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What is the English name of this thing? I came to know that this is a South Asian dish called PAKORA. Can we call it 'fritters'? I am not sure because fritters have fruit in them, but PAKORAS are made with onions, gram-powder and sometimes with potatoes as well. And, fritters have 'batter' e.g. flour, eggs, and milk, which PAKORAS don't.

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    They're popular in Glasgow, where most Indian restaurants serve them. I don't think there's an English name for them: they're called pakora, as you say. They're much less common in London. I was told that the owners of one of the first Indian restaurants in Glasgow were from a particular village in India where pakoras were traditional. The dish became so popular that every Indian restaurant in Glasgow had to start making them. They're rarely seen in London. Can't you call it pakora? I know a bhaji is a fritter but its taste and texture are similar. A strangely-shaped bhaji?
    – Old Brixtonian
    Mar 31, 2022 at 4:49
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    ... BTW, the ones in Glasgow in the '70's were outlandishly shaped: clumped, with bits sticking out. I was told the word pakora referred to this funny shape
    – Old Brixtonian
    Mar 31, 2022 at 4:50
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    If they're just onion, they're often called onion bhaji, though the batter, from besan - chick pea flour - is the same as pakora [I've always assumed as with many "Indian" dishes, the words come from different areas or languages originally]. You can get them anywhere in the UK. Never had them in Glasgow but I have in every town from Bradford to London. Sometimes you just don't need to translate a name. Use the original. Reminds me of an over-translated menu in Venice… turns out "flour paste with meat" was Spaghetti Bolognese.
    – DoneWithThis.
    Mar 31, 2022 at 7:52
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    @OldBrixtonian Pakoras are very common in Indian restaurants, and you can buy packs of them in supermarkets, all over the UK.
    – Michael Harvey
    Mar 31, 2022 at 8:16
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    To xeesid - 1. Fritters don't have to have fruit in them (at school we were sometimes given Spam fritters).2. Pakoras do have batter. 3. In the UK we call foreign food dishes like pakoras, bhajis, crêpes, sauerkraut, kimchi, katsu, etc, by their original names.
    – Michael Harvey
    Mar 31, 2022 at 8:19

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The relationship between the words 'fritter' and 'pakora' is that between the general and the particular respectively.

A pakora is one type of fritter.

A fritter is fruit, vegetables, or meat covered with batter and then fried.

Pakoras are spiced fritters originating from the Indian subcontinent sold by street vendors and served in restaurants in South Asia, the UK, etc. They are made from items, often vegetables such as potatoes and onions, coated in seasoned gram flour batter and deep fried.

In India, the pakora is known also under other spellings including pikora, pakoda, pakodi and regional names such as bhaji, bhajiya, bora, ponako and chop.

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