he last post was pretty heavy so today I am lightening the vibe up with a recipe. I am lightening it up metaphorically because these bad boy bhajias are anything but light. They are delicious little parcels of deep fried carby goodness. What are bhajias I hear you ask ? Good question. Bhajias are a little deep fried Indian fritter. You can deep fry anything you want. Last week I deep fried some black eyed beans. Those are a legit Indian snack. I didn’t go rogue. Today I deep fried potatoes, which are also a legit Indian snack but I did go rogue a bit because I decided to add in some aubergine. Aubergines make everything better. But of course if you are one of those weirdos who don’t like aubergine then don’t add them. Why are these called Marus bhajias I hear you ask. Another good question. My goodness you are on a roll today. Well the honest answer is I don’t know. I suspect it has something to do with back home, which to us means East Africa and how or who they were made by in East Africa. When something tastes this good, you just stop caring about what they are called and you just start caring about how many you can shove down your gob. My kids love this. Who wouldn’t? It’s deep fried goodness after all. These are easy to make but they are a bit labour intensive because you do have to fry them. But they are totally worth it. I also make my life a lot easier by slicing my potatoes and aubergines with a mandolin rather than a knife. If you do use a mandolin please be careful with your fingers. It’s deep fried potatoes. Not deep fried fingers. So here is the recipe for an instant serotonin rush.
You will need :
2 small potatoes, not peeled and sliced thinly
half an aubergine, sliced thinly
one cup of gram flour (chickpea flour)
one teaspoon of minced garlic
a handful of chopped coriander
1/4 teaspoon of turmeric
enough water to make a paste – think like paper mache
salt to taste
oil to fry in
now of course you can add chilli if you want. I’ve also made these with courgettes, thinly sliced florets of broccoli, kale. You are limited by your own creativity here.
Step 1: put your thinly sliced veg into a big bowl
step 2: add a cup of gram flour, salt, the coriander, turmeric and garlic and mix. Now add the water. You want enough to make a nice workable batter.
step 3: heat the oil in a wok or a large frying pan. You are deep frying so you need enough oil. You want the oil to be really hot. I’m not technical enough to tell you the exact temp but you’ll know when it’s hot enough.
step 4: start frying your bhajias. Don’t just put clumps of bhajias in. Try to separate out each piece of potato and don’t crowd your pan. Let the Bhajias get nice and golden brown and a bit crispy. Take them out and put them on a plate lined with some kitchen towel. Sprinkle with some sea salt.
These are normally served with some tamarind sauce and some coriander and chilli chutney.
step 5: this step is mandatory. Do not skip this step. Feel like an accomplished human being. These Bhajias are a massive achievement.