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Spiced potato and pea fritters with sweet and sour chutney

Try this savoury Indian street food favourite for an afternoon snack or evening entrée.

By Alice Storey
  • 40 mins preparation
  • 1 min cooking plus cooling
  • Serves 12
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Spiced potato and pea fritters with sweet and sour chutney
Vada pav, popular roadside snacks in India, are potato fritters served burger-style in a white roll; we've wrapped ours in roti. Don't be shy with the condiments; add a dollop of thick natural yoghurt if you'd like to tone down the heat.

Ingredients

  • 4 sebago potatoes (about 800gm), peeled, cut into 4cm pieces
  • 100 gm frozen peas
  • 6 garlic cloves, plus 1 finely chopped
  • 1-2 long green chillies, coarsely chopped, plus ½, thinly sliced
  • 2 tbsp finely grated ginger
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil, plus extra for deep-frying
  • 10 curry leaves, torn
  • 1 tsp brown mustard seeds
  • 1 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1½ cups coriander, coarsely chopped (loosely packed)
  • 1 spring onion, finely chopped
  • Juice of 1½ limes, plus extra wedges to serve
  • ½ cup (loosely packed) mint
  • 12 roti
Tamarind chutney
  • 6 medjool dates, stone removed, chopped
  • 80 ml tamarind concentrate (see note)
  • 80 gm light palm sugar, crushed
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds, dry-roasted, crushed
  • 1 tbsp finely chopped ginger
  • ½ tsp ground chilli
  • 1 tsp lime juice
Chickpea batter
  • 150 gm chickpea flour (also called besan flour) (1 cup)
  • ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method

Main
  • 1
    For chutney, soak dates in 200ml boiling water in a small bowl until soft (10-15 minutes).
  • 2
    Drain, reserving liquid, and process with remaining ingredients except lime juice in a food processor until smooth, adding a little reserved liquid until smooth. Transfer to a saucepan and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until thick and darker in colour (10-12 minutes). Set aside to cool, then add lime juice and season to taste. Chutney will keep refrigerated for 2 weeks.
  • 3
    Cook potatoes in a saucepan of boiling salted water until tender (25-30 minutes). Drain, set aside to steam for 5 minutes, then transfer to a large bowl and mash until smooth. Set aside to cool. Blanch peas in boiling salted water until bright green (30 seconds), then refresh in iced water, drain, crush with a fork and add to potato.
  • 4
    Process garlic cloves, chopped chilli and 1½ tbsp ginger in a small food processor or pound with a mortar and pestle to a paste. Mix with mashed potato and peas.
  • 5
    Heat oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Add curry leaves and mustard seeds and fry until seeds pop (30 seconds to 1 minute). Remove from heat, add turmeric, stir to combine and add to potato mixture. Season to taste, add 1 cup coriander, spring onion and juice of 1 lime, and stir to combine. Divide into 12 patties and set aside on a tray lined with baking paper.
  • 6
    Preheat oil to 180C in a deep-fryer or deep saucepan. For batter, combine chickpea flour and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl, add 225ml water and whisk until smooth. Dip patties in batter, shake off excess, and deep-fry in batches (be careful, hot oil will spit) until golden and crisp (6-7 minutes).
  • 7
    Keep warm while repeating with remaining fritters. Combine mint and finely chopped garlic, thinly sliced green chilli and remaining ginger, coriander and lime juice in a bowl. Scatter herb mixture over fritters and serve with roti, lime wedges and tamarind chutney.

Notes

Tamarind concentrate is available from Asian grocers and select supermarkets.
Drink Suggestion: Skin-contact sauvignon blanc. Drink suggestion by Max Allen