Bonda

A ball of filling dipped whole in gram flour batter, so the batter is only a coat.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 700 g potatoes, boiled and crushed
• 2 onions, chopped fine
• 3 green chillies, chopped
• a 3 cm piece of ginger, grated
• 2 teaspoons mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon urad dal
• 20 curry leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• a handful of coriander leaves
• 200 g gram flour, for the batter
• 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• about 180 ml water
• oil for deep frying

Method

1. A BALL OF FILLING IS DIPPED WHOLE IN GRAM FLOUR BATTER, SO THE BATTER IS ONLY A COAT. Its article's method is one sentence and that is what it says: THE PROCESS OF MAKING A SPICY BONDA INVOLVES MAKING A POTATO FILLING THAT IS DIPPED IN GRAM FLOUR BATTER AND DEEP-FRIED. The filling is a finished thing before the batter is mixed, and that is what makes it round: a ball holds its shape in the oil where a spoonful of batter does not.
2. THE FILLING IS TEMPERED, NOT JUST MASHED. Mustard seeds and urad dal in hot oil until the seeds pop and the dal is golden, then curry leaves, onion, chilli and ginger, then turmeric, then the crushed potato. Eight minutes, until it is dry enough to roll.
3. COOL IT AND ROLL TWELVE BALLS. Cold filling, firmly pressed. A loose ball comes apart the moment it is dipped.
4. THE BATTER IS THICK ENOUGH TO HIDE THE POTATO COMPLETELY. Gram flour, soda, salt and water to the consistency of double cream. A thin batter runs off and leaves bald patches that burst.
5. DIP AND LOWER, DO NOT DROP. Turn the ball in the batter with a spoon, lift it, let it stop dripping, and lower it into the oil against the side of the pan.
6. FRY AT A MEDIUM HEAT UNTIL EVENLY GOLDEN, ABOUT FIVE MINUTES. Everything inside is cooked, so this is about the shell setting. Too hot and the batter darkens before it is cooked through and tastes of raw gram flour.
7. ITS ARTICLE LISTS WHAT ELSE GOES INSIDE, AND THE LIST IS THE DISH'S RANGE. The potato can be REPLACED WITH SWEET POTATO, TAPIOCA, GRATED PINEAPPLE, GREEN PEAS, PANEER, OR OTHER INGREDIENTS INCLUDING RICE, and in Kerala there are tapioca and sweet potato versions and a mutta bonda with hard-boiled egg. In Tamil Nadu the batter itself changes: BONDA IS MADE FROM BLACK GRAM (ULUNDU) BATTER.
8. SERVED HOT WITH COCONUT CHUTNEY. Its article records a recipe for bonda, as parika, in the Manasollasa, a 12th-century Sanskrit encyclopedia -- the same source that holds the earliest dahi vada.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

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