Pakora

What is Pakora?

Pakora is also called pikora, pakoda, pakodi, fakkura, bhajiya, bhajji, bhaji or ponak. It is a fried snack or fritter, originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is a popular snack across the Indian subcontinent, where it is served in restaurants and sold by street vendors. This snack is often eaten by Malaysian Indians during Deepavali festival. Pakoras are usually served as a snack or appetiser. They are also often served with masala chai to guests arriving to attend Indian wedding ceremonies, and are usually complemented with tamarind, chutney or raita.

History behind the name ‘Pakora’?

The word pakoṛā is derived from Sanskrit pakvavaṭa, a compound of ‘pakva’ which means cooked and ‘vaṭa’ which means a small lump or its derivative ‘vaṭaka’ which means a round cake made of pulse fried in oil or ghee.

Some divergence of transliteration may be noted in the third consonant in the word. The sound is a hard 'da' in the Telugu language and the 'ra' sound would be an incorrect pronunciation. The sound is the retroflex flap ‘ɽ’, which is written in Hindi with the Devanagari letter , and in Urdu with letter ڑ.

However, in the International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, the Hindi letter is transliterated as ‘ṛ’, popular or non-standard transliterations of Hindi use ‘d’ for this sound, because etymologically, it derives from or ‘ɖ’. The occurrence of this consonant in the word pakora has given rise to two common alternative spellings in English: pakoda, which reflects its etymology, and pakora, which reflects its phonology.

How is Pakora made?

Pakoras are created by choosing one or two main ingredients, such as onion, eggplant, potato, spinach, plantain, paneer, cauliflower, tomato, or chili pepper. They are also occasionally prepared with bread, buckwheat, groundnut, fish, or chicken. They are dipped in a batter made from gram flour which is chickpea or garbanzo bean flour and then deep-fried.

Types of Pakora

Pyaaz Pakora (made from onion)

Aloo Pakora (made from potato)

Paalak Pakora

(made from spinach)

What is Idli?

Idli or idly are a type of savoury rice cake, originating from the Indian subcontinent, popular as breakfast foods in Southern India and among Tamils in Sri Lanka. The cakes are made by steaming a batter consisting of fermented de-husked black lentils and rice. The fermentation process breaks down the starches so that they are more readily metabolized by the body.

Idli has several variations, including rava idli, which is made from semolina. Regional variants include sanna of Konkan.

History of Idli

in the area now called Karnataka, included an idli recipe in his encyclopedia, Manasollasa (1130 CE). This Sanskrit-language work describes the food as iḍḍarikā. In Karnataka, the Idli in 1235 CE is described as being 'light, like coins of high value', which is not suggestive of a rice base. The food prepared using this recipe is now called uddina idli in Karnataka.

A precursor of the modern idli is mentioned in several ancient Indian works. Vaddaradhane, a 920 CE Kannada language work by Shivakotiacharya mentions "iddalige", prepared only from a black gram batter. Chavundaraya II, the author of the earliest available Kannada encyclopedia, Lokopakara (c. 1025 CE), describes the preparation of this food by soaking black gram in buttermilk, ground to a fine paste, and mixed with the clear water of curd and spices. The Western Chalukya king and scholar Someshwara III, reigning

The recipe mentioned in these ancient Indian works leaves out three key aspects of the modern idli recipe: the use of rice, the long fermentation of the mix, and the steaming for fluffiness. The references to the modern recipe appear in the Indian works only after 1250 CE. Food historian K. T. Achaya speculates that the modern idli recipe might have originated in present-day Indonesia, which has a long tradition of fermented food. According to him, the cooks employed by the Hindu kings of the Indianised kingdoms might have invented the steamed idli there, and brought the recipe back to India during 800-1200 CE. Achaya mentioned an Indonesian dish called "kedli", which according to him, was like an idli. However, Janaki Lenin was unable to find any recipe for an Indonesian dish by this name. Some Gujarati historians believe that it was Saurashtrian textile merchants who introduced idli to South India during the 10th and 12th centuries. There are even claims that a mix of rice and black gram ground together and later steamed to form cakes had its origins in Gujarat. The Gujarati work Varṇaka Samuccaya (1520 CE) mentions idli as idari, and also mentions its local adaption idada. Idada is a non-fermented version of dhokla.

How is Idli made?

The earliest extant Tamil work to mention idli is Maccapuranam, dated to the 17th century. In 2015, Chennai-based Idli caterer Eniyavan started celebrating 30 March as the "World Idli Day".

To make Idli, four parts uncooked Idli rice parboiled rice to one part whole white lentil are soaked separately for at least four hours to six hours or overnight. Optionally spices such as fenugreek seeds can be added at the time of soaking for additional flavour. Once done soaking, the lentils are ground to a fine paste and the rice is separately coarsely ground, then they are combined. Next, the mixture is left to ferment overnight during which its volume will more than double. After fermentation some of the batter may be kept as a starter culture for the next batch. The finished idli batter is put into greased moulds of an idli tray or "tree" for steaming. The perforated molds allow the idlis to be cooked evenly. The tree holds the trays above the level of boiling water in a pot, and the pot is covered until the idlis are done which is about 10–25 minutes, depending on size of the Idli. A more traditional method is to use leaves instead of moulds.