Aloo Bonda: Indian Potato Balls

Aloo Bonda, also known as Batata Vada, are wonderful little spiced potato balls coated in a chickpea flour batter and deep fried. Served as a snack, starter or part of a larger Indian-style meal with chutneys for dipping, you’ll be surprised how such simple ingredients can taste so moreishly good.

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I first ate Aloo Bonda when I lived in Leicester. During the more than twenty-five years I spent there, I don’t know how many times I must have gone to one of the city’s sweet marts.

Despite their name, sweet marts, along with their colourful range of Indian confectionery, also sell vegetarian savoury snacks. These include samosa, pakora and dhokla – a wonderful sponge with mustard seeds. Among those we’d buy was always Aloo Bonda: golden balls of batter filled with a spicy potato mix.

But I also learned how to make my own Indian style snacks. And that’s come in rather handy since I moved to the Moorlands where they’re rather thin on the ground.

One of the things I love about Indian food is that, with a well-stocked spice cupboard, you can turn simple ingredients like potatoes and onions into a real feast.

Eaten as a snack on their own, as a starter or as part of a larger meal, I think you’ll love Aloo Bonda.

In this post I’ll also suggest a couple of fantastic chutneys to dip them into as well.

Aloo Bonda

Aloo simply means potato and at the heart of Aloo Bonda is a ball of cooked, spiced potato. Some people use mashed potato, but I prefer them crushed so a bit of texture remains.

Most of the spices I use to make my Aloo Bonda are pretty commonplace. Cumin seed, mustard seed and fennel seed plus ground coriander and turmeric.

The only one you might need to shop around for, or buy online, is the curry leaves. I use dried ones in all sorts of Indian inspired dishes, just lightly crumbling them in my hand as they’re added. (Update: since writing this post, I’ve discovered that you can buy fresh curry leaves online which last for ages if you freeze them).

Along with onion, garlic, ginger and green chilli, the spices are fried to bring out their flavour before mixing them into the cooked potatoes.

The filling is finished off with some lemon juice and chopped fresh coriander leaf before being left until cool enough to roll into balls.

I make my balls approximately walnut-sized. If you follow the detailed recipe at the end of this post it should give you around thirty Aloo Bonda.

The Batter

Once you’ve made the spicy potato balls, it’s time to coat them in batter and deep fry.

Like many Indian snacks, the coating is a simple water and chickpea flour batter. Usually sold as gram flour (and sometimes besan flour) it’s widely available these days.

Gram flour is pretty cheap too: I pay around £2 for a huge two kilo bag. Useful for binding Falafel and great in my Socca Chickpea Flour Flatbread, gram flour is also suitable for gluten-free diets.

You can make the Aloo Bonda batter as fancy or as plain as you like. Besides a bit of baking powder, I just sift it with a little turmeric and chilli powder. But you can add more spices plus chopped coriander if you want.

You’ll need to whisk in just enough water to make a batter that’ll nicely coat the potato balls. A medium, custard-like texture is what you’re looking for.

This should give a thinnish batter coating to the finished Aloo Bonda without being at all stodgy.

Deep Frying

The Aloo Bonda must be deep fried either in a deep fat fryer or, as I do, a few at a time in a large wok.

If you’re not experienced at deep-frying, please tap here for a guide to doing it safely

When your oil is nicely hot, you take a potato ball and dip it into the batter to completely cover it. If any of the potato is peeking out from the batter then it will sizzle out when you try to fry it.

Pop it carefully into the hot oil and then repeat with a few more balls. Don’t crowd the pan though, or the Aloo Bonda won’t cook properly.

After a few minutes, they’ll have turned a light golden brown. Take them out and put on paper towels to drain a little. Repeat the process with the rest of the potato balls and you’re done.

Serving Aloo Bonda

Biting into one of the golden Aloo Bonda, I’m still always surprised at just how good something whose main ingredients are potatoes and flour can be.

But, as is traditional, I do like to have a little something to dip them into. That’s where Indian chutneys come in.

I think my Spicy Tomato Chutney goes wonderfully well with Aloo Bonda. I originally developed it to go with Indian-style Aubergine Fritters but I think its sweet and spicy flavour is perfect for all sorts of fried snacks. It’s made in around half an hour and should be fine in the fridge for up to five days.

