Vegetable Bonda

My 211th recipe, "Vegetable Bonda", a delicious Tea time snack. Not sure if everyone is familiar with what a bonda is. So let me try to explain what a vegetable bonda is. It is a deep fried, spicy South Indian fritter made with chickpea flour batter and a delicious vegetable filling. It is crispy on the outside and soft in the inside. After moving to the US, there are a lot of dishes which I really miss eating. I usually try to make most of my favorite recipes at home. However since vegetable bonda requires deep frying I make it only rarely at home. It has been a long time since I had one. And I have in fact lost track of time and do not know when was the last time I had one. However while growing up it was one of my very favorite tea time snacks and my dad would often get me one from the nearby restaurant. The hot and spicy vegetable bonda along with the coconut chutney makes the perfect combo along with my masala chai. Also, this is an easy way to use up left over veggies from your refrigerator or an easy way to make your kids eat their veggies 🙂

Vegetable Bonda

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Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 10 mins

Total Time 30 mins

Ingredients

  

• Potato - 3 small
• Mixed vegetables - 1 Bowl I used -> Carrot - 2, Green Beans - 20, Green peas - ⅓ Cup
• Oil - For frying + 1 tsp
• Jeera - ½ tsp
• Cashews - 10
• Green chilli - ½ small Finely chopped
• Ginger - ¼ inch Finely chopped
• Garlic - 3 cloves Finely chopped
• Curry leaves - 1 sprig Finely chopped
• Onion - 1 medium Finely chopped
• Coriander leaves - 1 Tbsp Finely chopped
• Mint leaves - 1 Tbsp Finely chopped
• Salt - ½ tsp Adjust as per taste
• Turmeric - ¼ tsp
• Red chilli powder - ½ tsp
• Coriander powder - ½ tsp
• Garam masala - ½ tsp
• Orange food color - a very small pinch Optional

For Batter

• Gram flour - 1 Cup
• Rice flour - ½ Cup
• Baking soda - a pinch
• Asafoetida - ¼ tsp
• Salt - a pinch Adjust as per taste
• Turmeric - ¼ tsp
• Red chilli powder - ½ tsp
• Orange food color - a very small pinch Optional

Instructions

 

• First cook the potato and the mixed veggies (along with a pinch of salt) seperately until done. I pressure cooked them for 1 whistle. Once done peel the skin of potato, mash it roughly and keep aside until use. Also, completely drain the water from the mixed veggies and keep them aside until use.
  
    
• Now heat a pan with oil, add the jeera, cashews, green chilli, ginger, garlic, curry leaves and saute until the cashews turn golden brown. Follow it by onion, salt, coriander leaves, mint leaves and saute until the onion turns translucent.
  
    
• Turn the flame to low - medium, add all the dry powders (Turmeric, red chilli, garam masala, coriander, food color) stir well to combine. Make sure not to burnt the spices. Turn off the flame.
  
    
• Add the mixed veggies and mashed potato. Mix well using a ladle to combine. While mixing gently mash the veggies using the ladle. You should be able to form a firm ball with this stuffing. Now divide and form the equal sized balls out of this stuffing. Place them in a plate with enough spacing and keep them aside until use.
  
    
  
    
• Now heat the pan with oil for deep frying. While the oil is getting heated, we need to prepare the batter. In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients listed under "For batter" and mix well. Add water little by little to form a batter. Batter should be not thick or thin. Refer the pic for consistency. I used about ¾ cup of water to form the perfect batter.
  
    
• Now check the oil for its hotness by dropping a drop of the prepared batter in the oil. If the oil is hot enough, the dropped batter would puff up and float in the oil immediately. At this stage, turn the flame to medium and we can start frying the bonda. Take one of prepared vegetable stuffing ball and place it gently into the batter. Roll it in the batter making sure that the ball is completely covered with the batter. Now drop the ball slowly into the oil. When the bonda color changes to golden brown, remove it from oil and place in a paper towel to remove excess oil.
  
    
  
    
• Serve hot with chutney or ketchup.
  
       

Notes | FAQ

- Be careful while dropping the bonda in hot oil. Do it gently or the oil will splash out. If you are not really sure you can use a forceps or a long ladle.
- While adding the veggies to the stuffing, make sure to drain off the excess water from them completely. The stuffing should be dry enough to make the balls and to get a perfect shaped bonda.
- If you feel your stuffing is loose and unable to make balls out of it, cook it in high flame for few minutes until it reaches the desired consistency.
- Do adjust the spiciness according to your desire (Red chilli powder and green chilli). Green chilli is purely optional for extra spiciness. The quantity mentioned in the recipe gives spicy bonda.
- For making the batter, the amount of water required may vary according to the flour used. So its better to add water little by little instead of adding all at once to get the perfect consistency. If the batter is too thin, the batter might not stick to the filling. If the batter is too thick, then you might get a hard outer coating for your bonda.
- In any deep frying dish, oil temperature plays an important role. Fry the bonda in small batches. So if the oil is too hot, the bonda color will change immediately before they are well cooked or if the oil is not hot enough the bonda will absorb more oil.