasthi says
Welcome Raaja Anandhan
Nehal Singhal says
Great snaps, easy illustration. Thanks!
swasthi says
Welcome Nehal
Afrin banu says
I hav seen many yummy dishes. I vl try daily these dishes. Thank u so much.
swasthi says
welcome Afrin
Yes do try. thank you
Keerthi says
Bread pampta was awesome simply loved it, u post such a simple recipes for beginners 🙂
swasthi says
Hi keerthi
Thanks for trying and the feedback too
Qureshi says
I love swasthi method
swasthi says
Thank you
Kagiso Nnete Jacobs says
Wow!brilliant mouth watering snacks…may a have some daily recipes daily..please.
swasthi says
Thank you
nisha says
All recepies are ossom
swasthi says
Thanks Nisha
Smriti says
Hi there loved these. Tried these will left over bread. Didn’t get enough to eat. Turned out great. Please share some simple sandwich recipes like ur egg sandwich
swasthi says
Hi Smriti
Happy to know they turned out good, Thanks for the feedback. Yes will share them whenever possible