Last weekend I had a bit of time to faff about and decided to embark on something rather exciting (by my standards in any event). I have an absolute love for a certain deep-fried foodstuff, well, most deep fried foodstuffs if I'm honest.
When I was but a wee lass, my family would get dinner from the chip shop on a Friday. We would only get fish on a special occasion or if we were at the seaside, so we would have something a bit cheaper like a battered sausage with our chips. My wonderful mother, who I don't seem to be able to stop talking about, used to get a potato fritter and I started getting this too after a while because how genius is that? Deep fried potato chips with a slice of deep fried battered potato. Maybe it's my distant Irish heritage talking but I just couldn't say no to it.
Sadly, at some point the chip shop stopped doing these and I have been unable since then to find a chip shop that does. I've had mushy pea fritters and baked bean fritters but nothing can compare to the majesty of a potato fritter.
I'd considered making potato fritters before, but had never found a recipe that made sense to me. They all seemed to involve either making a sort of mashed potato cake or grating potatoes for a kind of onionless hash brown thing. I rejected such foolish ideas without hesitation.
However, during a recent attack of nostalgia, it occurred to me to search for 'battered potato fritters' and to my delight I came across this.
While I didn't throw up my arms in celebration and give a whoop of delight, this was purely due to the fact that I was in the canteen at work and I am British after all. Anyhoo, I added it to my bookmarks to be tried when I could be arsed to deep-fry.
As it was the Eurovision Song Contest last weekend, and Ben and I were playing a drinking game along to it, as usual, and I decided greasy carbs would be just the thing to line the stomach. The rules of this game are pretty intense after all.
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| This is just the basic rules, There are many many more and they can be added at any time in the evening. |
This recipe is wonderfully simple. Flour, baking powder, salt and sparkling water. Mix them until they're like batter.
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| It was so simple I could even be bothered to sift the flour |
Done!
Peel and slice potatoes, well here I went a bit off-recipe because, to be honest, I bloody hate peeling potatoes. It's so pointless for anything but fancy mash. Anyway, the skins are delicious and nutritious. Basically, I peeled 3 potatoes, then decided I couldn't be bothered to do the other.
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| Rebel potato! |
I did keep them separate to do a taste test, but noticed literally no difference in the end product. Then again, by the time we ate those ones we were pretty drunk.
Back to the recipe, you dip the slices in batter and deep-fry them. I don't have a deep fat fryer, so I just used a big pan full of oil. I also didn't have a thermometer to check the temperature, but I've seen people on the internet checking oil temperature with a wooden spoon so I just did that.
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| Apparently it's ready when the bubbles all gather around the spoon like that. Seemed to work. |
Once it was hot I dropped in the slices. I did them about 5/6 at a time depending on size. First of all they sank to the bottom, but soon floated up once they'd started to cook.
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| Mmmmm... fire hazard... |
They took less than 10 minutes to crisp and become golden so I took them out and put them on a rack to drain (we don't use disposable paper towels 'cause we're giant hippies like that).
Once out I sprinkled both sides with salt (fancy schmancy sea salt, because I can) and waited for them to cool. This really was the hardest part.
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| Admittedly they're not the prettiest foodstuff. Maybe if you have proper lighting rather than kitchen lights and an iPhone. |
Once they were cool we ate a few each, then realised that 4 potatoes, even with nothing else, was far too much for 2 people. We had them in 3 servings over the course of the evening. I'd tell you they're just as good cold, and I thought they were, but I was too drunk to make a fair comparison. I also dipped a few in ketchup and that was a delight.
Verdict is you should definitely make these. They are immensely unhealthy so probably only once or twice a year, but they're so good. This was my first attempt at battering anything and the batter was crisp and perfectly chip-shop-like, the potato was soft and buttery and the whole thing was the most comforting, lovely thing.
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| Mmmm... greasy.... |
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| Trust me, they were delicious enough for 2 photos. |
Ben can be a bit of a picky eater and even he loved these. Also, they're completely vegan, therefore dispelling the notion that all vegan food is healthy...
Next week I may take a break from culinary exploits and get crafting. I recently bought a hot glue gun and can't wait to play with it. Expect injuries...
Love and kisses,
P.S. Mum, if you read this I'll totally make them when you come to visit.
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