Sunday 22 May 2011

Potato bhajias (fritters)

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I think this is probably the second recipe I would be posting from a recipe book taken from the library, the first being Amritsari dal, again from a Madhur Jaffrey book. For some strange reason, both the libraries in my Borough seem to have a lot of Madhur Jaffrey Books. I'm wondering its because most of her recipes cater to the locals, or so I think!

The book I have with me now, Simple Indian Cookery, has a bunch of neat recipes, but most of which I think are nothing great, just average and a little bland considering they are curry recipes. The potato bhajias, along with a flaky flat bread with cumin seeds were the only two recipes I thought were worth noticing.
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These bhajias are pretty simple and straightforward and I wouldn't have given it a go if it wasn't for the cold, windy weather we experienced a couple of days back. It was so sunny and bright the first half of the week and then suddenly it became very unpleasant. 

I was craving some banana fritters and Ro wanted English scones. Too bad  that I was the one with the upper hand in the kitchen and he had no idea how to make scones. But with no bananas at hand, I was left with the option of something savoury. These potato bhajias served the purpose...I mean it was deep fried, it was hot and paired with a cuppa it was bliss.

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Potatoes- 2 large, well scrubbed and peeled 
Besan/ Chickpea flour- 100 gms
Soda powder- 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Chilli/ Cayenne powder- 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder- 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
Salt- to taste
Water- about 100-150ml
Vegetable oil- for deep frying
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Sift together all the dry ingredients and the cumin seeds.
Pour in the water bit by bit stirring as you go, to make a smooth batter.
Cut the peeled potatoes into rounds, about 1/4 inch thick and drop into the batter.
Stir to coat them well.
Heat the oil in a kadai or deep frying pan. test to see if batter is hot by dropping a wee bit of batter into the oil and it should fizzle to the top immediately.
Take as many potato pieces as will fit in a single layer and scatter them evenly in hot oil.
Fry, stirring occasionally, until they are golden brown in colour on either sides.
remove them with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen towels.
repeat the process till you are done with the entire batch.
Serve hot with some chutney. I did an array of dips like a tamarind chutney, a mustard relish and chilli ketchup.
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Notes: The potatoes need not be peeled. I just did it by accident :)
Try the same with courgettes or even brinjal/ eggplant

54 comments:

Mélange said...

The bhajias look tempting.Well,I love to have some hot coffee after seeing these.Madhur,I love her recipes too.
Perfect for a rainy day !

Umm Mymoonah said...

I would love to have a seat and enjoy these yummy bhaji's with cuppa of tea on a cold winter but the temp is 40 degree C here. Who cares I'll still enjoy this bhaji's, yumm.

schmetterlingwords said...

Bajjis look very crisp Nisha. I feel like having some now, 'cos the weather has shown its bad face today here too, after days of beautiful sunshine. Lovely presentation with those chutneys and dips :-)

Satrupa said...

Perfect Bhaijias for a rainy eve and the clicks are lovely.

Ms.Chitchat said...

Perfect tea time snack,click is too tempting.

Sandhya Hariharan said...

I would say a perfect Snack for a perfect Sunday evening!!!

Hamaree Rasoi said...

Bhajjis look so crispy and delicious. Just prefect with a cup of tea.

Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi

Torviewtoronto said...

delicious looking bhajias crispy and looks perfect for evening snack

aipi said...

I am a sucker for these ~ they are so delicious.
US Masala

Hari Chandana P said...

Perfect snack recipe.. looks absolutely good.. love the presentation too :)
Indian Cuisine

Monet said...

Oh I'm hungry now. My friend has this book, and she's made a few recipes from it. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful recipe with me. I hope you have a wonderful day tomorrow. You and your sweet blog always makes me smile.

Rinku Naveen said...

Wow Nisha..this is a yummy and easy tea time snack. Loved the presentation too..

Rekha shoban said...

wow!!crispy n perfect bhaijias!!nice presentation n click!

Nithya said...

Delicious Bhajis :) Love the serving bowl :)Second click is awesome :)

Unknown said...

Lovely ambience and setup. And the bajjis looks droolworthy..perfect for teatime

Padhu Sankar said...

I love anything with potatoes.I avoid deep frying as much as possible but your Potato bhajias so tempting me

Indian Khana said...

Bhaji looks so crisp and yum ...love that with tea ..nice pics

Priya Suresh said...

So crispy and tempting bajias, can finish that whole plate anytime,fabulous snacks and clicks..

chef and her kitchen said...

wow...those look super crisp just the way I love...yummy bowl of pakoras...can finish them off in no time..:)

Unknown said...

Perfect snack recipe !!!

Jane said...

They look delish but I love the serving dish even better!

Nandinis food said...

Those look really really good! Yummy snack!

Deepti said...

Perfect bhajias for the cold weather here...

http://panchamrutham.blogspot.com/

Binys Recipes said...

i usually make this teatime....but the presentation has won me over.....hats off to u

Prathima Rao said...

