Patatas Bravas

Name: Patatas Bravas
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Spanish
Ingredients: Floury potatoes; Olive oil; Plum tomatoes; Garlic; Smoked paprika; Fat-free Greek yoghurt; Salt

220 kcal a serving, against 601 for the traditional version. That is 381 kcal off, or 63%, with 8.4g of protein. Serves 4. 45 minutes.

What the traditional version is

Potato cubes, twice-fried: once to cook through, once to colour and crisp. Drenched in a tomato-based bravas sauce (garlic, paprika, tinned tomato) and dolloped with a generous blob of mayonnaise, sometimes alioli if you're lucky. Always hot, always moreish, and always demolished in about 38 seconds after hitting the table.

What changed, and what each change costs

Deep-fried potatoes swapped for roasted

There's just no way to make frying this low-oil unless you invent new physics. Roasting with a little oil and patience is the best you can do.

What it costs you. Let's be honest, you lose the glass-like crunch a frying pan hands out for free. You'll get a chewy golden skin and a soft centre, but not the snap. If anyone says they can make roast taste fried, sling them out of your kitchen.

Olive oil down to 12g, sprayed

Frying cubes you use about 12% oil by weight absorbed. With a good atomiser and a hot tray, you can drop to about 12g total, which is so little it barely moves the scale.

What it costs you. Potatoes need to be moved about a couple of times so they colour evenly, and you won't ever get every cube totally golden. Some corners go a bit brown, others just crisp.

Mayonnaise swapped for fat-free Greek yoghurt

120g of mayonnaise is half the calories on the plate for very little protein. Fat-free Greek yoghurt gives you a thick, tart blob for about a quarter of the calories, and four times the protein.

What it costs you. Yoghurt can't do the job entirely. It's tangy and cold, but it won't give that slippery, rich mouthfeel. If you want it richer, stir in a teaspoon of olive oil. But then don't write me a letter about the calories.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Floury potatoes
Olive oil
Plum tomatoes
Garlic
Smoked paprika
Fat-free Greek yoghurt
Salt

How it starts

Set the oven to 220C and get your best baking tray ready; roasting trays with low edges work far better than deep ones.
Peel and cube the potatoes to about 2cm.
Drain, then let the potatoes steam dry in the colander for 3 minutes.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish Spanish.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	601	220
Protein	5.6g	8.4g
Fat	47.9g	3.6g
Saturated fat	7.1g	0.5g
Carbohydrate	39.6g	40.5g
Protein per 100 kcal	0.9g	3.8g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Spanish prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. gluten, milk.

The method is in the book

These aren't the patatas bravas you'll have in Madrid at 1am with a drink in each hand. If you want the proper glassy crust, deep-fry and don't apologise. This roasted version is lighter, higher in protein, and honestly loud enough with the sauce and yoghurt that you won't mind after two bites. The first bite will make you, but the second convinced me.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Spanish, along with 57 more. Buy the paperback