How many bhajjiyas/pakoras (fritters) do you think can be made in 15 minutes?

Chhattisgarh’s Basant Kumar Chandrakar (38) — owner of a shop selling mangodi (prepared by soaking dal in water for six to eight hours, then grinding it into a paste with added salt), bhajjiyas and pakoras — could initially make only half a kg. But this wasn’t enough for Basant.

To this end, he built a mangodi/bhajiya-making machine that now helps him make 2 kg of pakoras in 10 minutes.

Basant, who wasn’t able to study beyond Class 12 due to his family’s financial condition, began resorting to odd jobs to earn money.

Eventually, he decided to make a business out of mangodi.

The snack is eaten for breakfast, making mornings a busy time at Basant’s stall. But he wasn’t able to meet the burgeoning demand.

“Sometimes people would go away disappointed because they had to wait for a long while to get their order. I was not just losing business but my goodwill was also getting a beating.”

He started by looking for machines that would reduce the time taken to make the mangodis.

Unfortunately, there was no such machine available in the market, so he decided to put in his own time and resources to make one.

“The first prototype I made was of plastic and I realised that the high flame would cause it to melt.” A few months of trial and error later, Basant came up with a steel version of the machine that not only looked sturdy but also did a great job.

Most of the machines available in the market were industrial-sized and could not be customised to suit the needs of a small business owner.

That is when Basant came up with the idea of working on creating a small handheld machine.

It took him 2.5 months to develop a handheld device that allows the user to make up to 2 kg of bhajjiys or mangodis in ten minutes — double  the amount that can be made manually.

So far, he has made and sold over 500 machines to other small stall owners in Chhattisgarh. The machine retails for Rs 1,200.

If you think your local pakora shop can benefit from Basant’s innovation, you can contact him at +91 7000816817 for further enquiries.