Bread Pakora Recipe with Aloo and Chutney Stuffing (Triple layers!)

Bread pakora or bread pakoda recipe is a much loved deep-fried tea time snack that can be made in different ways and hails from North Indian cuisine, mainly Punjabi cuisine. A sandwich of bread and spiced mashed potato stuffing is dipped into gram flour batter. Our Three Layer Aloo Bread Pakora version is as indulgent as it sounds – and the best thing is that with an addition of two spicy chutneys it tastes as incredible as it looks.

Bread Pakora with potato stuffing

Also known as Indian fritters, bread fritters or bread bajji depending on the area. Whist folks in North India know these as Bread Pakora, Bread Bajji is a South India term.

These are a perfect snack enjoyed with a hot cup of tea.

Typically a popular mumbai street food sold in streets but is served in local restaurants too.

There are two version of bread pakora – without a potato stuffing and with. The Without stuffing ones are known as plain bread pakora.

The simple version or without stuffing of bread pakoda are made by halving the normal white sandwich bread slices, dipping into a gram flour batter and deep-frying.

The version most commonly found in street stalls in Mumbai and Punjab also have a spicy mashed potatoes filling sandwiched between two slices of bread.

This is also dipped in a batter and deep-fried and served alongside a cup of masala chai, tomato ketchup or spicy green coriander chutney.

These style of stuffed bread pakoda also known as sandwich bread pakoda in some places are mostly consumed as tea time snacks.

Three-layer Aloo Bread Pakora

Our Bread Pakora goes one step further – 3 layers of bread with potato and two different chutneys! Who said that less is more?!

These triple decker bread pakodas are the ultimate evening snack indulgence. We have prepared two different chutneys – a green mint and coriander chutney and a tomato and onion chutney.

Ingredients for Stuffed Bread Pakora.

Perfect measurements and step by step photos given in the recipe card in the post below. If trying out this recipe for the first time please read the full post which includes helpful tips and suggestions.

The ingredients required are all inexpensive and easy to find:

For Chickpea flour batter:

Gram flour – the main ingredient for this batter, also known as Besan or chickpea flour. We will need fine variety to form the best chickpea batter.

Rice flour – adding a few spoons of rice flour helps the batter to be crispy. Use fine rice flour and not just ground one. Ground rice flour is coarse.

Carom seeds – also known as ajwain, crush lightly to release their oils before adding to the batter. These help with digestion

Spices – we have used a pinch of red chilly powder and turmeric powder which gives colour.

We have not used baking powder or baking soda to make this batter, but you may use if you want to keep batter thick.

Potato Stuffing

The potato stuffing that we have made is fairly mild, but you could make it more spicy by adding red chili powder and green chilies or garam masala powder should you wish – remember that two chutneys go into this recipe!

Potatoes –for this potato-filled snack recipe use floury potatoes to make mash potato. In UK you’ll find Marie Piper or Desiree, Estima, King Edward in your local super markets. In USA you can use russet or Idaho potatoes.

Crushed chilli and ginger – fresh is better but you could use frozen. coriander leaves

Cumin seeds – we love to use cumin seeds in this recipe, however mustard seeds works fine too.

Fennel seeds – or powder. We grind or pound our own fennel seeds to make powder, which has a taste similar to star anise. You may skip totally if you don’t have it.

Seasonings – black pepper, sugar, amchoor powder (dry mango powder) if can’t find use lemon juice.

You can prepare the potato filling in advance and keep refrigerated until you want to use. It will keep fresh for 2-3 days in the fridge.

Bread

The dish is most commonly made with fresh white slice of bread. If you want street-style Bread Pakora then white bread is a must! Of course, if you only have brown bread then you can still use that.

I would also leave the crusts on – you do not need to cut off the crusts off the bread, in fact the crust helps with the integrity of the pakora prior to frying as they hold their triangular shape better.

I have used medium (thickness size) slice bread as we have made three layered bread pakora. You may use thick ones if making just with two slices.

Oil - to deep fry we need oil, try to use mild flavour oil such as vegetable oil or sunflower oil.

Chutneys - two types

Two different chutneys which are common in Indian food – red and green – form two of the layers for these pakora.

