Potato Bonda (Potato Fritters)
My answer to one question has not been answered at all – does anyone know anybody who does not like potatoes? What a versatile vegetable. It is a shame it is not a 1 of 5 a day vegetables. Having said that, it is an important vegetable in our diet due to the starchy carbohydrates it contains. I have written more about health benefits of potatoes in my post on potato roast . This particular dish is one of my favourites made by my mom. It would normally feature on a Sunday evening and I still remember getting a plateful and getting comfortable in front of the TV to watch the evening movie. It is also my husband’s favourite. I do not make it very often due to the deep frying. That changed once my mom tried vada on the ‘kuzhipaniyara koodu’ and it came out well. Now most of the deep fried dishes get made in this dish to reduce fat. In this recipe I have also added peas and carrots for nutrition and would make a great snack for fussy kids too!
For filling
2 medium potatoes boiled well
¼- 1/2 cup green peas boiled
1 carrot grated
1 sprig curry leaves (optional)
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
Turmeric powder
Salt to taste
Asafoetida
1 green chilly chopped and/or ½ teaspoon chilly powder
For Coating
2-3 tablespoons besan (chickpea flour/kadalai maavu)
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder
¼ teaspoon Chilly powder (optional)
Cooking oil to temper and fry
In a skillet add less than a teaspoon oil, once heated, add mustard seeds and after they crackle add turmeric powder, asafoetida, chillies and curry leaves.
Add the carrot and fry for a couple of minutes. Follow with potatoes and peas. Add salt and chilly powder and mash the vegetables. You do not have to cook this long as they are boiled anyway.
In a bowl, add all ingredients for the coating and make a paste first. Then add little bit more water to make it a little runny (more towards dropping consistency)
Make small balls of the vegetable mixture and dip in the coating mixture and coat uniformly.
Put this in a preheated ‘kuzhi paniyaram’ dish with little oil in each hole. Keep turning each ball to fry all sides.
Take off the flame once golden brown. Serve hot with any chutney or sauce or just on its own.
You could deep fry if you do not mind the fat or calories. The taste was great and I did not miss deep frying and enjoyed this wonderful dish without the guilt!
On second thought, try this the next time, coat the breaded potato balls with some oil, like you do on chappathi atta. And then preheat conventional oven for 350 degree F and then broil it for 25 mins. THe oil consumed will be much less and the heating will be uniform.
ReplyDeletehey thats a nice idea.. not limiting to appam alone in tht paatharam..nice one
ReplyDelete@Kiran, thanks for the nice idea. I am guessing that broiling would be more suitable for bread bonda than for conventional besan coated bonda. Will try it with bread bonda soon.
ReplyDelete@Geetha, thanks. well worth the money spent on the kuzhi paniyaram koodu!
ReplyDeleteVeena, Even Besan based bonda will be cooked very well. Have tried Pakoda and bonda and worked cool. Only draw back is if you forget the oil or dont coat it right then it might break all the way to the core... Which is not good. Because you will end up with a brittle version of the bonda. :-)
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