Who doesn’t love a dhaltjie???

I know I do, actually I don’t know a single person who doesn’t.

In temple when they serve this on a plate with a whole lot of other goodies, these little round savoury treats always seem to be the first to go and people fight for more and when I mean fight… they fight, those old little grannies look for nothing so innocent.

Dhaltjies was really the first thing that I made and it was the first dish I ever posted on Instagram, with that being said it was the thing that got me hooked on cooking.

People always told me that making it was such a complicated task but nothing that a mechanical ice cream scoop can’t fix.

I came across this recipe in Fatima’s cookbook and although the recipe contained an egg, I replaced it with an egg replacer and it came out perfect… delicious and super moist as if it did contain an egg.

These had a little bit of a kick in them because they contained chillies but with a cup of coffee on the side, the burn was manageable.

Ingredients:

• 2 x cups chana flour.
• 2 x cups cake flour.
• 1 x tbsp. baking powder.
• 2 x tsp salt.
• 2 x tsp turmeric powder.
• 1 x tbsp. masala.
• ½ x tbsp. egg replacer mixed with 2 x tbsp. boiling water ( or 1 normal egg).
• 1 x onion, grated.
• 1 x tbsp. grated ginger.
• ½ x cup fresh coriander, finely chopped.
• 2 x chillies, finely chopped.
• 1 x potato, peeled and grated.
• 2 x cups spinach, washed and finely chopped.
• 2 x cups water.
• Oil for deep frying.

Method:

• In a bowl mix all the ingredients together, except the oil.
• Using a mechanical ice cream scoop, drop scoopfuls of the batter in hot oil.
• Deep fry till golden brown.
• Remove from the oil and drain on kitchen towel before serving.