Deep Fried Potato Fritters

Perkedel Kentang (Indonesian deep fried potato fritters) is one of my favorite side dish slash snack. These fritters are quite easy to make at home, the basic recipe requires only potatoes, some aromatic greens (e.g. scallion, Chinese celery, and/or cilantro), egg, salt, pepper, and oil. Of course, I love to amp up the flavor with deep fried shallot (bawang goreng) and nutmeg. Then, the patties are coated with egg and bread crumbs to give a satisfying crunchy skin.

Mashed potatoes, many ways

The first step in making perkedel is to prepare mashed potatoes. The traditional way is to fry potato wedges until golden brown, then mashed. If you want to avoid frying in the early stage, you can always try boiling or steaming, but I think frying gives a superior result. Once you have mashed potatoes, you can start making the fritters.

Potato fritter mixture and deep frying

To make the fritter mixture, mix together mashed potato with egg, salt, sugar, nutmeg (optional, but so delicious), black pepper, Chinese celery (you can use regular celery too, just chop it super fine), scallion, and deep fried shallot (or raw shallot, though deep fried ones will taste better). Then, heat enough oil for deep frying. Meanwhile, divide fritter mixture into 8-10 portions and shape each into a patty. Once the oil is hot, dip each potato patty into lightly beaten egg and coat with panko (Japanese bread crumbs) and fry in hot oil until golden brown.