A fritter is a portion of meat, seafood, fruit, vegetables, or other ingredients which have been battered or breaded, or just a portion of dough without further ingredients, that is deep-fried.[1][2][3][4] Fritters are prepared in both sweet and savory varieties.[4]

Fritter
Carrot and chickpea fritters
Main ingredientsBatter or dough
Ingredients generally usedSmall pieces of meat, seafood, fruit, vegetables or other ingredients

Definition

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The 1854 edition of An American Dictionary of the English Language by Noah Webster defines fritter as a transitive verb meaning "to cut meat into small pieces to be fried".[5] Another definition from 1861 is given as "a pancake cont. chopped fruit, poultry, fish; also a small piece of meat fried".[6]

Varieties

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Africa

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West African countries have many variations similar to fritters. The most common process includes the blending of peeled black-eyed peas with peppers and spices to leave a thick texture. A Yoruba version, akara, is a popular street snack and side dish in Nigerian culture. Another popular fritter made by Nigerians is 'puff-puff'. Typically made by deep frying a dough containing flour, yeast, sugar, butter, salt, eggs and water.

South Africa

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Pumpkin fritters (commonly known as Pampoenkoekies, usually served with cinnamon sugar and served at any time of day, are popular in South Africa. Other variations often include banana instead of pumpkin. [7][8]

Asia

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South Asia

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Fritters are extremely popular roadside snacks all over South Asia and are commonly referred to as pakora (pakoda) or bhaji (bhajia) in local parlance—the onion bhaji also enjoys a high popularity abroad and at home.

India and Pakistan
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In India and Pakistan, a pakora is a fritter of assorted vegetables and spices.

In the South Indian state of Kerala, banana fritters are extremely popular.

Piyaji is a Bengali dish of fritters with onions.

Southeast Asia

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Brunei
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In Brunei, fritters are known as cucur and they are eaten as snacks. Cucur is also part of local street food and usually sold in street market-style food booth (locally known as gerai). They are usually made with fillings which are commonly made with banana, shrimp, yam, sweet potatoes and vegetables (usually sliced cabbages or carrots). Some local fruits, when they are in season, are also made into cucur, most commonly durian, breadfruit (sukun), tibadak (Artocarpus integer) and tarap (Artocarpus odoratissimus).

Indonesia
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In Indonesia, fritters come under the category of gorengan (Indonesian: fritters, from goreng "to fry"), and many varieties are sold on travelling carts or by street vendors throughout Indonesia.[9] Various kinds of ingredients are battered and deep-fried, such as bananas (pisang goreng), tempe mendoan, tahu goreng (fried tofu), oncom, sweet potato, cassava chunk, cassava tapai, cireng (tapioca fritters), bakwan (flour with chopped vegetables), Tahu isi (filled tofu), and breadfruit.[10] These are often eaten accompanied by fresh bird's eye chili. The variety known as bakwan commonly contains flour with chopped vegetables such as carrot and cabbage, whereas the fried patties called perkedel typically consist of mashed potatoes or ground corn (perkedel jagung or bakwan jagung).

Malaysia
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In Malaysia, it is common for a type of fritter called "cucur"[11] (such as yam, sweet potato and banana[12]) to be fried by the roadside[12] in a large wok and sold as snacks.

Myanmar
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In Burmese cuisine, fritters are called a-kyaw (Burmese: အကြော်), while assorted fritters are called a-kyaw-sone (Burmese: အကြော်စုံ). The most popular a-kyaw is the gourd fritter (ဘူးသီးကြော်). Diced onions, chickpea, potatoes, a variety of leafy vegetables, brown bean paste, Burmese tofu, chayote, banana and crackling are other popular fritter ingredients. Black beans are made into a paste with curry leaves to make bayagyaw[13]—small fritters similar to falafel. Unlike pisang goreng, Burmese banana fritters are made only with overripe bananas with no sugar or honey added.

The savory fritters are eaten mainly at breakfast or as a snack at tea. Gourd, chickpea and onion fritters are cut into small parts and eaten with Mohinga, Myanmar's national dish. These fritters are also eaten with Kao hnyin baung rice and with Burmese green sauce—called chin-saw-kar or a-chin-yay. Depending on the fritter hawker, the sauce is made from chili sauce diluted with vinegar, water, cilantro, finely diced tomatoes, garlic and onions.

Philippines
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In the Philippines, egg fritters are called tokneneng (duck) or kwek-kwek (quail), and squid fritters are called kalamares. These, along with shrimp fritters called okoy, and banana fritters called maruya are also sold in travelling cart or street side vendors.

Thailand
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East Asia

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China
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Throughout China, fritters are sold at roadsides. They may contain pork, but are commonly vegetarian.

Japan
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In Japanese cuisine, takoyaki is a type of ball-shaped fritter made with a wheat batter, minced octopus, ginger and tempura scraps.[14] Tempura is vegetable or seafood dipped and fried in a light crispy batter and served as a common accompaniment to meals.

Korea
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In Korean cuisine, deep-fried foods are known as twigim (튀김). Twigim are often battered and breaded, but there are varieties without breading, as well as varieties without breading and batter. Popular twigim dishes include dak-twigim (fried chicken), gim-mari-twigim (fried seaweed roll), goguma-twigim (fried sweet potato), gul-twigim (fried oyster), ojingeo-twigim (fried squid), and saeu-twigim (fried shrimp).

