Perkedel Jagung Bali (Balinese Corn Fritters)

This Sunday is my me-time day, and what is a me-time without eating your fav food? This is the exact question that inspired today's recipe. One of my fav food is fried stuff. I know, I know, its not very healthy, but what can I say, I love it. Fried food is my definitely sinful delights!

Corn fritter is one of the classic side dish in Indonesian cuisine. I have posted a basic corn fritters before, you can click here for the recipe. Today I make it a little bit different, I am using a Balinese corn fritters recipe. Using Kaempferia galangal (kencur ) and kaffir lime leaves (daun jeruk) make this fritters super flavorful. It goes really well as a side dish or snack with a dipping of spicy sauce. 

Although I like to munch on fried food, I actually hate frying. It's greasy, it stinks the whole appartment, and there is always a chance that I might get a tiny splash of the hot oil. To avoid all of those problems, I usually use a deep fryer machine that I put on my balcony so I can just fry the food outside. Unfortunately today was just too cold to cook (or do anything really) outside, it was below 10C in the afternoon and it's only September (crazy? I know! but that's Quebec city for you, the pioner of starting winter early). 

Manual deep frying is a serious matter for me. I am clumsy and prone to have accidents, like an excited puppy in a lab; dangerous. Hot oil is very flamable (and can cause a serious injury too), I cooked with extra careful. I used a deep fry pan and filled it up half full with oil and have my splatter shield close to prevent any unwanted hot oil splatters. To avoid greasiness and sogginess, I made sure that the oil is 180C (using a cooking termometer) before I start to put my batter in. I also used frozen corn because I find it less explosive when you fry it compare to fresh corn. And because of this too, I had to check the oil temperature every now and then, too cool oil can get the fritters greasy and soggy, and too hot oil can be dangerous. 

It was intense... 

But the result was super yum yum!!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup frozen corn
3 eggs (you can use water instead)
100 gr shrimp, veined and cut into small bits
4 Kaffir lime leaves (daun jeruk), chop finely
50 gr all purpose flour
25 gr rice flour
1/2 tsp baking powder (only if you use eggs as liquid agent for the recipe)
1 tsp white pepper powder
4 thai chili, chopped finely (optional, only if you a like a lil spicy kick on your fritters)

Ingredients to paste:
3 garlic
2 cm fresh kaempferia galangal (kencur)

Cooking step:

1. Preheat oil to 180C, 
2. Meanwhile, paste garlic and fresh kaempferia galangal with a mortar pestle,
3. In a mixing bowl, put the paste ingredients, eggs (or water), shrimp, chopped kaffir lime leaves, flour, rice flour, baking powder, white pepper powder, and chopped thai chili, mix thoroughly using a hand batter, make sure there is no clumps in your batter,
4. Add the frozen corn and mix one more time, the batter will stiffen up a bit because the coldness of the corn, 
5. Once the oil is ready, drop a spoonful of the batter into the oil and fry until it turns golden and crispy on the outside, pick it up and drain on paper towels, 
6. Continue until the batter finish,
7. Serve immediately. 

Happy frying!!

PS: this batter makes crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy in the inside fritters. If you use water instead of eggs, you will have a crispy crunchy fritters. So it's really depends on how you like your fritters. 

Oh, and always becareful when frying!!