Bakwan Jagung – Indonesian Corn Fritters

Indonesian Corn Fritters (also known as bakwan jagung or perkedel jagung) are surprisingly easy to make with everyday ingredients. Packed with juicy corn kernels and zingy flavour from kaffir lime and ground spices, these Indonesian corn fritters are crispy, crunchy, and totally addictive! Includes delicious dipping sauce ideas. 

Why We Love This

These crispy, golden fried corn fritters are easy to make, with a deliciously savoury flavour and a satisfying crunch.

This generous recipe will make enough Indonesian corn fritters to feed a horde of hungry foodies! It’s also easy to adapt to suit your taste, or double it to feed even more.

The batter can be made in advance, and leftover corn fritters can be frozen and re-heated for another delicious feast. 

What is Bakwan Jagung? 

Bakwan in English means vegetable fritter snack, while jagung means corn. Corn fritters are a super popular street snack in Southeast Asia, especially in Indonesia, where they’re also known as perkedel jagung. You’ll usually find them sold by street vendors, who whip up and fry these tasty snacks on the street or at local food markets.

Where We Learned This Recipe

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

The popular university town sees people flying in from all over the world to study, and we happened to make friends with a group of Indonesian students while staying with our amazing airbnb hosts.

One night they invited us to play angklung – a type of musical instrument made from bamboo – at the University. There were so many languages flying around the room, that at one stage, we were mixing Indonesian, Japanese and English words all together in one sentence. Thankfully everyone understood each other!

A few days later they invited us to a huge gathering with the expat community for a home-cooked feast – and to teach us a few of their delicious Indonesian recipes! 

While the men were in charge of cooking Sate Lilit (minced pork skewers) on tiny charcoal stoves (panggangan), the ladies taught us their treasured recipes. Together we created a feast of epic proportions! There were bowls of fluffy white rice, spicy Sambal Telur (boiled eggs in hot chilli sauce), platters of Gado Gado (steamed veggie salad with peanut sauce) and these delicious golden-fried corn fritters.

With our plates piled high with tasty food and enjoying such amazing company, we could almost have forgotten we were still in Japan!

What You’ll Need

You’ll need a few pantry staples and some fresh veggies for these crispy little fritters:

• Flour – Regular / all-purpose flour forms the base for the batter. We then add rice flour which helps make the cooked fritters extra crispy! You can substitute rice flour for tapioca flour or corn starch.
• Veggies – We use canned corn kernels which is easier than slicing fresh corn off the cob, along with fresh shallots, garlic, fresh kaffir lime leaves, cabbage and spring onions (green onions). Feel free to add julienne carrots for crunch or chilli for colour and heat.
• Seasonings (aka bumbu) – This recipe uses a simple mix of turmeric, salt, pepper and sugar to taste.

Wandercook’s Tips

• Peanut oil or canola oil are the best choices for frying corn fritters because of their high smoke points. This helps the fritters cook faster and creates a seal to stop the oil soaking through into the batter. 
• Corn fritters can be served warm or at room temperature depending on your preference. 
• Avoid overcrowding the pan when cooking. Give each fritter plenty of space to cook evenly. 

FAQs

Variations & Substitutes

• Corn – You can use freshly boiled corn to make bakwan jagung if you prefer – if so, just slice it straight off the cob and pop it into your batter.
• Kaffir Lime Leaves – Even though you can buy dried leaves, they are much better fresh. If you can’t find them, just leave them out.
• Add Extra Veggies – Traditional ingredients include bean shoots, shredded cabbage, julienne carrots and green beans.
• Add Protein – Try adding finely diced chicken (ayam) or shrimp (udang/ebi)

Dipping Sauce Ideas

Our Indonesian friends loved dipping theirs in tomato sauce/ketchup, or sambal (chilli sauce), but we also love them with:

• Kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce) – just a drizzle, as it’s quite concentrated
• Sriracha or Thai sweet chilli sauce – quick, easy and spicy!
• Homemade Vietnamese dipping sauce (nuoc mam cham).

Want more colourful Indonesian recipe ideas? Try these:

★ Did you make this recipe? Please leave a star rating below!

Bakwan Jagung – Indonesian Corn Fritters

Indonesian Corn Fritters (also known as bakwan jagung or perkedel jagung) are surprisingly easy to make with everyday ingredients. Packed with juicy corn kernels and zingy flavour from kaffir lime and ground spices, these Indonesian corn fritters are crispy, crunchy, and totally addictive! Includes delicious dipping sauce ideas. 

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Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Course: Snack

Cuisine: Indonesian

Servings: 20 fritters

Calories: 97kcal

Author: Wandercooks

Cost: $5

Equipment

• ▢
  Large fry pan

Ingredients

• ▢ 400 g corn fresh or canned
• ▢ 1 cup all purpose 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 onion / green onion thinly sliced
• ▢ 1 tsp turmeric
• ▢ 300 ml water
• ▢ 3 eggs
• ▢ 1 cup vegetable oil for frying, or more as required
• ▢ Salt & pepper to taste
• ▢ Sugar pinch to taste

Dipping sauce options:

• ▢ 1 tbsp Tomato sauce
• ▢ 1 tbsp sriracha
• ▢ 1 tbsp Kecap manis

Metric – US Customary

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. Sprinkle with salt to taste.
• Keep cooking until all the batter has been used up.
• Serve hot and crispy with tomato sauce, chilli sauce or kecap manis.

Recipe Notes

Tips to get this recipe just right:

• Corn – You can use freshly boiled corn to make bakwan jagung if you prefer – if so, just slice it straight off the cob and pop it into your batter.
• Kaffir Lime Leaves – Even though you can buy dried leaves, they are much better fresh. If you can’t find them, just leave them out.
• Flour – Regular / all-purpose flour forms the base for the batter. We then add rice flour which helps make the cooked fritters extra crispy! You can substitute rice flour for tapioca flour or corn starch.
• Veggies – We use canned corn kernels which is easier than slicing fresh corn off the cob, along with fresh shallots, garlic, fresh kaffir lime leaves, cabbage and spring onions (green onions). Feel free to add julienne carrots for crunch or chilli for colour and heat.
• Seasonings (aka bumbu) – This recipe uses a simple mix of turmeric, salt, pepper and sugar to taste.
• Cooking Oil – Peanut oil or canola oil are the best choice for deep frying corn fritters because of their high smoke points.  This helps the fritters cook faster and creates a seal to stop the oil soaking through the batter. 
• Add Extra Veggies – Traditional ingredients include bean shoots, shredded cabbage, julienne carrots and green beans.
• Add Protein – Try adding finely diced chicken (ayam) or shrimp (udang/ebi)
• Avoid Overcrowding – Give each fritter plenty of space in the pan to cook evenly. 

Nutrition

Calories: 97kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 25mg | Sodium: 78mg | Potassium: 110mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 69IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 16mg | Iron: 1mg

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