A bountiful of potatoes...

My husband loves potato bonda.

Crispy shells of fried gram flour with melt-in-the mouth potato filling, spiced up and served really hot on cold, gloomy days..marvellous! It came as no surprise then that he has been asking, begging me to make some for a long, long time. And not that I deliberately keep him waiting, but truth be told, I did not know any local Indian grocery store nearby that might sell Gram flour, the staple to make those crispy, spicy shells that he yearns for. Even some 24-hour stores which are totally drive-worthy for some late night adhoc shopping could not lure me into some nightly shopping after work, just for a bag of gram flour.





So days became weeks, and weeks became months. There were no sight of potato bonda in our home. Until one fine day, amongst a stack of dhals and other sundries, I spotted the yellow bag. Full of promises, and wishes coming true. I was well pleased to find bags of gram flour in our local wet market that we visit often for some fresh fruits, vegetables and poultry. I could see the broad smile on The Husband's face when I casually toss a bag into our shopping basket, and in my mind, I was hoping that I would have no emergency operation that might require me to go to work again, as how last few Saturdays have been. I just wanted to stay home, and enjoy my cooking. And hope against hope for some heavy rain that afternoon, that would have been perfect.

Anyway, the rain never came. But potato bondas were swiftly presented on our table with a fresh pot of tea. Times like this are what memories are made of. Couscous enjoying her first bites of potato fillings, whislt exclaiming in her baby language 'Hot! Hot!', and the whole plate was licked clean in no time by The Husband, leaving me a couple behind, just for courtesy sake.



I could tell that there would be more request coming my way for those delicious tea time snack to be made again. As I tend to be a wee bit more 'adventurous' when it comes to creating savoury dishes, I realised that I never had any proper measurements or even exact ingredients whenever I made Bonda in the past. The taste invariably is different all the time, albeit claimed to be delicious at all times ( or maybe he is just being polite!). This time, I thought I would jot all the ingredients down, and replicate the same recipe for next time.

There will definitely be a 'next time'.

Potato Bonda

4 large potatoes-boiled and mashed
2 cups gram flour
1 red onion-diced
1 tbsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
1/2 tbsp cumin seeds
few sprigs curry leaves
water as needed
Vegetable or canola oil to fry

Method
1. In a large bowl, add the mashed, boiled potatoes together with salt, coriander powder, chilli and paprika, cumin power, turmeric, curry leaves and onion. Mix well.
2. Scoop a tablespoon of the mixture and form small balls using cleaned hands.
3. In a separate bowl, put the gram flour and add water as needed until thick batter is formed. Add a pinch of salt, black pepper powder and cumin seeds.
4. Heat the oil to deep fry. Dip each potato ball into the gram batter until it is well covered and gently immerse them into the oil. Fry all sides until golden brown.
5. Serve piping hot with a good cuppa of chai.

Curry Puffs

Apologies for the brief silence on the blog whilst I am away, please make do with this article of mine and the curry puff recipe which was featured last week on the Honest Cooking food magazine.

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Is there a better East-meets-West fusion food than these humble curry puffs, I wonder. Each bite into the flaky, layered puffs filled with savoury concoctions conjure up images of my idyllic childhood growing up in Asia, yet it also brings back fond memories of those afternoons whiling away in exquisite french patisseries. These days, with the predictably gloomy weather and days getting shorter, I find myself craving for more and more savouries, and I can’t find a much better comfort food for my afternoons than these puffs. I remembered many years ago, our family would gather around those deep fried puffs, each on its own napkin paper, and regale stories whilst waiting for the monsoon rain or bolts of lightning and thunderstorm to subside. Those rainy afternoons would be much savoured that every time it rains in England, and I can tell you it rains quite often, I would reach for the old memories yet again, in what I know best. Warm, hearty food.

Although I could easily reach for the shop-bought English cornish pastries or their close rival in the form of Indian samosas, the exquisite taste of these curry puffs deserves a merit of its own, so I always end up making them even in a short  notice. They look deceivingly elaborate to make, yet so simple and versatile, with fillings of your own choice. I always go for curried potato and meat filling, but I have also tried different versions to this when the choice of filling is mostly depicted by ingredients available at hand.

I do not vouch for deep-frying usually, but spare me on this occasion. I must warn you though, these curry puffs are deliciously addictive, so put the kettle on, invite your friends over and make those delights. At the very least, you could bask in the compliments and safe in the knowledge that these puffs taste way better than the ready-roll pastries from the shops nearby.

