Crispy Kenyan Maru Bhajia’s
Maru Bhajia’s are an extremely popular snack in East Africa, especially in Kenya. Bhajia’s can generally be made with a wide range of vegetables including onions, fenugreek leaves, aubergines etc and even with fish. My version includes the use of rice to make them super crispy. I serve the bhajia’s with a tomato chutney and it often also served with “khatu” which is a sweet and sour tamarind sauce. If you’d like to omit the rice, mix all the ingredients with the sliced potatoes without using any water and fry.
Ingredients
3/4 cup Daawat Basmati Rice, soaked for 2 hours
3/4 cup gram flour
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
2-3 green chillies
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt to taste
4 potatoes, thinly sliced
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
Coriander leaves, finely chopped
Oil for deep frying
Instructions
1
Grind the soaked rice with 1/2 cup water into a very fine but thick liquid.
2
Add the gram flour, ginger-garlic paste, green chilies, lemon and salt and blend for 1-2 minutes until all the ingredients are incorporated.
3
Pour the mixture onto the sliced potatoes, add turmeric powder and coriander leaves and mix.
If you plan on frying the bhajia's some time later, don't mix the potatoes with the batter. The potatoes will release water and make the batter too thin.
4
Deep fry for 2-3 minutes or until crispy.
5
Place onto a paper towel to get rid of any excess oil and serve with your favourite tomato chutney.
Hi
Question do you preboil the potatoes before mixing them with the other ingredients?
Hi Wangu,
You don’t need to pre-boil the potatoes. Just slice them raw, they will cook when fried.
hi we can use rice flour ?
Hi can’t find the page to make the chutney there are two types the tamarind one the the tomatoe one will not open page when clicked upon thanks regards
Hi, how do you grind the rice
Hi, you can use a blender to grind the rice.
Tried the recipe and my guests enjoyed. Any tips to ensure they are evenly coated and don’t stick to each other ?
Hi Lilian, maybe the batter was a little runny? Or did you mix the potatoes in the batter and left it for awhile before frying? The salt usually draws water from the potatoes making the batter lighter and it may not coat well. In terms of sticking, make sure your oil is hot and drop in one potato slice at a time.