RECIPE: PATATAS BRAVAS
Patatas Bravas is simply potatoes in a spicy sauce. In fact, it is a popular Spanish potato dish that is served as tapas. Actually an easy recipe, Patatas Bravas can be served as an appetizer or as a snack. Incidentally, the umami for this dish comes from the tomato paste and the fresh tomato puree.
What is Umami?
Umami or savoriness is the fifth taste sense. As a matter of fact the other four are sweet, bitter, sour and saltiness. Umami in Japanese means ‘essence of deliciousness’. Scientifically, umami refers to tastes of glutamate, inosinate, or guanylate.
- Glutamate or glutamic acid is a common amino acid in vegetable and animal proteins.
- Inosinate is mainly found in meats
- Guanylate is more abundant in plants.
Some examples of Foods packed with Umami are:
- Seaweeds
- Soy Based Products – made from soy beans like soy sauce, miso, natto, soy beans
- Aged Cheese – best example is blue cheese, parmesan, gouda and mature cheddar cheese.
- Kimchi – a famous Korean side dish
- Seafood
- Meats – especially dried, aged or processed.
- Green Tea
- Tomatoes – especially concentrated tomato paste, dried tomatoes. It doesn’t mean that fresh tomatoes lack umami.
- Mushrooms – dried ones add more umami. Shiitake mushrooms has the highest umami.
- Marmite – yeast based spread
- Garlic
- Oyster Sauce
- Lotus Root
Sunday Funday
Sunday Funday is a group of Food Bloggers. Every Sunday we share some fun, traditional, hearty or easy recipes to make Sunday Family Meals a bit more exciting. To join this fun group, visit the Sunday Funday Facebook Page. Request to join in.
Theme:
This week’s theme was suggested by Sue Lau who blogs at Palatable Pastimes. Truthfully, till now I’d only associated soy sauce, miso and oyster sauce with umami. Actually had no idea that there are so many other products with umami. I read the article Sue had attached to give us an idea what umami is. Also checked on Google for more Umami information. Thank you so much Sue, for broadening my knowledge.
More About Patatas Bravas
Also known as patatas a la brava or papas bravas means spicy potatoes. When one thinks of cuisine from Spain, paella comes to the mind first. However, patatas bravas is an equally famous dish in Spain. It originated in Madrid well after the Spanish conquered the Inca Empire in 1542. The conquerors brought back their agriculture including tomatoes.
There are so many variations of Patatas Bravas which are served these days. With a splash of vinegar, garlic aioli, mayonnaise, with extra olive oil, etc.
Hubby and I love patatas bravas with some wine/cocktail or as a snack. After reading that tomato paste, tomatoes and garlic have umami, I had to share my version of patatas bravas. Here, the tomato paste and garlic add that distinct umami.
Some More Recipes with Umami:
- Tomato Cheddar Bread
- Tomato Salsa
- Vegetarian Thukpa Soup
- Vegetarian Tom Yum Soup with mushrooms
- Welsh rarebit – veggie style with homemade Worcestershire sauce
- Nasi Goreng with homemade kecap manis
- Phyllo Cup Salad – using enoki mushroom and peanut sauce with umami
- Garlic Parmesan Hasselback Potatoes
- Roasted Tomato & Ricotta Toast
- Bean Sprout Salad with soy dressing and soy nuts
Here Are Some More Recipes Packed With Umami by Fellow Members Of The Group:
- Umami Bomb Tomato Sauce from Making Miracles
- Steaks with Gouda Sauce from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
- Tomato and Blue Cheese Salad from A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Chorizo Chickpea Tomato Pasta from Food Lust People Love
- Fried Chicken Wings – Korean Style from Sneha’s Recipe
- Umami from the Sea: Sea Palm-Kale Salad and Uni Handrolls from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
- Patatas Bravas from Mayuri’s Jikoni
- Easy Vegan Pad Thai from Cook with Renu
Video:
Please check out my video for Patatas Bravas. Please share some love by subscribing to my channel. Thank you so much.
Ingredients Required For Patatas Bravas:
- Potatoes – washed, peeled and chopped into chunks. Some deep fry the chunks and healthier version is to bake them. I baked the potato cubes.
- Olive Oil – for roasting the potatoes and for the sauce.
- Salt – to sprinkle some on the potatoes and for the sauce.
- Onion – peeled and finely chopped. Use any of your choice. I used white onion.
- Garlic – peeled and finely chopped
- Tomato Paste – concentrated tomato paste.
- Tomato – finely chopped
- Sweet Paprika
- Red Chilli Powder – cayenne pepper, add according to your taste.
- Sugar – need just a little to balance the taste.
PATATAS BRAVAS
Ingredients
FOR THE POTATOES:
- 4 large potatoes
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
FOR THE SAUCE:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion peeled and chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic peeled and chopped
- 1 large tomato finely chopped
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp paprika powder
- 1 tsp red chilli powder or cayenne pepper
- ¼ tsp sugar
- ½ tsp salt
Instructions
PREPARATION OF THE POTATOES:
- Peel and wash the potatoes. Cut them into chunks.
- You can either deep fry the potato chunks or bake them.
- To bake them, preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Mix the potatoes with 1 tbsp olive oil and ½ tsp salt.
- Layer them in a baking tray.
- Bake the potatoes for 30-40 mintes till they turn light golden in colour and are cooked.
PREPARATION OF THE SAUCE:
- Heat oil in a pan over medium heat.
- Add chopped onion and stir fry till it becomes soft.
- Add garlic and stir fry for 1-2 minutes.
- Add chopped tomato and salt. Mix well. Cover the pan and lower the heat.
- Allow the tomato to become soft and mushy. This will take about 5-7 minutes. Make sure you stir it often to prevent the mixture from sticking to the pan.
- Add paprika and red chilli powders, sugar and tomato paste. Mix well.
- Allow the mixture to cook for 2-3 minutes. Mash the sauce a bit using a masher or the back of a spoon.
- The sauce is ready. Adjust the spices and salt according to your taste.
PREPARATION OF PATATAS BRAVAS:
- Mix the sauce with the roasted or fried potatoes.
- Return the potatoes to the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes until the sauce appears dryish.
- Serve patatas bravas hot as an appetizer, starter or a snack.
Notes
- Potatoes are cut into big chunks. I cut them into 8 pieces.
- Can reheat patatas bravas in the oven.
- Adjust spices according to your taste.
- Add rosemary if you like.
- Deep fry the potatoes if you want to.
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If you do try this recipe then please either
- add a comment below,
- send a picture to my email mayuri.ajay.patel62@gmail.com
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- or tag me on Twitter as #Mayuri1962