STORY BEHIND THE RECIPE
Begedil / Perkedel (Fried Potato Patty with Fish) is a recipe I learning several years ago. A group of us ladies were invited by a friend to her house for post-Bible Study fellowship, which we jokingly refer to as ‘Fei Lo Ship’ ( ‘Fat Man’s Ship’ in Cantonese). All the ladies in my Bible Study Group are really good cooks, so we always looked forward to our once-a month fellowship where we would be treated to a scrumptious feast of home-cooked food.
our host had prepared quite a number of delicious dishes, but one particular dish that really stood out – Perkedel (in case you don’t know, these are Indonesian fried patties which are also known as Bergedel or Begedil). The Perkedel dish she prepared must have been super, super good because it remains etched in my memory even until today, and it made me super motivated to master this dish to cook for my family.
Now whenever I cook this dish, my eldest granddaughter loves it so much that she would gladly lend me a hand in the kitchen by rolling the patties – a great parent-child or (in my case) grandparent-child cooking activity!

INGREDIENTS (Serves 8)
- Mackerel, 1 (abt 1/2 kg)
- Potatoes, 1 kg
- Red Onions, 1/2 kg
- Cardamoms, 5-6
- Tumeric Powder, 1/2 tsp
- Curry Leaves, 50 pieces
- Salt, 3/4 tsp
- Ground Black Peppercorn, 1/2 tsp
- Eggs, 2
- Cream Crackers, 12 pieces
- Oil (for frying)
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HOW TO MAKE BEGEDIL / PERKEDEL
PREPARATION (30 min)
- Boil the potatoes in a pot of water. Once cooked, remove the skins and break up the peeled potato into small pieces, being careful not to smash it up.
- Fillet the mackerel, or get your fishmonger to do it for you. Use a metal spoon to scrape off the meat from the fish as well as from the centre bone. Discard the skin and bone.
- Cut the onions into very small pieces.
- Wash and remove the stems from the curry leaves. Then cut the curry leaves into very thin strips.
- Place the cream crackers in a sealed plastic bag, then crush finely.
- Remove the seeds from the cardamoms and grind the cardamoms into power.
- Crack the eggs in a bowl and beat lightly.
COOKING (30 min)
- In a wok, add in 1 TBsp of oil and fry the onion for 2-3 mins.
- Add in the cardamom powder, the 1/2 tsp of ground black peppercorn, the 1/2 tsp of turmeric power and the 3/4 tsp of salt, then fry for 1-2 mins
- Add in the fish meat and fry for about 5 mins.
- Add in the potatoes and curry leaves to the fish and mix until well incorporated.
- Turn off the heat and leave to cool.
- Shape the potato mixture into a ball. Then flatten it a little using both palms to form a patty.
- Dip the patty into the beaten egg and then into the bread crumbs. Repeat this for the rest of the potatoes until all the potato mixture is used up.
- In a wok, add in 8 TBsp of oil over medium heat.
- When the oil is nicely heated up, place the patties into the oil and fry till golden brown. You can fry a few patties at a time depending how big your wok is.
- Place the fried patties on a plate lined with a kitchen towel to soak up the excess oil, then serve hot!
MARKETING TIPS
- Buy Brastagi potatoes (Indonesian) or Holland potatoes from NTUC. Do not use Russet potatoes. Russet potatoes are less starchy and don’t adhere as well together after they are mashed up, so the perkedel using Russet potatoes will tend to disintegrate during frying!
COOKING TIPS
- Do not overcook the fish.
- Any extra patties can be frozen for later use, but make sure you pack them properly. Place the patties in a plastic container to fill up the first layer. Place a clean plastic sheet over the first layer before placing a second layer of patties over first. This way, you can easily take our what you need when you want to cook it.
- The temperature of the oil must be just right. Too hot and the patty will burn easily, too cool and the patty will take a long time to cook and ends up absorbing too much oil. To get the temperature just right, test the temperature of the oil by placing just one patty in. If the patty turns brown immediately, it means that the oil is too hot, so you need to adjust the fire accordingly.
- If the patty turns cold, you can place it in a small oven to toast it for a min or two before serving it again.
DIETARY MODIFICATIONS
- Egg-Free: Skip the eggs. Eggs are used mainly as the binding ingredient to keep the patties together, but even without the egg, the potato should be starchy enough to hold together. Just be more careful when deep-frying to ensure the perkedel does not break up.