Bhajias look highly tempting!! Loved the crispy curry leaves on top :) And gas hob is always better than the electric one..We have both & after some experiments found the gas one to be better..Like u said there are many vessels you cannot use in the electri one but need only the flat ones..And the taste of the dish varies too just a bit..You will notice it if u pay close attention, particularly indian dishes..
Prathima Rao
Prats Corner

Reva said...

Superb snack.. very beautiful presentation:) U have amazing photographic and writing skills ... wonderful:)
Reva

Vimitha Durai said...

Gorgeous snack for tea-time... Love it anytime...

Foodie Ann said...

I am sold when it comes to Potatoes...Potato baji is a super snack.... I once made Baji with Okra...and it was a disaster...

Kulsum said...

thats my go to recipe when it rains outside! Bhajiya's of any kind YUM!

the Junkie book said...

great looking bhajis! it's so easy to slide into a bhaji binge...
cute pics and hope you had a fantastic time over those!

Swathi said...

Potato bhajias looks awesome dleicious, love to have them with my coffee.

divya said...

Delicious and drool worthy..tempting me a lot.

Nitha said...

Baji looks so crisy.. I saw the same bowl in world market ystrdy and did not pick it as I thought I could serve only soup in such bowls. But looks like this is an all purpose one :)

Radhika said...

Very delicious bhajjis. Would love that platter. Glad to follow you.

Sushma Mallya said...

wow looks so crispy and nice...loved the fried curry leaves on top gives such a beautiful Aroma:)

Plateful said...

Loved them all - the deep fried potatoes, the quaint images and that cute platter! I do have a penchant for deep fried food, to me it equals comfort food :)

Hmm, I do have an electric hob. Like you said, miss making those perfectly laced appams, hottada...but electric hobs are so much safer and I love the easy wipe clean glass surface plus how stylish they look...:)

Shabs.. said...

Terrible wether these days isnt it?....its beeen windy for the past 4 days here n iam so annoyed, i cant tell u!And about cookers,definitely gas!Economical,fast n easy!I have been using gas for the past 1 year n see what a difference it has done....cooking is much faster n u can adjust heat as required unlike electric ones. i would never rent a house with electric hob:D
by the way,ur bhajis r fantastic:)

Miriam Korula said...

nish...its raining here n' i'm wishing i had some of these or something similar to munch on....:)..the edges look so pretty...it just happened to be so or shud i be doing something to get those curls arnd the edges?...they do look pretty....

Unknown said...

These look divine, such pretty pictures and I can't get ENOUGH of indian cuisine....

Shabs.. said...

btw,u can make these with sweet potato too:)

JishasKitchen said...

wow..the potato fritters looks perfect & delicious..and I love to have to have it at evening with a cup of back tea..:)

Cool Lassi(e) said...

What a crispy delicious looking Bajji! And a Gas Hob wins hands down..When I bought my house that was the major condition I put to my hubby..that the gas range should have a gas hob.

Sarah Naveen said...

Loved the second picture !!!!! you are right...most of the library's even here have lots of MJ's books..

Unknown said...

There is something special about the 2nd pic, extremely cozy!

Bhajias looks terrific!...Gotta see them at dept while going out for a tea, couldn't stop staring at ur bhaji's and Oh lady! I didn't like/eat anything at the cafe.

I still prefer gas hob which we have in India, since we could control heat more effectively, plate retains heat for sometime and doesn't change quickly, hate when i deep fry using hot pate, though it happens very rarely!

btw nisha deadline is 30th of may, ah don't worry about the pic though i'm pretty sure the ur pic will be good and mostly it's the recipe that counts

Binys Recipes said...

I have an award waiting for you in my space....

Anonymous said...

This aloo bhajjis look perfect: crunchy and tasty! And, I was so happy to read your thoughts on Madhur Jaffrey's recipes ;-) Had many disappointing experiences with them...

Anonymous said...

I dont think I need a reason to finish off that bowl in few minutes...bhajiyas look so crunchy.I love that green crockpot.

Anonymous said...

I have a electric hob and wish could have changed that to gas. you can't make so many things in this boring electric hob!!
These potato bhajji looks delicious and crunchy. I love potato .. such comfort food they are ...
www.sunshineandsmil.com

Namitha said...

At least you get MJ"s cookbooks in your place. The library in our town doesn't have many decent Indian cook books :(
This is a fav snack at home. I was not frying anything for a while now, but the rains these days are making me rethink ;-)

Miriam Korula said...

gnarly edges....fluke or not...looks so pretty....:)

Taste Melanger said...

First time here and such a beautiful blog u have. Absolute lovely pictures...Do visit my blog too, as time permits!!

Shireen said...

Wow! The best looking fritters that I've ever seen, I bet they taste delicious too! U have a gorgeous blog!

Sherin said...

Never made potato fritters ever I think. Hmm...
Madhur Jaffery was probably the first Indian cook to be popular in the UK I think, and hence the books stocked by the library. Occsionally get to see her old episodes in the lifestyle channels.

Irina M said...

Hi Nisha,

Your delicious recipe has been nominated as one of the "Top 100 Best Potato Fritters Recipes on the Internet". You can view it and vote for it here: http://potato-recipes.org/best-potato-recipes/best-potato-fritters-recipes-internet/ (position #47).