Share
The collection of fried bread is endless; from bhatura to bannock and everything in between, there is a fried bread for everyone. They are all delicious, crispy, soft, pillowy, and full of flavours. Fried breads are easily one of the most ubiquitous foods in the world and every region in the world has its own fried bread.
Some of them are savoury, some are sweet, and some have a neutral flavour. With every culture and the wide variety of fried bread, let's start a journey and take a look at different types of fried bread around the world.
Bhatura
A bhatura is a popular leavened fried bread that is very popular in India and is frequently served as an accompaniment to chole in a traditional pairing, chole bhature. The bread is fluffy, soft, and breaks easily. It absorbs the flavours well in the curry that is served. To make a bhatura, you will need maida, ghee, yeast, and yoghurt.
Portuguese Fry Bread
A popular bread from Portugal, it is a common bread in the country and resembles the yeasted fry bread that is commonly seen in the U.S. It is super easy to make this bread as it incorporates baking powder.
It is soft, pillowy, and extremely addictive, and it is often eaten for breakfast. It is usually served with butter, jelly, and syrup to make a delightful morning sweet treat.
Sopapillas
These are fried breads that were invented in New Mexico. They are crispy, deep-fried breads that are extremely popular in Hispanic cuisines. Sopapillas are usually served with powdered sugar and cinnamon sugar and, at times, dipped in honey or sweet syrup. But not only that but they can also be served salty or savoury. Some sopapillas are stuffed with meat, cheese, and peppers, unlike the traditional sweet sopapillas.
Poori
A poori is a popular Indian deep-fried, unleavened flatbread. It is made by using whole-wheat flour and is a common flatbread across all Indian households throughout the country. It is a bread that is consumed for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with various sabzis and even desserts.
It is a popular accompaniment to aloo sabzi, which is commonly known as poori bhaji. Not only that, it is also enjoyed with sweet dishes such as aamras poori and halwa poori.
Mekitsa
A popular flatbread from Bulgaria that is deep-fried. Mekitsa is a lovely dish that is traditionally served during breakfast. It is made of kneaded dough with yoghurt. Apart from that, it also includes salt, oil, eggs, a leavening agent, and obviously, flour.
The name mekitsa refers to soft in Bulgaria, which is a testament to the texture of the flatbread, and they are eaten for breakfast dusted with powdered sugar along with cheese, fruit jams, honey, and yoghurt.
Luchi
Luchi and poori are quite similar to each other but they aren't exactly the same. It is a popular deep-fried flatbread that is prepared by using maida. It is extremely loved in West Bengal and is essentially a Bengali-style poori and the Bengalis are obsessed with their luchi.
But the flatbread is not only popular in West Bengal but also loved in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, and more.
Luchi is known for its pillowy, soft texture with a neutral flavour and is frequently paired with kosha mangsho and aloor dum.
Vetkoek
Vetkoek, also known as fat cakes, is a traditional South African fried bread. This bread is an important part of South African cuisine, and vetkoek is similar to Mexican sopapillas, Dutch oliebol, and the Caribbean Johnny cake. The best part of vetkoek is that you can make them in any size that you want; they can be small, large, or medium.
They are usually enjoyed by filling them with tuna, mayo, syrup, or meat. It is also popularly filled with curried minced meat, cheese, or anything else that you want to fill. They make for quick and filling food that is also delicious.
Langos
Langos is a Hungarian bread that is prepared by deep-frying a basic dough that includes sugar, salt, yeast, flour, and water until the bread reaches a beautiful golden-brown colour. In some variations, instead of water, milk, sour cream, or yoghurt are used.
The bread is traditionally warm and fresh and is usually topped with cheese, sauces, and salt, but it can also be consumed as it is. Langos are also a popular street food and are usually seen at many fairs, beaches, and amusement parks in countries like Hungary, Romania, Croatia, and Austria.
Navajo Frybread
Navajo Frybread is a traditional flat-dough bread of the North American indigenous people. Made with basic ingredients like wheat flour, water, and salt, it can be enjoyed plain or with toppings like honey, venison, or beef for extra flavour. This bread is very popular and can be served as both sweet and savoury. Not only that, you can serve this as a main meal too.
Scovergi
This is a traditional Romanian fried flatbread and is popular throughout Romania. It is a similar flatbread to langos from Hungary. The bread is prepared by using eggs, salt, yeast, flour, yoghurt, and oil.
Scovergis are generally kept on a plate and covered with a cloth or kitchen paper with the purpose of not letting them get dry or become too firm or hard. It is usually enjoyed with some grated cheese on top and it is also eaten as a snack.
