This Kenyan Potato Bhajia recipe was love at first sight because of all the different spices it had in the batter. This is a lovely snack and also would work great as an appetizer or party food.
For the third day and final day of the BM Kenyan Potato Bhajia is the recipe that I chose to make from Mireille’s space.
This bhajia recipe was the first one that I had bookmarked from her space but I had made it the last because I was finding for that right day when we could relax and eat this as a snack.
The evenings are so busy that I am finding my kids eat on the go more and more.
Kenyan Potato Bhajia was very interesting to read from Mireille’s post that this potato bhajia whose origin is from India are very popular street food in Kenya.
She also mentioned that Kenya has quite a big Indian population and a lot of Kenyan cuisines is a fusion of both Indian and local East African cuisine.
This recipe was love at first sight because of all the different spices it had in the batter. The procedure is very similar to the South Indian Bajji’s except for the batter is heavily spiced.
This was a lovely snack and also would work great as an appetizer or party food.
Preparation time – 15 minutes
Cooking time – about 10 minutes per batch
Difficulty level – easy
Recipe source - Mireille
Ingredients to make Kenyan Potato Bhajia – Serves 10-12 as an appetizer
- Potatoes – 3 medium
- Chickpea flour/besan/kadalai maavu – 1 ¾ cup
- Rice flour – ¼ cup
- Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
- Ajwain/carom seeds – ¼ tsp
- Dhania Jeera powder/Cumin coriander powder – 1 tsp
- Red chili powder – 1 tsp
- Garam masala – ½ tsp
- Ginger – 1-inch piece (finely grated)
- Salt – to taste
- Dried fenugreek leaves/Kasuri methi – 1 teaspoon (crushed)
- Cilantro – ¼ cup (finely chopped)
- Water – as needed
- Oil – to deep fry the bhajias
Procedure –
- Wash the potatoes and peel them. Using a mandolin, thinly slice the potatoes and keep them immersed in a bowl of water.
- Rinse the sliced potatoes and then dry them entirely by patting them in between kitchen cloth or paper towels. It is important to have the slices very dry because if it is wet, they will dilute the batter.
- In a large bowl combine the flour and all the spices. Add water slowly and make a thick batter. The batter should be as thick as the pancake batter.
- Heat the oil to deep fry the bhajias in a wide pan.
- Place ¼ of the sliced potatoes in the batter and mix well. Take out one slice of potato at a time and shake off the excess batter in it. Now slowly drop this in the heated oil and repeat the same with a few more slices of potatoes. Cook the bhajias until it's golden brown on both sides and then drain them on a paper towel-lined dish.
- Serve the Kenyan Potato Bhajia warm with ketchup or chutney!
More Recipes With Potatoes
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Recipe
Kenyan Potato Bhajia Recipe
Equipment
- pan
- spatula
Ingredients
- 3 medium Potatoes
- 1 ¾ cup Chickpea flour/besan/kadalai maavu
- ¼ cup Rice flour
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder
- ¼ teaspoon Ajwain/carom seeds
- 1 teaspoon Dhania Jeera powder/Cumin coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon Red chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon Garam masala
- 1 inch piece Ginger Finely grated
- to taste Salt
- 1 teaspoon Dried fenugreek leaves/Kasuri methi Crushed
- ¼ cup Cilantro Finely chopped
- as needed Water
- to deep fry the bhajias Oil
Instructions
- Wash the potatoes and peel them. Using a mandolin, thinly slice the potatoes and keep them immersed in a bowl of water.
- Rinse the sliced potatoes and then dry it entirely by patting it in between kitchen cloth or paper towels. It is important to have the slices very dry because if it is wet, it will dilute the batter.
- In a large bowl combine the flours and all the spices. Add water slowly and make a thick batter. The batter should be as thick as pancake batter.
- Heat the oil to deep fry the bhajias in a wide pan.
- Place ¼ of the sliced potatoes in the batter and mix well. Take out one slice of potato at a time and shake off the excess batter in it. Now slowly drop this in the heated oil and repeat the same with few more slices of potatoes. Cook the bhajias until its golden brown on both sides and then drain them on a paper towel-lined dish.
- Serve the Kenyan Potato Bhajia warm with ketchup or chutney!
Dorcas says
Is the egg required?
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
There is no egg in the recipe. We don't need egg.
Jessica says
Hello, have you tried this with different potato types? I’m not sure where you are located but I currently live in North America and there are many types of potatoes here. I think a russet is the most similar to the potatoes we had in Kenya but I can not remember.
I am excited to try making these!
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Jessica, I have made it with almost all kinds of potato. I use have used russet, Idaho and even the red ones and they work well. This is one of our favorite and is also very similar to a popular Indian snack called Bajji.