Bonda (deep fried potato balls in batter)

Ingredients

• • 500g or 4 medium potatoes

  • 1 tbsp finely chopped onion

  • 1 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves

  • 1 tsp finely chopped or grated fresh ginger (use young ginger if you can as they are not fibrous)

  • 1 green chilli finely chopped, or to taste (optional)

  • a squeeze of lemon or lime juice

  • Salt to taste

  • 1/2 cup besan (gram flour)

  • 1 tbsp rice flour

  • 1/4 tsp turmeric powder

  • Pinch of chilli powder (optional)

  • Oil for deep frying

Method

• 1. Boil the potatoes. Peel and mash.

  2. Add the onion, coriander leaves,ginger, chilli, lemon/lime juice and salt. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

  3. Mix the rice flour, turmeric, chilli powder and salt with the besan. Add about 1/2 cup tepid water and mix well to make a smooth batter. The batter should be of pouring consistency. You want it to be thick enough to coat the potato but not so thick that you end up with more batter than potato. Note that if you leave the batter sitting for a while, it will thicken. If the batter appears too thick, add a splash more water.

  4. Heat oil over a moderately higher heat.

  5. Take teaspoonfuls of the potato mixture and roll them into balls.

  6. Dip the potato balls in the batter and deep fry in batches until nicely golden and crispy. Drain.

  7. Serve hot with a dipping sauce.

Tips

• 1. Whenever I'm deep frying anything, I place a large strainer over a container and transfer fried foods to the strainer to drain first.

  2. If you have some batter left over at the end, dip some thickly sliced onions or other vegetables and fry to make quick pakoras.