Today's RECIPE is Cucur Badak/Fried Sweet Potato Balls with Coconut Sambal Filling. This is a favorite Malaysian snack and the literal translation of this snack is 'Hippopotamus Fritter'!!! 😁

Recipe by Mama Ding

Total Time | 1 hr 30 mins

Prep Time | 50 mins

Cook Time | 40 mins

Yields : 16 pieces

Ingredients

For the dough~
500 g sweet potatoes (white/orange/purple)
220 g plain flour
1 tbsp margarine/butter
pinch of salt
For the filling~
12 - 15 dried chillies, soaked in hot water for 15 mins and drained
1 big onion, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
2 cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
2 cm piece of fresh turmeric, peeled and sliced
2 stalks lemongrass, sliced (white part only)
100 g dried shrimps, soaked for 15 mins and drained
120 ml water
400 g fresh grated coconut/200 g desiccated coconut
2 tsp fennel seeds powder (serbuk jintan manis)
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
1 tbsp sugar or to taste

Method

01 Prepare the sweet potatoes first. Peel, chop and steam the sweet potatoes for 20mins.

Place in a bowl and mash while still hot. Set aside to cool.

02 Next, prepare the filling.

Place the dried chillies, big onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric, lemongrass, dried shrimps and water into a blender. Blend to get a fine paste.

In a wok/pan, place the blended ingredients with the fresh coconut and fennel seeds powder. Do not add oil.

Saute all the ingredients on low heat until fragrant and almost dried, about 20mins. It should be quite dry but still moist.
Add salt and sugar to taste. Dish up and set aside

03 To make the dough~

In a large bowl, place the mashed sweet potatoes, flour, butter/margarine and salt. Knead until a soft dough is formed.

Divide into 16 balls. If you prefer, you may divide according to weight, about 50g each ball.
Lightly oil your hands and your work surface. Flatten each ball into round disks.

Fill one disk with 1 heaped teaspoon of filling. Wrap the dough around the filling securely.

Roll into a ball shape and then press to flatten the ball a little to get a shape of a burger.
Repeat until all the dough is used up.

04 In a wok or a pot, heat enough cooking oil for deep frying.

When the oil is hot, turn down heat to medium.

Place the filled dough balls into the oil and deep fry until golden brown. Flip them one or two times to get even browning.

Dish up onto some paper towels to drain.
Serve hot or cooled.

Notes

You can prepare the filling a day earlier and refrigerate, if desired. If you are using desiccated coconut, add extra 50 ml water to the mixture when frying the filling.

If you are using purple sweet potatoes, you may need to add slightly more butter/margarine (1 or 2 tbsp more).