By: Aisah Wolfard
These little fried balls are a great every-moment-of-the-day snack. Bala-Bala is another typical West Javanase dish. Bala in Sundanese, means ‘messy’ so bala-bala is literary translated as ‘really messy.’
This famous snack is made from vegetables in batter and can be found on every street corner in Bandung. So why is it called ‘really messy’? Maybe because the balls are made of a hodgepodge of veggies, from carrots to cabbage, spiced up with some cabe rawit (small hot chili).
Bala-Bala recipe (for 20 pieces)
Ingredients :
200 g wheat flour
50 g rice flour
200 ml water
100 g cabbage leaves, thinly sliced
100 g carrots, chopped
50 g bean sprouts, cleaned
3 spring onions, diced
cooking oil
For the batter:
2 eggs
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 whole onion, chopped
½ tsp pepper
1 stock cube
How to cook Bala-Bala:
- Stir flour in water until smooth. Add spices for the batter and stir well.
- Add vegetables and stir well.
- Fry one tablespoon of the mixture in the hot oil, flip when golden, remove and serve warm.
Really good with fresh chili sauce and a beer!