- Gluten-Free: Replace cream-crackers with gluten-free plain biscuits or crackers.
- Fish-Free: Replace the fish meat with minced chicken or pork meat. Make sure you fry the meat until it is cooked before adding it to the potato mixture.
- Shellfish-Free: No modifications needed
- Vegetarian: Skip the fish
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Begedil / Perkedel (Fried Potato Patty with Fish)
Servings: 8
Calories: 217kcal
Yummy fried mackerel and potato patties are a great way to get fussy little eaters to consume more fish!
Print RecipeIngredients
- 1 Mackerel About 1/2 kg
- 1 kg Potatoes Brastagi or Holland potatoes
- 0.5 kg Big Purple Onions
- 5-6 Cardamoms
- 0.5 tsp Tumeric Powder
- 50 Curry Leaves
- 3/4 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Ground Black Peppercorn
- 2 Eggs
- 12 pieces Cream Crackers
- 2 bowls Oil For frying
Instructions
PREPARATION (30 min)
- Boil the potatoes in a pot of water. Once cooked, remove the skins and break up the peeled potato into small pieces, being careful not to smash it up.
- Fillet the mackerel, or get your fishmonger to do it for you. Use a metal spoon to scrape off the meat from the fish as well as from the centre bone. Discard the skin and bone.
- Cut the onions into very small pieces.
- Wash and remove the stems from the curry leaves. Then cut the curry leaves into very thin strips.
- Place the cream crackers in a sealed plastic bag, then crush finely.
- Remove the seeds from the cardamoms and grind the cardamoms into power.
- Crack the eggs in a bowl and beat lightly.
COOKING (30 min)
- In a wok, add in 1 TBsp of oil and fry the onion for 2-3 mins.
- Add in the cardamom powder, ground black peppercorn, turmeric power and salt, then fry for 1-2 mins
- Add in the fish meat and fry for about 5 mins.
- Add in the potatoes and curry leaves to the fish and mix until well incorporated.
- Turn off the heat and leave to cool.
- Shape the potato mixture into a ball. Then flatten it a little using both palms to form a patty.
- Dip the patty into the beaten egg and then into the bread crumbs. Repeat this for the rest of the potatoes until all the potato mixture is used up.
- In a wok, add in 8 TBsp of oil over medium heat.
- When the oil is nicely heated up, place the patties into the oil and fry till golden brown. You can fry a few patties at a time depending how big your wok is.
- Place the fried patties on a plate lined with a kitchen towel to soak up the excess oil, then serve hot!
Notes
MARKETING TIPS
- Buy Brastagi potatoes (Indonesian) or Holland potatoes from NTUC. Do not use Russet potatoes. Russet potatoes are less starchy and don't adhere as well together after they are mashed up, so the perkedel using Russet potatoes will tend to disintegrate during frying!
COOKING TIPS
- Do not overcook the fish.
- Any extra patties can be frozen for later use, but make sure you pack them properly. Place the patties in a plastic container to fill up the first layer. Place a clean plastic sheet over the first layer before placing a second layer of patties over first. This way, you can easily take our what you need when you want to cook it.
- The temperature of the oil must be just right. Too hot and the patty will burn easily, too cool and the patty will take a long time to cook and ends up absorbing too much oil. To get the temperature just right, test the temperature of the oil by placing just one patty in. If the patty turns brown immediately, it means that the oil is too hot, so you need to adjust the fire accordingly.
- If the patty turns cold, you can place it in a small oven to toast it for a min or two before serving it again.
DIETARY MODIFICATIONS
- Egg-Free: Skip the eggs. Eggs are used mainly as the binding ingredient to keep the patties together, but even without the egg, the potato should be starchy enough to hold together. Just be more careful when deep-frying to ensure the perkedel does not break up.
- Gluten-Free: Replace cream-crackers with gluten-free plain biscuits or crackers.
- Fish-Free: Replace the fish meat with minced chicken or pork meat. Make sure you fry the meat until it is cooked before adding it to the potato mixture.
- Shellfish-Free: No modifications needed
- Vegetarian: Skip the fish
Nutrition
Calories: 217kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 70mg | Sodium: 301mg | Potassium: 379mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 334IU | Vitamin C: 131mg | Calcium: 66mg | Iron: 1mg
Hi, May I confirm if your big onion is 1/2 a piece or 1/2 kg as the picture don’t seems to be like 1/2 kg