INTRODUCTION
Vegetable fritter is rather international. Almost all international cuisines will have some form of vegetable fritters. It is a very common food item in South East Asian countries. Be it called bakwan sayuran (Indonesia), vegetable tempura (Japan), parkosa (India) or just vegetable fritters. Packed with vegetables, it can be as healthy as you want it. You can oven baked, pan fried or deep fried. Depending on which cuisine’s vegetable fritters, the dips can also be significantly different.
WHY THIS DISH
I am having my yearly vegetarian 1-1.5 months and I am looking for some vegetarian dishes. In addition, I am preparing this dish in response to the monthly challenge organized by a Google plus food community.
This recipe is not my household recipe but an Indonesian vegetable fritter recipe obtained from Ms Karin’s blog on bakwan sayuran However, I have modified to suit my family’s taste buds.
I concurred with Ms Karin that vegetable fritter recipe has lots of flexibility especially the choice of vegetables. Ms Karin had written in Google communities that “We can make fritters out of everything. Sometimes with something as lame as cabbage and a bunch of leftover vegetables (just avoid wet ones like tomatoes)”.
WHAT IS REQUIRED
Recipes adopted from Ms. Karin’s blog on bakwan sayuran.
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150 g of jicama (shredded)
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150 g of French beans (cut into small pieces)
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100 g of bean sprouts
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50 g of red carrots (shredded)
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50 g of peanuts
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2 tablespoons of coriander powder
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2 tablespoons of white pepper
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1 tablespoon of salts
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2 tablespoons of sugar
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125 g of rice flour
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125 g of wheat flour
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200 ml of plain water
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5 cups of cooking oil for frying
STEPS OF PREPARATION
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In a big bowl, assemble all ingredients together;
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Add in coriander powder, sugar, salt, white pepper. Stir until well mixed.
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Add in flour (rice flour and wheat flour) and water. Stir until all the ingredients are coated with the batter.
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In a big pan, heat the cooking oil. The oil is considered as ready when you insert a chopstick or other wooden object into the hot oil, bubbles started to emit.
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Put few tablespoons of batter at a time and deep fried until golden brown. You will have to keep a close eye during your frying process to ensure that your batter is not too big (otherwise it will be difficult to get cooked) and your oil temperature should not be overly hot (meaning exterior to start to get burnt and inside may not be cooked). In that case, you have to turn the heat to medium or small, it make take a bit longer but once you note that the colour start to turn golden, switched to high heat for high heat and immediately take it out. This will prevent the oil from going back to the batter!
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Drain the fritters in oil absorbing paper.
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Let it cool and serve with your preferred dips.
VARIATIONS
There are many variations to this dish. You can add in any vegetables of your choice such as Entoki mushrooms, cauliflowers and the list is endless.
Method of cooking, beside deep frying, can also be pan fried or oven baked. Though oven baked and pan fried version will not be that crispy, it is healthier and equally delicious.
Spices used can also change to include cardamom, cumin seeds, turmeric powder if you preferred.
Dips and garnishes have lots of flexibility. For my kids, I have some mayonnaise and tomato sauces which become thousand island dressings. For adults we have like to home made chilli sauce. Original Indonesian fried fritters like to go with fresh chilli or cabit as they called it. You can also garnish with cucumber or tomato slices to negate the slight greasiness of the dish!
CONCLUSIONS
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A simple and easy to do dish that is packed with vegetables and can be as healthy as you want it to be . It is a vegetarian dish suitable for all age groups.
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A full flexibility dish that can be tailored to meet your family taste buds including types of vegetables, spices used, method of cooking dips and garnishes.
Hope you like the post today. Cheers.
I am submitting this post to the Monthly Challenge organized by Google Plus Singapore, Malaysia & Indonesia – Cuisine Communities in response of Ms. Karin’s Bakwan Sayuran (Vegetable Fritters) post in her Karin’s Recipe blog.
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GUAI SHU SHU 
