Bakarwadi, variations Options

[loislane]

Made a popular snack called bakarwadi today. It has been widely sold for years in different places, but Chitale of Pune has to be the king when it comes to it and have a hand in making it first famous, then hard to get, and now available much more easily.

This was my first attempt at trying to make them at home.

[epicure]

Bhakharwadi looks most authentic. If this is the result you achieved at home, well done indeed! Let us have the recipe please...

Epicure

[ravum]

LL. looks luscious indeed!!

Such a foto and no recipe?

Living in the middle of Chitale land, do not miss this as much now. The Gujju ckbks by the Danthi sisters in law has a recipe for potato bhakarwadi that I've been meaning to try.

[lakme]

LL,

Don't torture us so in the new year! Chitale Bandhu ani bakharwadi- lethal combo. They look perfect!

[loislane]

epicure, ravum, and lakme, thanks! They do look like real bakarwadis. I made these based on this recipe which is written in marathi.

Regarding the taste, my first reaction was that it is too garlicky. Other than that, it is quite tasty. What I have given below is not a translation, but what I think I would do if I were to make these again. The thread there says it is made in the authentic zanzaneet kolhapur style, and discusses and disses the pune version, which I like regardless. Never had the kolhapur thing. The cover wasn't as crisp as the store-bought ones, but that has to be me, because I cannot always get pakoras to stay crispy either. Another reason could be that the cilantro wasn't completely dry.

For the filling:
1 bunch of cilantro, washed, dried, and finely chopped
4 inch piece of ginger
10-12 cloves of garlic (brought way down from the original 2 heads)
2 teaspoons of coriander powder
2 teaspoons of cumin powder
2 teaspoons of clove-cinnamon powder
1 cup of dried coconut
2 Tablespoons poppy seeds
3 Tablespoons sesame seeds
3 Tablespoons kala/goda masala
chili powder and sugar/jaggery for a hot-sweet taste (not in the original recipe)
salt to taste

Mince the ginger and garlic. Roast the coconut, poppy seeds, and sesame seeds separately, and grind them. Mix together all the ingredients for the filling.

For the cover: Mix together 1-1/2 cup of besan, 6 Tablespoons of atta, salt, pinch of turmeric, and 1/4th teaspoon of chili powder. Add a Tablespoon of oil, and knead with warm water to make the dough. Divide the dough into 3 parts.

Roll out each part into a long rectangle on a large floured board. Brush the surface of the dough with oil. Take a third of the filling and distribute it evenly over the dough, and pat it out. Roll the dough from the long end, keeping the roll as tight as possible. Seal the long end with a touch of water. Cut it into 1 inch pieces. Repeat the process with the other 2 pieces of dough and the filling. Fry in oil, on medium heat.

[epicure]

LoisLane,

One tip for you: If you ever want to have a crispy cover for either pakoras or bhakharwadi, try to add a very small amount of rice flour to the batter or mix for the cover. It will crisp up the covering to a much greater degree. And do not add too much shortening, it ends up being crumbly because it absorbs the fat from the frying medium.

In Baroda, where I grew up, the Gaekwadi rajas brought a lot of maharashtrian influence into the local cuisine. Anyway, in Baroda, we don't get bhakharwadis with heavy garlic most of the time. The taste is from the green coconut, til, red chilli powder, and just a slight taste of garlic, like lasun chutney. There is no kothmir.

I have also found that Indian recipes tend to mix up garlic amounts with non-standard verbiage. I once read the same recipe given by two different people. One said "cloves of garlic" and the other said "flakes of garlic". So who knows, 2 heads of garlic could even be as small as two cloves of garlic!!

In both the marathi version from the link, and yours, the recipe sounds delightful. I can't wait to try it.

Epicure.

[loislane]

epicure, thanks for your tip, and the information about the gujarati version. Do update on how they turn out!

[sanketi]

Hi everyone!

am a new member here and in fact chanced upon this forum while i was searching for some rosagulla recipes..!

in the course of which i kind of got addicted to this place and am a regular now. ..saw the bhakarwadi thread and thought i might as well try it and i did going by the recipe loislane posted and also one that i already had and i must say it did turn out well ! thanks u all for the recipe.

[deccanheffalump]

That Bhakarwadi looks totally authentic Loislane.Thanks.Have to try the recipe too!

Ravums besides Chitale ,try the bhakarwadi from Bhavnagari on Sachapir Street. They have two varieties, one hot and one super hot. Both good.

[Sue Darlow]

[shanta]

OMG, LL!! That looks soooo deeelicious!(dunno how i missed this thread)

sanketi, welcome to AS!

[sanketi]

Thanks shanta ,

am sure will have fun here......there seems to be a lots of food talk and recipes that i have not heard of in a long time...

[epicure]

Yes Sue,

The rice flour is why chakli/chakris are so crisp and crunchy while nimkis (which have maida or all purpose flour )are soft yet flaky!

Epicure

[ravum]

Adding some ghee/butter/cream to the rice flour chakli dough (think this is called "Mohan" in Marathi) will make it crunchy without needing visits to the dentist.

Too much fat in the dough will make them disintegrate in the oil.