See our Mint and Coriander Chutney for the green chutney recipe

The red tomato and onion chutney is super quick to make:

1. Fresh tomatoes + tomato puree – we have used a mix of fresh tomatoes and tomato puree. You could also use tinned tomatoes instead of these two ingredients.

2. Onion+ Garlic – use fresh onion and garlic where possible rather than frozen or bottled.

3. Sugar – a pinch of sugar helps to cut through the tart tomato taste

4. Red chilli powder – to make this a spicy chutney – adjust this according to your taste.

Variations

Add a layer of paneer or add grated paneer in the potato stuffing.

Add a layer of cheese – either slices or grated

Mix some vegetables to the potato filling – carrots and green peas for example.

Serving

These hot bread pakoras are already stuffed with two chutneys therefore you do not have to serve with extra dips but sprinkling a pinch of chaat masala onto the pakora takes it to a different level.

A cup of karak chai or simply hot tea always goes great with pakoras or just tomato sauce if you wish. You could also serve with mint chutney, gujarati imli and date chutney for some sweet tangy flavours!

If you are looking for something sweet, serve these with mango cheesecake lassi or virgin cardamom mojito.

How to make Bread Bajji (bread pakora without stuffing)

An alternative bread pakora recipe is to make it without any potato stuffing. In this case, bread triangles are dipped into a batter and deep fried with no filling. Chutney can still be sandwiched between bread slices for variation.

Simply make a spiced besan batter by mixing gram flour (besan), rice flour, spices into a mixing bowl until smooth. White bread slices are then quickly dipped into the smooth batter before it is fried.

Bread Pakora in Air fryer

You can make bread pakora in the air fryer.

Follow 1-3 to make the bread pakoras. Instead of deep frying, use the below airfryer method.

The batter for air fryer pakora should not be too thick, else it may taste raw. Use roasted besan in this case as it may help remove the uncooked taste of the batter.

1. Cut the fresh bread into smaller pieces for the air fryer. Place the pakora in the air fryer basket which is already lined with parchment paper. Pierce holes in the parchment paper to prevent it flapping around in the air fryer.

2. Place the pakora in the basket but do not overfill the basket.

3. Air fry the bread pakora for 7-8 mins at 190 deg C, brush oil and cook further for 5 minutes.

4. Remove the parchment paper/baking sheet, flip the fritters, brush with oil and continue to cook for 5-6 minutes or until done.

Recipe FAQs

How to make Triple Layer Stuffed Bread Pakora + Tips

Batter:

For the best results, we want the batter consistency to be not thin yet not thick. A thin batter will not coat the pakora however an overly thick batter will be dense and the pakora will not have a soft outer layer.

Potato Filling:

We need mashed potato for bread pakora.

You can boil potato on the stove, use an Indian stovetop pressure cooker or electric pressure cooker like Instant Pot.

Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds. Once they crackle, add the crushed ginger and green chillies. Immediately add the potatoes and the remaining ingredients and mix well.

Assembling

Assembling the bread pakora is easy, it just requires a couple of steps!

Apply butter or margarine onto one side of 4 slices of bread pieces

To one, apply green chutney, to another slice spread the potato mixture, to the third slice add the tomato chutney.

Stack the slices ensuring the unbuttered side is on top.

Cut the sandwich carefully into halves or quarters.

Frying

Use a heavy bottomed kadai or pan that is deep enough to submerge the majority of the pakora.

Dip the sandwich into the batter carefully – do not leave the sandwich in the batter for long as it will make the bread soggy

Use a large slotted spoon and slide the pakora gently into the oil

If the oil does not cover the top of the pakora, use a slotted spoon to spoon the hot oil over the pakora

To avoid the pakora becoming oily, fry at a medium heat. Frying at low heat causes more oil to be absorbed.

Frying at too high flame will cause the outside to brown and the inside will remain raw.

Other Pakora recipes

1. Gujarat Na Daal Vada
2. Methi Corn Bhajiya
3. Packed Potato Bhajia
4. Date Cashew Chilli Bhajia

As always if you make this recipe, be sure to leave me a comment, rate this recipe and tag me on Instagram @jcookingodyssey or #jcookingodyssey. I love seeing all your photos of my recipe recreations!

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Note – This recipe has been updated from our recipe archives with new images and content, but the recipe remains the same. First time published in October 2015.