Famous Crunchy sliced potato bhajia, a perfect afternoon snack with a tomato chutney and hot cup of Masala chai!
Bhajia are common snack food served with chutneys along with a hot steaming cup of chai in the afternoon. Bhajia’s are fritters, crispy fried goodness made from various vegetables and flours. Potatoes, onion, spinach, lentils with different flours can be used. Fried to a crispy golden goodness!
Maru’s is a famous destination in Nairobi that sells these hot sliced potato bhajias and there is a line out the door. Served in newspaper along with a tomato dipping sauce, it is a well know spot for a quick afternoon snack. Crispy crunchy sliced potatoes enveloped in a spiced batter; its a perfect balance of crispy and soft potato inside. Not as thick as french fries and not as thin as potato chips (crisps), in between is ideal.
While I don’t claim to know the secret Maru’s recipe, I am pretty close in recreating it. The trick is the thickness of the evenly sliced potatoes with very thin layer of batter around it to ensure you can taste the potato while staying crispy on the outside.
Bhajia’s are a common snack with chai for a heavier in between meals option perfect for weekends. I remember enjoying it frequently on weekend afternoons in between meals. Its like a bowl of potato chips or popcorn, hard to resist and hard to stop eating. Here is a recipe for a perfect afternoon snack, get the chai on!
Makes: 2 servings
Time: 20 mins
Ingredients:
- 2 cups pealed sliced potatoes 1/8″ thick (Use similar sized potatoes and if available a Mandolin to get even slices)
- 3/4 cup chick pea flour (besan)
- 1/4 cup rice flour
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tbsp Carrom seeds (ajwain)
- 1/4 tbsp turmeric (haldi)
- 1/2 tsp cumin coriander powder (dhana jeera)
- 1 tsp red chili powder
- 1/8 cup chopped cilantro leaves
- Oil for frying
- For the tomato dipping sauce: 1 cup fresh tomato, 1 green chili, 1/4 cup onion, 1/4 cup cilantro
Method:
- For the tomato chutney, in the blender, blend together tomato, chili, onion and cilantro to a paste. Set aside
- To make batter, mix together besan, rice flour, spices, cilantro, water into a thin batter.
- Peal and slice potatoes to 1/8″ thickness. Add them to the batter and stir till every slice is coated on both sides.
- In a frying pan, heat up oil on medium high
- Gently drop each slice into hot oil and fry till lightly golden brown on both sides.
- Pull out on tissue paper to drain excess oil.
- Serve hot immediately with tomato chutney and chai.
- Enjoy!
Tips:
- You can also serve with green chutney, imli chutney or salsa as an alternative.
- Enjoy immediately while piping hot and crispy. As they sit, they will get softer.
- If you have left overs, reheat in the oven or toaster over to get the crispiness back.
- There are 2 ways to coat the potatoes: 1. You can either make a very thin batter so very little sticks to the potato slices, or 2. Do not add water and make batter, instead let the dry flour stick to the potatoes with its nature juices. The idea is to have very little batter/flour on the potatoes. Thick batter will result in a spongy out layer which soaks up a lot of excess oil while frying and will not result in a crispy bhajia. The thinner the batter the crispier the texture.
- If you like, you can add sliced onions and whole green chili’s as well into the same mix.