A fritter is a portion of meat, seafood, fruit, , or other ingredients which have been battered or breading, or just a portion of dough without further ingredients, that is deep-frying.
Definition
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".
Another definition from 1861 is given as "a pancake cont. chopped fruit, poultry, fish; also a small piece of meat fried".
Varieties
Africa
West African countries
West African countries have many variations similar to fritters. The most common process includes the blending of peeled
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.
Egypt
Falafel, or () is an example of a popular fritter in
Egypt as well as other countries in
North Africa, in Egypt, its made from crushed
fava beans which are mixed with various herbs and spices and then deep fried.
South Africa
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.
Kenya
Fritters are commonly referred to as Bhajia or Viazi Karai, which is a popular street snack in
Kenya.
Asia
South Asia
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
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 Bengalis dish of fritters with onions.
Southeast Asia
Brunei
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
cucur pisang,
shrimp, yam,
and vegetables (usually sliced
or
). Some local fruits, when they are in season, are also made into i=on, most commonly
durian,
breadfruit (i=on), i=on (
Artocarpus integer) and i=on (
Artocarpus odoratissimus).
Indonesia
In
Indonesia, fritters come under the category of
gorengan (, from
goreng "to fry"), and many varieties are sold on travelling carts or by street vendors throughout Indonesia.
Various kinds of ingredients are battered and deep-fried, such as
pisang goreng (
pisang goreng),
tempeh 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.
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 or
corn fritter).
'', Indonesian banana fritter]]
Malaysia
In
Malaysia, it is common for a type of fritter called "cucur"
(such as yam, sweet potato and banana
) to be fried by the roadside
in a large
wok and sold as
.
Myanmar
In
Burmese cuisine, fritters are called
a-kyaw (), while assorted fritters are called
a-kyaw-sone (). 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—small fritters similar to
falafel. Unlike pisang goreng, Burmese
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
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
called
maruya are also sold in travelling carts or street side vendors.
, shrimp and glutinous rice flour fritters]]
, quail egg fritters]]
, glutinous rice flour fritters coated in sugar and coconut]]
===== Thailand =====
kapi'' served with vegetable fritters; a common dish in
Thai cuisine]]
East Asia
China
Throughout China, fritters are sold at roadsides. They may contain pork, but are commonly vegetarian.
, China. Each contains some fermented beans, chopped spring onion, and a small cube of pork meat. These sell for 5 mao (jiao), equivalent to around 8 US cents.]]
Japan
In
Japanese cuisine,
takoyaki is a type of ball-shaped fritter made with a wheat batter, minced octopus, ginger and tempura scraps.
is vegetable or seafood dipped and fried in a light crispy batter and served as a common accompaniment to meals.
Korea
In
Korean cuisine, deep-fried foods are known as
twigim (튀김).
Twigim is often battered and
bread crumbs, 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.
-twigim (chilli fritters)]]
(coated kelp fries)]]
'' (seaweed fries)]]
West Asia
Iran
The
Iranian cuisine variety is called Kuku, which comes in different versions like the ones with potatoes or the ones with herbs. This type of fritter resembles a crustless
quiche.
Oceania
New Zealand
Whitebait fritters are popular in New Zealand.
Europe
Portugal
Peixinhos da horta is a traditional dish in Portuguese cuisine. The name of the dish is literally translated as "Little Fish from the Vegetable Garden", as it resembles small pieces of colorful fish.
Its preparation involves coating green beans, bell peppers, squash, or other vegetables in a wheat flour batter and deep frying them.
It was introduced to
Japan by Portuguese sailors in the sixteenth century, where it eventually developed into
tempura.
United Kingdom
In
United Kingdom 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
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.
North America
Canada and the United States
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.
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.
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.
Caribbean
are commonly prepared in
The Bahamas.
Mexico
Tortitas are golden-brown fritters made in Mexico from
Mexican cuisine.
One variant is the
tortita de papa (potato fritter). This dish consists of boiled potato dough fried in oil. The first written recipes for tortitas can be found in Mexican cookbooks from the 19th century.
See also
-
Acarajé – Deep fried bean cake.
-
Arancini – Italian snack food.
-
Beignet – Deep fried pastry.
-
Boortsog – Traditional fried dough of Central Asian and Middle Eastern cuisines.
-
Buñuelo – Fried dough ball.
-
Banana fritter
-
Carimañola – South American meat-pie in a burrito-shaped yuca fritter.
-
Crab cake – American crab dish.
-
Croquette – Small breaded, deep-fried food.
-
Cuchifritos – Various fried foods prepared principally of pork.
-
Corn fritter
-
Fishcake – Fried minced or ground seafood.
-
Fried dough foods
-
Kevum
-
List of doughnut varieties
-
List of bread dishes
-
List of deep fried foods
-
Mandazi – Fried bread.
-
Mücver – Turkish fritter or pancake, made from grated zucchini.
-
Pholourie – Fried, spiced dough balls.
-
Potato pancake – Shallow-fried pancakes of grated or ground potato.
-
Vada – Category of savoury fried snacks from India.
-
Pakora – Spiced fritter originally from the Indian subcontinent.
-
Zalabiyeh – Deep-fried pastry common to West Asia and Indian subcontinent.
External links
