Picking a favourite potato dish would be extremely hard for me. The potato is one of the most versatile, cheap and delicious vegetables on the planet, celebrated globally, with the ability to transform into a million different dishes. From bland and comforting to refreshing, indulgent and exciting, for every season, every mood, every major life event, or minor diversion there will be a potato recipe that will supply exactly what is required at that moment. You don’t even need to whip out a peeler, or go near a kitchen to appreciate this magnificent tuber – a packet of crisps is only a corner shop away, ready to deliver salty, crunchy, potato satisfaction in an instant.
I have long appreciated the magnificence of patatas bravas, chunks of crispy potato, bathed in a piquant sauce and soothed with garlic-accented mayonnaise. Until recently, this was a dish I tended to order in a restaurant, rather than make at home.
I started researching recipes and experimenting with different cooking methods – and am still pretty much in the dark about the “authentic” way to make this famous dish. Some claim the sauce should involve tomatoes, pretty much all agree that there should be some vinegar and hot pepper involved, others insist on paprika.
As for the cooking of the potatoes, I came across a range of techniques: roasting in the oven; par-boiling and roasting/shallow frying; shallow frying from raw; deep frying.
I went with my palate and chose to deep fry, as this technique gave the potatoes a perfect crispy outside and a less greasy texture than their shallow-fried counterparts. Oven roasted potatoes came out plain-tasting and too uniform in texture – the sauce permeated their flesh, making it damp, rather than serving as a rich, fragrant cloak. I do understand that people think roasting is a healthier cooking method than deep-frying, but if you deep fry at the correct (i.e not too low) temperature and remove the fried potatoes to kitchen paper to drain, they really don’t retain much oil – and their texture is superior.
I veered away from tomatoes in my spicy sauce – I felt they made it a bit too ketchupy. I do think it is important to have a good, ruby colour to the spicy sauce and I found a combination of two different smoked paprika worked very well. I added a touch of mustard, something I had not come across in my research, but it delivered another layer of punch and acidity.
This dish can easily be made vegan, by swapping the honey for a vegan syrup and using a vegan mayonnaise substitute.
Spicy Spanish Spuds
¼ cup olive oil
2 tsp sweet smoked paprika, 1 tsp hot smoked paprika
1 tsp cornflour
1 cup vegetable stock
½ tsp sea salt
2 tsp white wine vinegar
½ tsp mustard
2 tsp honey
4 large potatoes.
3 tbsp mayonnaise or vegan susbtitute
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
Peel and cube the potatoes (around 1 ½ inch cubes). Soak in cold water for as long as you can.
While the potatoes are soaking, start the spicy sauce. Place the olive oil in a saucepan and heat. Add the smoked and spicy paprika to the oil and stir well. Pour in the vegetable stock and cook for one minute.
In a small bowl, mix the cornflour with 1 tbsp water to make a slurry. Add this to the paprika and stock and whisk to combine and thicken the mixture. Cook for around 10 minutes, then add the vinegar, mustard, honey and some salt. Taste and check the acidity and salt. Turn off the heat and start to work on the potatoes again.
Mix the mayonnaise with the chopped garlic.
Drain the potatoes from their soaking liquid and pat dry really well.
Deep fry them in batches using an oil frying temperature of 170C
Cook the potatoes until they are golden and yielding. This will depend on the type of potato you use, but I would say around 7 -10 minutes per batch. Drain the cooked potatoes on kitchen paper remove to baking tray and keep warm and dry in a preheated oven 100C
Reheat the sauce – there will be a skin on top, don’t worry – just stir it gently back into the sauce as it warms.
Put the potatoes in a warm serving dish. Pour over the reheated, spicy sauce and top with spoonfuls of garlicky mayonnaise. Scatter a few chopped parsley or coriander leaves on as a garnish.
hongkonggourmet 