Traditional vegetarian deep-fried foods associated with Korean temple cuisine include twigak and bugak.[15] Twigak are made from vegetables such as dasima (kelp) and bamboo shoot, without breading or batter. Bugak are made from vegetables such as dasima, perilla leaves, and chili peppers, which are coated with glutinous rice paste and dried thoroughly.

Iran

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The Iranian variety is called Kuku which come in different versions like the ones with potatoes or the ones with herbs. This type of fritter resembles a crustless quiche.

New Zealand

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Whitebait fritters are popular in New Zealand.[16]

Europe

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United Kingdom

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In British fish and chip shops, the fish and chips can be accompanied by "fritters", which means a food item, such as a slice of potato, a pineapple ring, an apple ring[17] or chunks, or mushy peas fried in batter. Hence: "potato fritter", "pineapple fritter", "apple fritter", "pea fritter", etc. At home and at school, fritters are also sometimes made with meat, especially Spam and corned beef. A fritter roll or roll and fritter is a potato fritter inside a bread roll, served with salt and vinegar.[18]

North America

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Canada and the United States

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The apple fritter is a fried pastry popular within Canada and the United States. Early versions of apple fritters appear in Martha Washington’s Booke of Cookery, a manuscript dating to the 17th century, which includes various fritter recipes common in colonial American kitchens.[19] An apple fritter recipe typically includes a batter made from flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, milk, eggs, and a bit of oil. Fresh apples are peeled, cored, and chopped, then folded into the batter. The fritters are deep-fried in vegetable oil and, once golden, are coated in cinnamon-sugar for a sweet finish.[20] In Canada, the apple fritter remains especially popular; Tim Hortons, a leading Canadian coffee and doughnut chain, reported that the apple fritter became their top-selling doughnut in 2023.[21]

Caribbean

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Conch fritters are commonly prepared in The Bahamas.[22]

Mexico

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Mexican tortitas on a plate.

Tortitas are golden-brown fritters made in mexico from Mexican cuisine.[23] One variant is the tortita de papa (potato fritter). This dish consists in boiled potato dough fried in oil. The first written recipes for tortitas can be found in Mexican cookbooks from the 19th century.[24]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Grand Diplome Cooking Course. Taylor & Francis US. p. 58. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
  2. ^ Co., Royal Baking Powder (2009). The Royal Baker and Pastry Cook. Wildside Press. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-4344-5495-9. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
  3. ^ Gisslen, W. (2004). Professional Baking. Wiley. p. 189. ISBN 978-0-471-46427-3. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
  4. ^ a b Shields, D.S. (2015). Southern Provisions: The Creation and Revival of a Cuisine. University of Chicago Press. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-226-14125-1. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
  5. ^ An American Dictionary of the English Language. Harper. 1854. p. 431.
  6. ^ Cooley, Arnold James (1861). Dictionary of English Language Exhibiting Orthography, Pronunciation and Definition of Words. W. and R. Chambers.
  7. ^ "Pumpkin fritters (pampoenkoekies) | Rainbow Cooking". www.rainbowcooking.co.nz.
  8. ^ "PUMPKIN FRITTERS". November 3, 2014. Archived from the original on May 31, 2023. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  9. ^ Kraig, Bruce; Sen, Colleen Taylor (2013-09-09). Street Food Around the World: An Encyclopedia of Food and Culture. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781598849554.
  10. ^ Fauziah (2017-06-02). "Gorengan: Indonesia's Favorite Fried Snacks - Indoindians". Indoindians. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
  11. ^ Musa, N. (2016). Amazing Malaysian: Recipes for Vibrant Malaysian Home-Cooking. Random House. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-4735-2366-1. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
  12. ^ a b Albala, K. (2011). Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia. Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia. Greenwood. p. 161. ISBN 978-0-313-37626-9. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
  13. ^ Marks, C.; Thein, A. (1994). The Burmese Kitchen: Recipes from the Golden Land. M. Evans. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-59077-260-7. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
  14. ^ Roll, Dale (24 January 2024). "Let's try again: Why can't we make takoyaki with squid instead of octopus?". Sora News 24. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  15. ^ Koehler, Robert (2010). Korea Foundation (ed.). Traditional Food: A Taste of Korean Life. Korea Essentials. Vol. 4. Seoul: Seoul Selection. ISBN 978-1-62412-036-7. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  16. ^ Bloom, A.; Wechter, E.B. (2010). Fodor's New Zealand. Fodor's New Zealand. Fodor's Travel Publications. p. 53. ISBN 978-1-4000-0841-4. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
  17. ^ Raffald, E. (1808). The experienced English house-keeper, consisting of near 800 original receipts. p. 118. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
  18. ^ CHALMERS, TORI (31 January 2017). "Glasgow Food Delicacies You Might Not Have Heard Of". theculturetrip. The Culture Trip Ltd. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  19. ^ "Apple Fritters | George Washington's Mount Vernon". www.mountvernon.org. Retrieved 2024-11-09.
  20. ^ "Mom's Apple Fritters". Allrecipes. Retrieved 2024-11-09.
  21. ^ "Tops at Tims in 2023".
  22. ^ "Conch Fritters | Traditional Sea Snail Dish From The Bahamas | TasteAtlas". www.tasteatlas.com. Retrieved 2023-06-18.
  23. ^ "Tortitas de papa, receta sencilla ⋆ Larousse Cocina". Larousse Cocina (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  24. ^ El cocinero mexicano (PDF). Vol. I. Imprenta de Galván. 1831. pp. 281–305. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
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