CRISPY POTATO FRITTERS

Crispy Potato Fritters or Aloo pakoras are flavorful and addictive fried snack that can be prepared in less than 25 minutes and gets over in matter of seconds 🙂

Hope all of you are having a great start to the weekend. I love to start my weekend with some snack, oh yes set up the mood with good food 🙂  Last Friday I prepared banana chips and thought it might last for at least 10 days. I was wrong. It did not remain even till Sunday. Then we craved for some chocolate and I prepared double chocolate brownies, and it disappeared in no time as well. Well to start off this weekend, I prepared one of the most sought out fried snack at my dinner parties and I am sharing this simple recipe with all of you and I hope you all like it.

Generally on weekends we have friends over for dinner. My husband generally prefers to invite our guests a little earlier than dinner time, so that we can all have a good time together. This means that we start off with some tea and snacks, followed by some drinks and finger food and then late evening dinner culminating with desserts. If I am really confused on what snack to prepare that goes well with drinks or tea, then I end up preparing a batch of french fries. We all love french fries and I am sure it is the same for most of you as well 🙂 We can't get enough of it.

But recently, I decided to give a little twist by chopping potatoes into small cubes and preparing a simple batter with my favorite seasonings and then deep frying it. Our guests loved it so much that they insisted that I must prepare the same snack when we have them over the next time! Well it was not just our guests, my husband loved it as well. As a result these aloo pakoras have now replaced french fries in my kitchen 🙂 The right amount of spiciness, salt and garlic makes these fritters simply irresistible. You can serve them alone, or along with some mint chutney or ketchup. It pairs extremely well with a cup of coffee or tea, or with any drink. If you want to receive compliments from your guests, then do try this recipe for your next dinner party. Do not forget to let me know how it turned out.

Preparation time : 25 minutes
Serves : 18 to 20 fritters depending on the size.

Ingredients for Crispy Potato Fritters

Rice flour - ⅓ cup
All purpose flour / Maida - ⅓ cup  (use chickpea flour for gluten free version)
Medium potatoes - 2
Green chile / Serrano pepper finely chopped - 1
Big garlic cloves minced - 2
Turmeric powder - ¼ teaspoon (optional)
Red chile powder - ½ tsp
Salt - to taste

Steps to prepare Crispy Potato Fritters

Step I

• Peel the skin of potatoes, cut them into small cubes and wash it in cold water.
• In a bowl, add rice flour, all purpose flour, chopped green chilies, chopped garlic cloves, turmeric powder, chilli powder, salt to taste, and then add water little by little to form a thick paste.
• To this paste add potato cubes and mix until they are well coated.

Step II

• On a medium to medium high flame, heat oil in a pan for frying. To check if the oil is ready, just add a small piece of potato and check if it sizzles and comes up.
• Take small portions of the potato mixture in hand and drop it in oil. Depending on the size of your pan fry 4 to 6 fritter portions at a time.
• Deep fry them till they become crispy and golden brown, turning them occasionally so that they are cooked evenly
• Remove them using a slotted spoon. Transfer it to paper towel to absorb any excess oil. Repeat the process for remaining potato mixture.
• Crispy Potato Fritters are now ready. These tastes the best when served immediately. Have a great weekend!

Tips:

• The oil should be at the right temperature. I should not be too hot, this will make your fries turn dark brown and remain uncooked inside. If the oil is cold then your fritters will become soggy. So the best practice is to switch your flame between medium and medium high.
• See that the frying pan is filled half way through with oil. I used a 9 inch deep pan.
• Do not overcrowd the pan with fritters. This will not make your fritters crispy.
• The fritters will not become crispy if the batter is too watery.
• You can use chickpea flour to make it gluten free.
• Add dried basil leaves, garlic powder, pepper flakes, pepper powder, cilantro/coriander to the batter if desired.
• Deseed the green chilies if you cannot tolerate the heat.

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