Crispy bajjis: perfect monsoon snack

It’s that time of the year when the cool breeze blows and the rain pours, forcing you to pull out your woollens, umbrellas and raincoats. It’s also the perfect time to prepare hot bajjis

Bajji

Ingredients

2 tbsp gram flour

1 tsp rice flour

1 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

A pinch of cooking soda

Salt to taste

Water to mix the paste

Oil to deep fry

1 potato

Method

Step 1: Wash the potato and use a slicer to make thin chips.

You can leave the potato skin on, it gives a varied taste. if you have decided to leave it on, wash it thoroughly and then make the chips.

Bajjis can be made from other vegetables too. Potato is a versatile veggie — it’s the most amiable in the vegetable kingdom. It can go anywhere even in biryani. Check out the Kolkata biryani, where the dish is served with potatoes. Instead of potatoes, you can try okra, onions, pumpkins, mushrooms, and even brinjal. The coating will be the same but the vegetable is different.

(Tip: Put the chips in a bowl of water to avoid potatoes changing colour else you have to use it immediately)

Step 2: In a bowl, add the gram flour, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and rice flour. Give this powdery mixture a mix.

(Tip: Rice flour can be avoided. Here it is added to make the Bajjis more crispy)

Step 3: Gently add water to the mixture and stir in. In the end, the liquid mixture should have a slow-moving consistency.

Add water in small quantities, you don’t want the coating to be too watery. Also, since we have kept the chips in water — it adds some quantity of water to the coating. Let the consistency be slowing-moving runny. If it’s not, you can always add in water.

Make sure the coating is seasoned according to your preference and is at the spice level which pleasures you and not make you gasp for water. In such case, add in more flour and adjust accordingly.

Take a deep vessel to fry, add in the oil and heat. Now add a pinch of cooking soda to the batter, and you can see it froth a bit. Once the oil is heated, turn it down to medium. Coat the chips in the batter and deep fry until the colour changes to a nice golden brown. Taken them out and place them on a plate lined with kitchen tissues so that excess is oil drained.

Serve hot with ketchup.