If you want something even quicker, then how about Coconut & Coriander Chutney? It combines creaminess with tart lime, a little heat from green chilli and complexity from quickly fried whole spices added at the end. I love the pairing of potato and coconut, so created this chutney especially for the Aloo Bonda. Do please try it!

TRY A THALI

I think the really nicest way to eat snacks like Aloo Bonda is on a traditional Indian thali tray with lots of other tempting dishes. It’s great to pick a little of this, then a little of that, choosing different combinations.

In the feast you see here, clockwise from the top, we had: vegetable and cashew rice, lamb curry (made with diced shoulder from Troutsdale Farm), cucumber and mint raita, Onion Bhaji, the aloo bonda, and crunchy salad. In the middle are Tamarind & Mint Chutney plus Coconut & Coriander Chutney.

But to enjoy Aloo Bonda you certainly don’t need to produce anything as elaborate as this. And although they’re best served warm, I’ve happily eaten leftovers cold in packed lunches.

I suppose the deep frying may seem a lot of work if you’re not used to it. But it really isn’t once you’ve had some practice.

Aloo Bonda keep well for a few days in the fridge and can be reheated in a low oven. You can even freeze them so it’s worth making up a big batch.

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Aloo Bonda: Indian Potato Balls

Aloo Bonda or Batata Vada are wonderful Indian spiced potato balls coated in a chickpea flour batter & deep fried. Serve as a snack, starter or as part of a larger, thali style meal.

Course Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack, Starter

Cuisine Indian, Vegetarian, Vegan

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Servings 30 balls

Author Moorlands Eater

Ingredients

• 800-850 g potato (approx 3 medium-large) peeled, cut into 2-3 cm chunks
• 1 tbsp oil (e.g. groundnut, sunflower)
• 1 small onion skinned, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic peeled & finely grated or chopped
• 5-10 g ginger root peeled & finely grated or chopped
• 2 hot green chillies finely chopped, seeds in or out as preferred
• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• small handful dried curry leaves
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 0.5 tsp ground turmeric
• salt to taste
• 0.5 lemon juice only
• small bunch coriander leaf, including stems roughly chopped
• oil for deep frying see Recipe Notes for a guide to safe deep frying

For the batter:

• 120 g gram (chickpea) flour
• 1 pinch baking powder
• 0.5 tsp salt
• 0.5 tsp turmeric
• chilli powder to taste
• 150 ml water

Instructions

1. Boil the potatoes in salted water until just tender.

   Drain and set aside.

2. Put the tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan, heat to moderate then add the chopped onion.

   Cook until starting to soften and brown (10-12 min).

3. Add the garlic, ginger and chillies and cook for a further 3 minutes.

4. Add the mustard, cumin and fennel seeds. Lightly crumble the dried curry leaves in your hand as you add them to the pan too.

   Stir and cook for 2 minutes.

5. Add the ground coriander and turmeric then cook for 1 minute.

6. Add the cooked and drained potatoes to the pan, stirring well so they are covered in the aromatics and spices. Break the potatoes up a little as you stir.

7. Take the pan off the heat, add salt to taste plus the lemon juice and coriander leaf, mixing well.

   Set aside to cool.

8. When cool enough to handle, take walnut-sized amounts of the spiced potatoes and roll them into balls. Set aside while you make the batter.

Make the batter:

1. Sieve all the ingredients except the water into a large bowl.

2. Make a well in the centre, then gradually add all of the water, whisking as you go to make a smooth batter.

Frying the aloo bonda

1. Heat the oil in a deep fat fryer, wok or other suitable pan.

2. Take a potato ball and dip it in the batter so that it's completely covered.

   Carefully drop it into the hot oil.

   Repeat with several more balls, but don't crowd the pan.

3. Cook until lightly browned then transfer to a kitchen towel-lined plate or tray.

   Repeat with the rest of the balls.

4. Best served warm with chutney for dipping.

   Reheat aloo bonda in a moderate oven or can be eaten cold.

   Can also be frozen once cold. Defrost before reheating as above.

Recipe Notes

Important: if you're not experienced at deep-frying, tap here for a guide to safe deep-frying

 

Serving suggestion for Aloo Bonda: Coconut & Coriander Chutney for dipping.