Potato Bajji or Aloo Pakoras are potatoes coated in gram flour batter and deep fried to a crispy perfection.
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Aloo Pakora
Aloo Pakora or Aloo Bajji is a crispy potato fritter made with sliced potatoes coated in a gram flour batter and spice powders.
The words pakora, pakoda, bajji or bhajiya are used interchangeably by people from the South or North of India.
Depending on the region you are from, the spices and additions to the batter vary, but the basic recipe of sliced potatoes in besan batter deep fried to a crisp remains the same.
Ingredients for Aloo Bajji
The first ingredient is, of course, potatoes!!
The ingredients for the batter are besan / kadala maavu and rice flour. Rice flour helps get that crispy texture in the bajjis. You can also use cornstarch if you don’t have rice flour.
One medium-sized potato will give you an average of 10 bajjis. So, for one potato, you can use 3 tablespoons of gram flour and 1 tablespoon of rice flour.
The next part is the seasonings. I am going to give you an exhaustive list of spices and herbs that you can use while preparing the batter. You can choose a few ingredients from this list and add them to your besan batter.
Spice Powders
- Turmeric powder
- Red chilli powder
- Garam Masala powder
- Coriander powder
- Jeera powder
- Saunff / Fennel powder
- Asafoetida powder
- Amchur powder (dried mango powder)
Whole Spices
- Carom seeds/ Ajwain seeds (crushed)
- Coriander seeds (crushed)
- Fennel seeds (crushed)
- Pepper (crushed)
Herbs
- Coriander leaves, finely chopped
- Mint leaves, finely chopped
- Green chillies, finely chopped
- Ginger, grated
- Garlic, grated
If you like a crispy bajji, you can add a pinch of baking soda as well. If you skip the baking soda, the bajjis can still be crispy when you deep fry them for a long time on a low-medium flame.
How to make Aloo Pakora at home?
The first step is to mix the ingredients for the batter.
To a bowl, add the gram flour, rice flour and salt. Mix them well. Add the spices that you want in it – i usually add turmeric powder, Kashmiri red chilli powder and asafoetida. These are the spices i grew up with. Sometimes when I have them, I also add some ginger garlic paste, coriander leaves and fennel seeds. Add some water and make the batter. It should thick enough to coat the vegetables but thin enough to not feel like you are only eating batter and not the potato – do you know what I mean?
The next step is to wash the potatoes, peel and slice them into small discs. You can also use a mandolin slicer and get them in equal thickness. Toss the potato slices in the batter, and now let’s get the oil ready.
Place a kadai on a low-medium flame and add the oil. I mostly use groundnut oil, but you can use any oil of your choice. You know the oil is warm when you drop a small blob of batter and the batter immediately comes up. If that blob is still at the bottom, it means that the oil needs a little more heating. Let the flame always be at medium flame.
Once the oil is hot, pick a piece of the sliced potato and coat it with batter. Make sure to coat both sides before dropping it in the oil. You can add about 4 pieces at a time so as to not crowd the oil and allow breathing room for the pakora to fry.
Flip the aloo bajjji over and fry on both sides until they look golden and crispy. For one round of bajji making it should take roughly 4-5 minutes.
Serve Aloo Pakoras with a side of coriander chutney, coconut chutney or ketchup.
Shelf Life and Storage
Bajjis store very well and last for a day in any temperature outside since it is deep fried. You can make large quantities of Aloo Pakoras and serve at a later time.
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Recipe
Aloo Pakora | Potato Bajji
Ingredients
- 2 Potatoes medium sized
- 250 ml Cooking oil for frying
For the batter
- 3 tbsp Besan (chickpea flour)
- 1 tbsp Rice flour
- ½ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Turmeric powder
- 1 tsp Red Chilli powder
- ½ tsp Asafoetida powder
Instructions
- Peel the potatoes and cut them into thin slices. Not too thin or too thick. Make sure to cut them all in the same size to ensure they cook evenly.
- Once they are sliced, add them to a bowl of water and keep aside.
- To make the bajji batter, add all the ingredients listed in the "for the batter section" – besan, rice flour, salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, asafoetida powder. Mix all the ingredients well with the help of a whisk.
- Add water little by little to make a smooth batter. The batter should not be too thin. If it gets too thin, it will not stick to the surface of the potatoes. If the batter it too thick, you will get very "doughy" bajjis that won't taste great. Do a little taste test to ensure the salt and spice levels are to your liking.
- Place a kadai on a medium flame and add the oil. I always take as small a kadai and as minimum oil as possible to avoid oil wastage.
- Once the oil is warm, take a tablespoon of this warm oil and mix it into the batter. This step will help crisp up the bajjis.
- To check if the oil is ready, do a drop test.Dip two fingers into the batter and slowly drop the batter into the oil – if the batter sticks to the bottom, the oil is not ready. Let it warm up for some more time. If the batter slowly comes up, the oil is ready. If the flame is on high, reduce the flame to a place between high and medium. If the batter comes up too quickly, it means the oil has overheated and you have to reduce the flame to low right away. Let the smoking stop and then you can begin making the pakoras.
- Take a slice of potato and dip it in the batter on both sides. Slowly drop it into the oil. Fry all the potatoes in small batches without overcrowding the oil. This will help the bajjis cook through well. Once the bubbling stops on one side, with the help of a slotted spoon, turn the bajjis over to the other side to cook.
- Once the bajjis have a nice golden colour, remove from the oil and place it on a plate lined with kitchen tissue. Continue this process until all the potato slices have been used.
- Serve your hot Potato Bajjis with coconut chutney or eat it plain along with a hot cup of chai.
