Indonesian Crispy Vegetable Fritters (Bala Bala)

Crispy vegetable fritters (Bala Bala) is one of the famous traditional Indonesian snacks that you can find easily almost all over Indonesia, from the street food vendors to fancy restaurants. It is also known as Bakwan sayur – sayur means vegetable in Indonesian. Check out my post on Bakwan udang.

Bala Bala (Indonesian crispy vegetable fritters) is basically deep-fried vegetables in a crispy batter. The most common vegetables that are used to make Bala Bala are shredded carrot, shredded cabbage and bean sprout. However, you can use any kinds of vegetables that you like. For example: corn, shredded potato or sweet potato.

This crispy vegetable fritters are good when they are paired with ketchup or chili sauce (if you like it spicy). Indonesian usually eat it with one or two Thai chilies. I am sharing with you the basic Bala Bala recipe with carrot, bean sprout and cabbage. It is quite simple to make as you pretty much put all the ingredients in a bowl (except the oil), deep fry, and it’s ready in no time.

Tip: It’s best to consume the fritters when it is still hot.

Ingredient:

• 2 oz (or 1 cup) carrot – shredded
• 2 oz (or 1 cup) bean sprout
• ¼ medium cabbage – shredded
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ cup water
• 2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 teaspoon vegetable stock powder (or chicken stock powder, if not vegetarian)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• Vegetable oil to fry

Direction:

• In a large mixing bowl, add flour, baking powder, garlic powder, vegetable stock powder, salt, pepper and water. Mix thoroughly.
• Then, add shredded carrot, cabbage, bean sprout, and mix well.
• Heat up the oil in a frying pan under medium heat.
• Once heated, place a spoonful of vegetable mix and flatten it. Repeat until there is not much room in the frying pan, but make sure it is not over-crowded. Fry until the fritters is golden brown or about 3 minutes each side.
• Keep frying until all the vegetable mix are all gone.
• Serve it with your favorite condiment. Enjoy!