Patatas Bravas

Fried Potatoes with Spicy Paprika Sauce

Chunks of fried potato under a brick-red sauce with a slow, building heat. In Madrid the sauce has no tomato in it at all: it is paprika cooked into a base of onion, flour and stock, closer to a spiced gravy than to ketchup. Elsewhere in Spain the rules are looser.

The Spanish recipe read ties the dish to Madrid's bars and is firm that the original sauce contains no tomato. It softens onion, cooks sweet and hot paprika with flour, adds stock, simmers for ten minutes and blends.

Versions with tomato or with alioli alongside are common in other regions and abroad.

Ingredients

For the sauce

  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp hot smoked paprika (pimentón picante)
  • 1/2 tbsp sweet smoked paprika
  • 2 tbsp plain flour
  • 500 ml hot chicken or vegetable stock
  • Fine sea salt

For the potatoes

  • 800 g floury potatoes, peeled and cut into irregular 3 cm chunks
  • 750 ml sunflower or light olive oil, for frying
  • Chopped parsley, to serve

Method

  1. Start the sauce Heat the oil in a saucepan over a low heat and cook the onion for 10 minutes until soft and translucent. Take the pan off the heat, stir in both paprikas and the flour, then return to a low heat and cook for 1 minute, stirring. Paprika burns quickly and turns bitter.
  2. Simmer and blend Add the hot stock a little at a time, stirring until smooth. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often, until the sauce coats a spoon. Blend until smooth and season with salt. Keep warm.
  3. Fry the potatoes Dry the potato chunks well. Heat the oil in a deep pan, no more than a third full, to 160°C. Fry the potatoes in two batches for 10 to 12 minutes, until tender inside and golden outside. For a crisper finish, raise the oil to 185°C and return them for 1 minute. Drain on kitchen paper and salt.
  4. Serve Pile the potatoes on a plate, spoon the warm sauce over and scatter with parsley. Serve at once, with cocktail sticks.

Food safety

Deep-frying: never fill the pan more than a third full, never leave hot oil unattended and keep a lid to hand. Dry the potatoes before frying.

Adjust the heat by changing the balance of hot and sweet paprika, keeping the total the same.

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