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Click picture to enlarge
Patatas bravas are "fierce potatoes". Basically fried potato
cubes smothered in a spicy tomato sauce. The most popular of the Spanish
tapas.
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KEY POINTS
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Preparation Time: |
10 mins |
Cooking Time: |
45 minutes |
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How Difficult |
Medium |
Freeze? |
No |
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Servings |
4
to 6 tapas
portions |
INGREDIENTS
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Metric |
Imperial |
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1.5kg old potatoes |
3.3lb old potatoes |
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Olive oil, enough to shallow fry the potatoes. |
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BRAVAS SAUCE |
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600g ripe tomatoes (about 6) |
1lb 5oz ripe tomatoes (about 6) |
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1 onion |
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1 garlic clove |
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1 level tablespoon plain flour |
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1½ to 2½ teaspoons hot paprika |
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¼ teaspoon cumin seeds |
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1 teaspoon of red wine vinegar |
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Salt and
Pepper |
Notes on Patatas Bravas From Our Experience
It's fine to use tinned tomatoes in place of fresh tomatoes, it saves the
initial blending of the fresh tomatoes. We use fresh tomatoes for the Bravas
sauce because we just prefer fresh.
The thickness of the sauce will depend on the level of liquid in in
the tomatoes. If the sauce is too thick then add some water just before
serving to get the correct consistency. If the sauce is too runny then
boil it for a minute or so stirring constantly.
The recipe picture shows the sauce on the potatoes as do most other
pictures of Patatas Bravas. In fact it tastes better if the potatoes and
sauce are served separately. That way the potatoes remain crisp and they
can be dipped in the Bravas sauce. If 4 or more people are eating this
dish it's more fun to have one central bowl of sauce in the middle of the
table.
It's easiest to prepare the sauce first then cook the potatoes. Keep
the Bravas sauce on a low heat while cooking the potatoes.
"Hot paprika" is simply a mixture of 90% paprika and 10% chilli
powder. We used the two ingredients to make our hot paprika.
Specific Cooking Equipment
For this recipe you will need a food blender. A hand blender is fine. If
you don't have a blender then just serve the Bravas sauce as it comes. It
still tastes good.
CLICK ANY PICTURE BELOW TO ENLARGE IT
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Preparation
Finely chop the onion and garlic.Blend the tomatoes (fresh or tinned) to
an even consistency.
Peel the potatoes and cut them into rough 3 cm (1in) cubes. |
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Pour the olive oil into the
pan on a low to medium heat and add the chopped onions and garlic. Cook for about
5 minutes turning the onions frequently until they are translucent.
Add the hot paprika, cumin seeds and red wine vinegar to the onions and
mix in well for a minute or so. |
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Add the tomatoes to the pan and mix all the ingredients together well. Let the
sauce simmer for 15 minutes. Have a taste and add salt and pepper to taste.
Canned tomatoes already have salt in them for some reason, fresh tomatoes don't.
If the sauce is not hot enough, add a bit more hot paprika until it's as you
like. |
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Whilst stirring, sprinkle in the flour and make sure it's well
mixed in. This will give the sauce the typical thickness for
Patatas Bravas. Next, use a blender to puree the sauce. Then
gently force the mixture through a sieve. The back of a large spoon
is ideal for this. At the end, the sieve should contain the
majority of the tomato pips and sauce. |
Place the cubed potatoes in salted boiling water and cook on a medium heat
for 8 minutes.
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Pour olive oil in the pan to a depth of about 1½cm (½in) and
heat to medium heat. Carefully place the potato cubes in the oil
and cook until they are golden brown. This will take about 10
minutes depending on how hot the oil is. Keep turning the potatoes
whilst they are frying so that they are an even colour. |
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Serve the potatoes on warm plates and sprinkle salt and pepper
over them. Then either pour the sauce over them or serve the sauce
separately. The sauce can be frozen and simply heated when
needed. The potatoes need to be eaten the moment they are cooked.
Patatas Bravas made easy! |
SPANISH TAPAS INDEX PAGE
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