Alifbe of Sindhi Food, the series about A-Z of Sindhi food is now at the 21st letter; ڊ or D in Roman Sindhi and ड in Devanagari ! D as in Daddy, Dairy, Daily etc!
And I couldn’t help but pick one of the most popular Sindhi street foods, the Dab^al Pakor^a (In Roman Sindhi) or Dabal Pakora (Pakora pao/sandwich) for ڊ !
The term Dabal is used for Double roti which could mean Pav/Pao or even the sliced bread, in Sindhi!
Bread is being commonly used in Sindhi households since past many decades (probably even before the Partition happened) be it for Seyal Dabal, or Chola Dabal or is also had with mutton curry or even with Keema. And the Dabal Pakora combination i.e Pav served with pakora and green chutney is as dear to Sindhis as Vada Pao is to Marathi manoos or even to a Mumbaikar.
In Ulhasnagar, my home town, you will find plenty of small bakeries on the road side and in small lanes and as you walk around, the heady aroma of breads and biscuits, rusks and nankhatai being baked in those small bakeries is simply irresistible!
As a school going kid, few decades back, I remember visiting bread shops that had sale counter at the front of the shop while the wood fired oven at the back of the shop and I would often peep inside the bakery and watch in awe the ‘baker’ drenched in sweat working like a magician, shaping pao dough, lining dough balls in rows, in a tray and then dumping it in ‘oven’ all with a lightning speed. Never knew then, that at that particular moment such Ovens were being used somewhere abroad to bake Pizzas, Focaccia, Ciabatta, Garlic bread etc and who would have thought that those Italian breads will dominate the food markets and the tastebuds, globally in the near future!
Coming back to Dabal Pakora (in Sindhi the Plural of a Pakoro is Pakora), it is very common to spot small roadside shops in Sindhi populated areas, where batches of Sanna Pakora, Mirchai Pakora (Amchoor marinated Chilli fritters), patate ja pakora (alu pakora), Beeh tikki (Lotus stem tikki), patate ji tikki (Sindhi style Batata vada) are fried right in front of you and you can relish a pao stuffed with pakore and some runny but spicy green chutney on the go.
The combo is very pocket friendly but not so heart healthy considering that the refined oil is reheated beyond the permissible levels, plenty of times, across the day.
If you observe well, you will notice that the kids at these pakora shops almost always buy Sanna and patate ja pakora, the youngsters opt for patate ji tikki, the middle aged prefer Mirchai pakora while the elderly like to eat Beeh pakora/beeh ji tikki. Do you agree? And no, I cannot explain why I loved and preferred the Mirchai pakora and Beeh ji tikki when I was barely a decade old! I still love both, crazily!
The pakora in the above pictures are Sanna Pakora (Also known as Sannah pakora) and no, these are not Kaanda bhajiya!
The typical Sindhi style Sanna pakora are double fried, crunchy fritters made from a dense batter of besan, chopped onions, chillies, coriander leaves, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and pinch of mithi soda or the baking soda!
And did I tell you that Abana Spices have this wonderful Sanna Pakora spice blend that helps you to make the sanna pakora most scrumptious and crunchy ? You don’t even need to add soda to the batter! The spice blend has a hint of garam masala that adds an oomph to the fritters without overpowering the flavors. Do check this link for their spice range or for placing your order!
If you need the recipe of Laadi pao, please check this link of my other blog, Recipeonclick.com!
- 1 cup gram flour
- 1 small onion (chopped)
- Coriander leaves (chopped), a few sprigs
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds
- 1 tsp Annardana (Dry pomegranate seeds)
- 1 tsp Coriander seeds (akkha dhaniya)
- 2 Green chillies (finely chopped)
- Salt to taste
- Red chilli powder as per taste
- A pinch of baking soda
- Water
- Oil for frying
- Laadi pao
- Mint coriander chutney
- Fried Whole chillies (optional)
- Mix all the ingredients listed under 'Sanna Pakora' except oil for frying, and make a thick batter.
- Heat oil for frying in a pan/kadai.
- Add a tbsp of hot oil to the batter, mix well. This will make fritters crunchier!
- Take a spoon full of this mixture and slide gently into hot oil, repeat for whole mixture but do not overcrowd the pan. Cook in batches, if needed!
- Fry on medium flame till almost done.
- Take them out, allow to cool down a little and then break the blobs of pakora into small pieces.
- Flash fry again, in hot oil, till dark golden brown and crisp.
- Take a fresh Pao, and cut/tear/open apart, pour few tsp of spicy but runny mint coriander chutney, stuff some pakora and enjoy the blissful bites! Can add some fried whole chillies to spice it up!
Interested in Learning how to read and write Arabic Sindhi? Then do check the following video and you can watch other videos on my youtube channel!
