Pakoda or Pakora: The Classic Indian Snack

There is a very specific kind of happiness that comes from biting into something hot, crispy, and spiced while it is raining outside. Across India, an entire snack culture has been built around exactly that feeling, and the food at the centre of it is the pakoda.

Crispy, golden, endlessly variable, and somehow always exactly what you want with a cup of tea, the pakoda is one of the Indian subcontinent's great culinary constants. This is the story behind it, and Chef Shabu's own Vegetable Pakora recipe to make at home.

The Classic Indian Snack With a Thousand-Year History

The word pakoda comes from the Sanskrit word pakvavata, a combination of pakva, meaning cooked, and vata, meaning a small lump. As Grokipedia notes, references to early versions of this fried snack appear in ancient Sanskrit and Tamil literature dating back over a thousand years, where they are described as round cakes made from lentils or vegetables. This is not a recent street food trend. It is a snack with a genuinely ancient pedigree, older than most of the countries it is now eaten in.

There is also a fascinating bit of culinary history behind why pakodas became fried in the first place. According to The Better India, Indian cooking was traditionally divided into two categories: kachchi rasoi, meaning boiled or raw food that could not be stored for long, and pakki rasoi, meaning fried food that could last much longer thanks to the high heat removing moisture. Over time, the round fried lumps known as pakwata, from pakka meaning cooked and watta meaning a small ball, became known colloquially as pakoras, or pakodas. The frying was not originally about flavour or indulgence. It was about preservation, a practical solution that just happened to taste extraordinary.

Pakoda or Pakora? Both, Depending Where You Are

If you have ever wondered why some menus say pakora and others say pakoda to mean the classic Indian snack, you are not alone. As Wikipedia notes, the dish goes by an enormous number of regional names, including pakoda, pikora, bhajiya, pakodi, bora, and several others, depending on the region and language. One food writer joked that someone really ought to write a book on how, since 1947, partition went right down to the plate, with India and Pakistan each developing their own slightly different relationship with the word and the dish.

What unites all of these versions is the base: a batter built around besan, or gram flour, made from ground chickpeas. From there, almost anything can go in. Onion, potato, spinach, cauliflower, paneer, even bread, all of it gets coated in the spiced batter and fried until golden. As one guide puts it, pakoda is a cultural touchstone, the snack made during monsoon season, served at family gatherings, and ordered reflexively as the first thing on the table at any Indian restaurant.

Why Rain and Pakoda Go Together

Ask anyone who grew up in India about pakoda and the conversation will, sooner or later, turn to rain. India's monsoon season runs roughly from June to September, and during that stretch, hot pakodas with a cup of chai have become something close to a national ritual. As one food blog describes it, pakoda is famously the best chai companion on a rainy day, and for many people the smell of pakodas frying is inseparable from the sound of rain on a window.

There is also a lovely piece of food writing from journalist Sumbul Khan, who described growing up with a pakora platter always ready at sunset during Ramazan, prepared by her mother every evening without fail. As fussy children, she and her siblings did not always appreciate the vegetable pakoras on offer, so her mother started making sliced boiled egg pakoras specifically for them. It is a small detail, but it captures something true about pakoda everywhere: it is rarely just a snack. It is something someone made for you, often adapted to what you actually liked, served at exactly the right moment.

A Pakoda for Every Region and Every Festival

Part of what makes pakoda so enduring is just how adaptable it is. As The Better India describes, almost every region in India has its own variation. Bengal has begunis, eggplant pakoras served during Durga Puja celebrations. Mumbai has batata vada, potato pakoras sold on nearly every street corner. Chennai has vengayam pakoda, thin, crispy onion fritters. The same basic technique, gram flour batter and hot oil, produces completely different results depending on what is local, what is in season, and what the occasion calls for.

Pakodas also show up at major festivals across the calendar. During Holi, the festival of colours, pakoras are commonly prepared and shared alongside festive sweets, and during Diwali, variations like paneer pakora become a staple of the celebration spread. They are also a regular feature at Indian weddings, often served with masala chai to guests as they arrive, alongside tamarind chutney or raita.

Chef Shabu's Vegetable Pakora

This recipe, taken from Chef Shabu Natarajan's cookbook 100 Easy Recipes for First Time Chefs, brings together several vegetables in one batter, a generous, varied take on the dish that reflects exactly the kind of "whatever's in the fridge" adaptability pakoda has always been known for. Onion, potato, spinach, carrot, and cauliflower all go in together, along with fresh and dried fenugreek leaves, a combination that gives the finished pakoras a depth of flavour that a single-vegetable version often lacks.

Ingredients

• 200g gram flour

• 400g white onion, chopped

• ½ tsp cumin seeds

• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste

• ½ tsp green chilli, chopped

• 1 tsp whole coriander seeds

• 4 tsp lemon juice

• 1 tsp red chilli powder

• 2 pinches asafoetida

• 20g chopped coriander leaves

• 20g fresh fenugreek leaves, chopped

• 1 tsp dry fenugreek leaves

• 20g fresh spinach leaves, chopped

• 25g potato, chopped

• 25g carrot, chopped

• 25g cauliflower, chopped

• Salt to taste

• Oil, for frying

Method

1. In a bowl, combine the onion, coriander seeds and leaves, fresh and dried fenugreek, potato, spinach, carrot, cauliflower, green chilli, cumin, asafoetida, ginger garlic paste, chilli powder, and lemon juice. Mix well and set aside for half an hour.

2. Add the gram flour and salt and mix well, adding more flour if needed to make the mixture thick enough to hold its shape.

3. Form into small round or oval balls.

4. In a deep, heavy pan, heat the oil for frying. Deep-fry a few of the balls at a time until they turn crispy and golden brown.

The asafoetida is worth not skipping. It is a small ingredient with an outsized job, adding a savoury depth that ties the whole mixture together, and it is one of the small details that separates a good pakora from a great one.

Pakoda at Madras Cafe

At Madras Cafe, pakoras are exactly what the centuries of tradition behind them suggest they should be: the dish you order to share while you look over the rest of the menu, hot, crisp, and gone before the mains arrive. They are the same thing they have always been, a small, perfectly fried piece of comfort, made properly.

If Glasgow's weather has you in the mood for something hot and crispy with a drink in hand, you already know what to order. Visit Madras Cafe at 120 Stockwell Street, Glasgow G1 4LW, right on the Clyde, or book a table here.