Bakwan Jagung – Indonesian Corn Fritters

Looking for an exotic appetiser or tasty snack? Try these Indonesian Corn Fritters – also known as Bakwan Jagung – they’re crispy, crunchy, and easy to make with every day ingredients. This recipe will make enough fritters to feed a horde of hungry foodies.

(In a rush? Click here to jump straight to the recipe!)

Despite the name, this recipe for Bakwan Jagung (Indonesian Corn Fritters) comes to you by way of a little detour through Kagoshima, Japan.

Yep.

The popular university town sees people flying in from all over the world to study, and we just happened to meet up with a group of awesome Indonesian expats while staying with one of our favourite airbnb hosts.

(Oh Yuko and Himari, how we miss you… and your amazing miso soup.)

We all caught up one night at an angklung lesson, and there were so many languages flying around the room my poor brain just couldn’t keep up.

(Never heard of angklung before? They’re a type of Indonesian musical instrument made out of bamboo tubes. Check out this cover of Rihanna’s Umbrella… ????)

At one stage, I’m pretty sure I mixed Indonesian, Japanese and English words all together in one sentence!

But apart from a few grins everyone thankfully understood. 😛

After the class we hit it off chatting with our new friend Bunda and ventured back to her apartment to cook up an Indonesian feast.

There was spicy sambal telur (boiled eggs in hot chilli sauce), coto makassar (beef stew) fried tempeh (soybean cake) and a batch of these sweet and delicious bakwan jagung.

Made from a mix of corn and vegetables in a runny corn flour batter, we cooked up the fritters on a tiny portable gas cooker a few at a time until crispy, crunchy and golden brown.

Bakwan Jagung – Indonesian Corn Fritters

Bakwan Jagung are a beloved street snack in Indonesia, but they’re also super easy to whip up at home.

While jagung literally means ‘corn’ in Indonesian, there are actually a heap of different variations to the recipe, so feel free to experiment. Some of the more popular ingredients are shredded cabbage, julienne carrots, green beans, and chopped shrimp.

You can use fresh corn to make this – if so just slice it straight off the cob and throw it in your batter. We used canned corn because sometimes I’m really clumsy to make it even easier to make. 😉

All that you need now is a tasty dipping sauce to go with your crispy fried bakwan jagung. Indonesians will happily dip away in tomato sauce or chilli sauce, but personally we think they’d be pretty amazing with a little drizzle of kecap manis (sweet sticky Indonesian soy sauce).

Want more spicy Indonesian goodness? Check out this fragrant Indonesian Curry with Fish or refreshing Gado Gado Salad. Or for a traditional Indonesian breakfast, you can’t go past this decadent recipe for Roti Pisang Cokelat (aka Chocolate Banana Bread).

Bakwan Jagung - Indonesian Corn Fritters

Looking for an exotic appetiser or tasty snack? Try these Indonesian Corn Fritters also known as Bakwan Jagung - they're crispy, crunchy, a little bit sweet and easy to make with every day ingredients. This recipe will make enough fritters to feed a horde of hungry foodies.

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Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Course: Snack

Cuisine: Indonesian

Servings: 20

Author: Wandercooks

Ingredients

• 400 g corn kernels fresh or canned
• 1 cup plain flour
• ¾ cup rice flour
• 10 shallots finely chopped
• 3 - 5 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 2 kaffir lime leaves finely chopped
• 2 cabbage leaves thinly sliced
• 2 spring onions thinly sliced
• 1 tsp turmeric
• Generous pinch of salt pepper and sugar (to taste)
• 300 ml water
• 3 eggs
• Oil for deep frying

Dipping sauce options:

• Tomato sauce
• Chilli sauce
• Kecap manis

Instructions

• Pop all those tasty ingredients in a big bowl except the water, eggs and oil, then give it a quick stir. Next, make a well in the middle and crack in the eggs. Slowly start to mix, adding in water little by little until it's mixed into a thin and runny batter. If it's too thick, you won't get that satisfying crunch, so thinner is definitely better.
• Now heat up the oil in a large frying pan or wok. You’ll know the oil is hot enough when bubbles appear around a toothpick dipped in the oil.
• Drop a ladleful of batter into the hot oil (carefully!) and fry until the batter turns a mouth-watering golden brown, about 2-3 minutes each side. Feel free to deep-fry a few fritters at a time if you have the space.
• When fritters are cooked, scoop them out of the oil and drain on a wire rack or paper towel.
• Keep cooking until all the batter has been used up.
• Don't forget to serve hot and crispy with tomato sauce, chilli sauce or kecap manis.

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