Asher's Aloo Bondas

love4culinary's Note:

These are DELICIOUS potato balls. They are full of flavor, perfect for an appetizer or just an afternoon snack! We LOVE these... I cant get enough of them! hehe My fiance made these for me for the first time on my birthday this year! Best birthday snack EVER! :D Besan flour, also known as chickpea flour, can be found in most asian markets, and even some health food stores. Cooking time is the time it takes to make one batch.

• Total Time: 35 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 3 medium potatoes, boiled,peeled and mashed loosely
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seed
• 1/2 large jalapeno, finely chopped (seeds left in)
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup yellow onion, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cups besan flour (chickpea flour)
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• vegetable oil, enough for deep frying

Directions:

1. In a frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons oil, and add your mustard seeds.
2. When the mustard seeds begin to sputter, add the cumin seeds, jalapeno, salt, ginger and garlic.
3. Fry these ingredients for just a few seconds and then add the onions and turmeric.
4. When the onions begin to brown, add your cilantro and lemon juice and then add the potatoes.
5. Mix well, being careful not to mash the potatoes anymore, and turn off the heat.
6. Allow this mixture to cool completely.
7. After the mixture has cooled, begin to shape the mixture into small balls, approximately 1 inch in diameter.
8. In a medium sized bowl, make a thick batter with your besan flour, cayenne, baking soda and salt, using enough water to make a thick batter.
9. Heat your oil in a deep fryer or something large enough to deep fry in.
10. Take a potato ball, coat it in the batter, and then carefully drop it into the heated oil.
11. Turn the bonda every four minutes, cooking for approximately 15 minutes (more or less) until golden brown.
12. Repeat with the rest of the potato balls, cooking as many as you'd like at a time, without crowding them.
13. Serve these with chutney of your choice.

Reviews

[Amis]

Certainly very different but they were pretty good. I left out the jalapeno as well as the ceyanne since I served this with little guys in mind. The kid's had fresh mango with it as well as a varity of dipping sauces.

[eatrealfood]

these made for a very nice brunch today. i am a bit averse to deep frying so i altered the geometry of this to suit shallow frying. so mine were not exactly potato balls, but flattened into disks. otherwise, i followed your recipe in its entirety, except to substitute jalapenos for green chilis. i also splurged a bit more on the lemon juice and seasoning. the reason for 4* is, i did struggle with getting the batter to the right consistency and would have appreciated even a vague approximation of the water needed to be added to the besan (only NOW do i see charishma has mentioned 1cup, in my hurry this morning i missed the comments). also, i think 35min is way too optimistic a projection if you wanna start these from first principles ie. the time it takes to peel, boil, mash potatoes is well over 20mins in itself. even working in tandem with my husband, with him keeping vigil over them as they fried as i shaped the disks, it still took over an hour from start to finish. so, a bit laborious, but worth the effort ultimately.