It is an amazing morning in every sense. It is the 15th day of August. So you can understand that it is a special day for every Indian. We celebrate Independence day today. But for common people, it is a day when they participate in the national flag hoisting ceremony at their locality, school, office or any organization. They try to remember the sacrifice of our freedom fighters. School going kids expect samosa, jalebi, laddu after the ceremony at school. At the same time, people enjoy a holiday with their family. Though this year, it is Sunday, so people lost the benefit of a national Holiday. If it would happen 2 years ago, then people would feel very sad. But now this year, people are not sad because of this pandemic situation due to COVID19. People spent so many days, months at home. So nobody is feeling sad due to the Independence day celebration on Sunday. Most of them definitely celebrate the day their own way. Today I had an amazing morning because it starts with mouthwatering bread pakoda with green chutney.
I had it today after many years. I think it is being almost 5-6 years or even more. I can not remember. But there was a period when I used to have bread pakoda almost every day. When I was staying in Delhi, there are some foods that I used to have so regularly. Those are chole bhature, chole kulche, bread pakoda, samosa chaat, aloo tikki chaat, naan along with a paneer based dish and various fruit juices or milkshakes.
Here in Kolkata, you can not find those in your locality. You may look for a decent restaurant or order online. But those are not street food in Kolkata. You will not see any street food vendor is selling such item in your locality. Here chow mein, moghlai paratha, momos, egg roll, rumali roti, ghugni, phuchka etc are popular street food that you can find in almost every marketplace.
Yesterday, I was thinking about bread pakoda. So I decided to make it today for breakfast. Though it is not a breakfast food rather it is an evening snack. But I chose to make bread pakoda at home for my breakfast.
It is not rocket science. You do not need to be an expert to cook bread pakoda. There is no specific method that you need to follow because I tried various types of bread pakoda in my life. Every body made it their own way. Some street food sellers add only mashed potatoes and spices to make its stuffing. Whereas I noticed during the winter season that many people add green peas, carrots etc to make it delicious. Many people use paneer slices whereas many people add scrambles paneer with mashed potatoes. Everybody use a secret spice mixture to make it special.
So I use it according to my taste. Surprisingly, everybody in my family loved it. Though my parents never tasted it before. But they loved it too. The taste of those bread pakoda increase when it is served with green chutney. People also love to have it along with both red & green chutney and a cup of masala tea (Did you ever try hibiscus tea?).
I can remember that I used to have a bread pakoda and a cup of masala for my breakfast at Rohini, New Delhi. There was a roadside tea stall behind G3S cinemas at Sector 11, Rohini. There I used to have bread pakoda and a cup of tea on my weekly off day. I used to enjoy that breakfast alone. After having that I often reach to theatre for the morning show. Smartphones were not so common during that period. I had to reach at the theatre after having my breakfast from that roadside tea stall. Then used to watch the morning show and have my lunch from a popular local restaurant ‘Apki Rasoi’. My favorite lunch was veg biryani & raita and matar rice and chole. That used to be my weekly off day.
Bread pakoda recipe
- ⅔ cup besan or gram flour
- 1.5 teaspoons ajwain
- 1.5 teaspoons red chilli powder
- 1.5 teaspoons turmeric (haldi) powder
- Salt to taste
- Water as needed
- 3 large size potatoes
- 2.5 teaspoons ginger paste
- 3 big size garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 teaspoons red chilli powder
- 3 green chillies, chopped
- 4 teaspoons chopped fresh coriander leaves
- 2.5 teaspoons coriander powder
- 2 teaspoons cumin powder
- 2.4 teaspoons aamchur
- Salt to taste
- 12 bread slices
- Enough refined veg oil for deep frying
- Take besan, ajwain, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt in a large flat bowl
- Mix all properly and then pour water gradually and mix all
- Prepare a perfect batter that is not too thin or too thick
- Take mashed boiled potatoes, ginger paste, chopped garlic, red chilli powder, green chillies, chopped fresh coriander leaves, cumin powder, coriander powder, aamchur & salt and mix all
- Mash potatoes perfectly and no lump should be there
- Heat enough oil in a kadai (Cooking pot)
- Now take bread slice and spread spicy potato mixture over the slice properly
- Take another slice and put it over (like a sandwich)
- Now press both slices together with your palm and then dip into the batter
- Coat it properly and put into the boiling oil
- Fry both sides of the pakoda properly till turns into golden colour
- Cut fried bread pakoda diagonally and get two triangular-shaped bread pakoda
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