SWEET POTATO FRITTERS

Sweet Potato Fritters or Pakoda is tasty and irresistible finger food / appetizer that is perfect accompaniment for cocktail / mocktail party or any type of gathering. This is also perfect tea time snack.

This is prepared mainly using chickpeas flour. I have added the other spices just to enhance the flavor. If you do not have the other spices readily available you can just skip them. This can be prepared within ten minutes and is one such recipe that you can prepare when there are surprise guests at home.

You can also substitute sweet potatoes with potato, cauliflower, capsicum or even eggplant. This is popular street food in coastal karnataka and is available near temples as this is no onion no garlic recipe. This is also called kanga podi in Konkani.

Preparation time : 10 minutes
Serves : 15 fritters / pakora

Ingredients for Sweet Potato Fritters

Sweet Potatoes - 1
Chickpeas flour - ¾ cup
Warm water - ¾ cup
Red chile powder - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Dried Basil leaves - ½ tsp
Asafoetida / Hing -  ¼ tsp
Turmeric powder - ¼ tsp
Salt - to taste
Vegetable oil - for frying

Steps to prepare Sweet Potato Fritters

• Wash and peel the skin of sweet potatoes and slice then into 3 - 4 mm thick circles.
• Heat oil for frying see that the pan is atleast 40 % covered with oil.
• In a bowl  add chickpeas flour, water and mix well so that there are no lumps.
• Now add the salt, chile powder, basil leaves, cumin seeds and hing, salt to taste and mix well. The batter is ready.
• Once the oil is hot, dip each sweet potato in the batter so that it is well coated and fry til they are crisp and golden brown in color.
• Transfer it into paper towel to absorb any excess oil.
• Repeat the process for remaining sweet potatoes.
• Sweet Potato Fritters are now ready. Serve hot with tomato ketchup and enjoy.

Tip:

• See that the oil is not too hot or too cold. If its hot then fritters will become dark brown and if its too cold it will absorb excess oil.
• To check if the oil is hot, just drop little batter and check if it sizzles and come up.
• Do not overcrowd the pan. the number of sweet potatoes you add depends on the size of the pan.