CURRY PUFFS

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup Crisco vegetable shortening
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 medium sized egg-beaten
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 medium sized potatoes-peeled and diced
• 1 red onion-diced
• 200g beef-diced finely
• 1 inch ginger-grated
• 1 clove garlic-crushed
• 1 tbsp mild curry powder
• 1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
• Vegetable oil for frying

Instructions

1. Prepare the filling.
2. In a wok, heat the oil and fry the ginger and garlic.
3. Add in the diced beef with a splash of water and cover the wok with a lid for 10 minutes.
4. Once the beef is almost browned, add the curry powder, coriander leaves, diced onion and potatoes.
5. Season with salt.
6. Cook on low heat for around 20 minutes or until the filling is semi-dry.
7. Keep aside the cooked filling and prepare the pastry crust.
8. In a large bowl, mix 1 1/2 cups of flour with egg, sugar, salt and enough water to form a soft dough.
9. Divide this dough into 10 small balls.
10. In a separate bowl, rub the shortening with the remaining flour until stiff dough is formed.
11. Divide this dough into 10 balls, smaller in sized than the earlier flour dough balls.
12. Flatten a flour ball and wrap it fully around the shortening ball.

 13. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough ball into an oblong and make a diagonal cut 2/3 up without splitting the dough into two.

 14. Roll the pastry all the way up then make a ‘U-turn’ and keep rolling like a croissant.

15. Cut the roll-up into two.

 
16. Using a rolling pin, flatten each cut roll into a flat circle.

17. Fill the circle with the 2 tbsp of cooled filling.

18.To close the edge, make a pinch-and-twist motion until the edge is well sealed.

19. Repeat the steps for remaining dough balls, so you will get 20 completed puffs.

20. Heat the vegetable oil in the wok and deep fry the puffs.

Note: Thanks to Hyma, I have added some pictures on step-by-step dough making, I was in two minds on putting those pics as they are not that great looking (my hands were dusty with flour whilst shooting them!) but hope this helps.

Savala Vada (Onion Vada/Onion Fritters)

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This snack is our family favourite. When I ran out of ideas for tea time snack, or when the baking bug needs its bountiful rest, this vada would be my old friend re-invited back to the kitchen, time and time again. I tried to ban anything deep fried for the obvious health reasons but sometimes the craving caves in and I thought, oh well, only this time. Especially when it rains outside and all we want to do is curl up in the duvet, watch some silly matinees and munch something hot and spicy. This delectables are perfect for those lazy afternoons.

Now that the summer fasting is on us, those afternoon cravings would only get heightened, and it is easily justifiable to munch on those sinful deep fried snacks after hours and hours of starvation. Not that we need any excuses. Alas, it was not the same to munch on these at 9pm at night instead of mid afternoon! We like it plain, just the way it is, though I think it would also taste delicious with chilli sauce to kick it up, if your palate can take the heat.

This vada is so easy to make, but there is a catch. As yeast is used in the batter, it really needs to be kept to rise for approximately couple of hours before frying. If you can wait that long, your patience shall be rewarded by crispy, yet soft doughtnut like fritters, perfect with a cuppa. Make a big batch, as one vada is never enough!

Savala Vadas (Onion Vada/Onion Fritters)

2 cups plain flour

3/4 tsp instant yeast

3/4 cup water-adjust accordingly

2 red chillies-finely chopped

1 big red onion-finely chopped

1/2 tsp minced ginger

few twigs of curry leaves-finely chopped

a pinch of salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

Oil for frying

Method

1. Proof the yeast with lukewarm water, kept aside for around 10 minutes. Mix all the other ingredients with flour. Add in the yeast and mix well. The batter should be thick enough to form sticky balls on the hand. Cover the bowl and keep the batter at room temperature for about 2 hours. 

2. Heat the oil in a wok. Oil the palm of hands and using finger, shape the batter into doughnut shapes with round  hole in the middle. Slide into the oil and fry until golden brown.

3. Serve hot, on its own or with chutneys, chilli sauce or yogurt.

Note

Submitting this recipe to Taste of Pearl City's Any One Can Cook, Kitchen Flavours' Joy from Fasting to Feasting and Jabeen's Iftar Nights event.