Bataka Bhajia: Potato Fritters with Coriander & Pepper Crunch
Accompaniment
Food
Main Courses
Starters
Indian
Dairy-free
Gluten-free
Vegan
Vegetarian
Minal Patel, head chef at Prashad, Yorkshire
4 Servings
Ingredients
FOR THE MASALA
2-5 fresh green chillies (ideally Kenyan), trimmed but not de-seeded
2-4 garlic cloves
Pinch salt
FOR THE BATTER
200g chickpea flour, sieved
20g rice flour
1¼ tsp salt
1 handful fresh coriander, rinsed & finely chopped
300ml warm water
2 medium red-skinned (or other waxy) potatoes, cut into 5mm thick slices
1 tbsp black peppercorns, coarsely ground or crushed
4 tbsp coriander seeds, coarsely crushed
For frying sunflower oil
Method
- Crush the chillies and garlic together with the salt to make a fine masala paste
- Put the batter ingredients and masala paste in a medium bowl and gently mix, working the spices through to form a relatively runny batter
- Mix the coriander seeds and pepper in a small bowl
- Heat the oil - about 15cm deep - in a large pan over a high heat (or in a deep fat fryer, if you have one). Test the temperature by sprinkling a few drops of batter in the oil, and once ready reduce the heat to medium
- Coat each potato slice in the batter mix then sprinkle the top surface with the coriander seed-pepper mix and carefully place in the oil sprinkled-side up. Cook for 3 minutes, flip over and cook for a further 4-5 minutes until the batter is crispy and the seeds are dark brown
- Remove from the oil and rest on absorbent kitchen towels while you cook the rest of the potato
- Serve warm with kakadhi raitu (a yoghurt and cucumber dip) or safarjan wattana (an apple and pea chutney)
