Aloor Chop / Potato Croquettes - A traditional Bengali evening snacks

Aloor chop is considered to be the favorite snack of Bengalis. This traditional Bengali street food dates back to undivided Bengal and it is liked by Bangladeshi Bengalis as well as West Bengal Bengalis. Bengalis love to chatter /gossip which is famously called “Bengali Adda” and a combination of Moori (puffed rice), Aloor Chop (potato croquettes) and Cha (Tea) are considered essential for this intellectual exchange. This Aloor chop  exists even in South India as Aloo Bonda and batata bora in West India but the spices and herbs added in the potato stuffing are different. The recipe I followed here is of my grandmother’s and I believe this is the tastiest version of this mashed potato fritters.

Preparation Time: - 20 min

Cooking Time: - 20 min

Servings: - 2~3 persons

Ingredients:

For Chop / patties

1.      3 nos. Potato (medium size)

2.      1 no. Onion (medium size)

3.      2 tsp Ginger Paste made from 1 inch Fresh Ginger

4.      2 nos. cloves of fresh Garlic

5.      2 nos. Green Chilli

6.      1 whole Red Chilli

7.      Few peanuts

8.      1 tsp Roasted cumin powder

9.      1 tsp Kashmiri Red Chilli powder or more according to your taste

10.   Few coriander leaves

11.   Salt to taste

12.   Few drops of mustard oil

For Batter

13.   ¾ cup Besan / Gram Flour / Chikpeas Flour

14.   1 tbsp Rice Flour

15.   ¼ tsp Baking powder

16.   Salt to taste

17.   ½ cup water

For frying

18.   Sufficient oil for deep frying. I use sunflower oil but any vegetable oil can be used

19.   Pinch of rock salt or kala namak

Preparation:-

1.     Boil the potatoes, peel the skin and mash them.

2.     Chop the onion finely, chop and smash fresh ginger to make ginger paste, mince the garlic cloves. Chop the coriander leaves.

3.     Roast the cumin powder and peanuts

4.     Heat 1~2 tsp Oil in a Kadhai/Frying Pan.

5.     Put the garlic, Ginger, the green chillies, whole red chilli and the onion.

6.     Sauté till the onion turns violet brown.

7.     Add the Roasted Cumin powder and Kashmiri Red Chili Powder. You can use red chilli powder as per your taste. Sauté for a minute.

8.     Add the mashed potatoes, peanuts and coriander leaves.

9.     Add salt and mix the spices well with the potatoes.

10.  This should not be cooked for long. Sprinkle a few drops of Mustard Oil to the potatoes if you want. Let the patties mixture cool for some time.

11.  Once it reaches room temperature remove the whole red chilli and start making small balls of the spicy mashed potatoes.

12.  Flatten them between your palm and place them on a lightly greased surface or paper.

13.  Make a batter with the ingredients listed under Batter.

14.  Add water gradually so that it does not get loose. This helps forming a coating on the potato patties.

15.  Heat Oil in Kadhai/Frying Pan sufficient for deep frying the patties. Once heated turn the burner to medium.

16.  Dip the patties in the batter, so that the batter uniformly coats the patties.

17.  Gently release the dipped patties in the hot oil – it will sizzle.

18.  Fry till both sides are golden brown.

19.  Remove with a slotted spoon so that the excess oil is left out.

20.  Drain excess oil by placing the Aloor Chops on a kitchen towel.

Sprinkle some kala namak/black Rock salt (beet noon in Bengali colloquial language) on the potato croquettes while serving. Serve this snacks hot with puffed rice (muri) and tea (cha).

As always please feel free to comment, criticize and seek if any help is required. I am all ears.

Best Wishes for Valentine's Day - Enjoy

Happy Valentine's Day - Enjoy!!!!!

Best Wishes for my readers on the occasion of Saraswati Puja and Vasant Panchami - A menu follows

Best Wishes to all of you who follow this blog and hope you may followed some of my recipes here and they are useful to you.

A set of recipes suitable for this occasion is as follows:-

  Sab Pujor Bhoger Khichudi

 

Bandhakopir Ghonto

Tomato Khejur Amsotto chutney

 

 

Bengali style Tomato Khejur Amsotto sweet chutney - A spicy tangy sweet Bengali dessert

All Bengalis love different sweet deserts and Tomato chaatni / chutney is one of them. In fact tomato chutney exists in kitchen of different states of India and they make it in different ways – not always sweet. The recipe which I am going to describe is traditional Bengali one the taste being sweet and tangy, a little spicy too. My grandmother used to make this recipe in my childhood and we used to bribe her to have one more spoonful of the same. Oh! My mouth starts watering just thinking about it. Without much ado let us start this one.

Preparation Time: - 5 min

Cooking Time: - 20 min

Servings: - 4~5 persons

Ingredients:-

 1.      5~6 nice juicy red plumpy tomatoes

2.      2 tsp black mustard seeds

3.      2 dry red chilli

4.      10~12 pitted dates

5.      Pinch of turmeric powder

6.      Pinch of salt

7.      Amsotto – Bengali mango bar (optional)

8.      1/3 cup golden raisins

9.      1 tsp Ginger juice

10.   ½ cup Sugar

11.   1 tbsp Tamarind paste

12.   Few drops of lemon juice (optional)

13.   ½ cup water

14.   Pinch of dry roasted cumin powder or Bengali 5 spice mix paanch-phoran (optional)

15.   3 tbsp Vegetable oil (Bengalis like mustard oil here but I believe sunflower or any vegetable oil is more suited for this preparation)

Preparation:-

1. Wash and chop tomatoes in large chunks.
2. Chop 10-12 pitted dates in halves or in thin slices.
3. Grate ginger and squeeze to get the juice.
4. Heat oil in a deep bottomed vessel / sauce pan.
5. When the oil is sufficiently heated turn the burner to medium heat.
6. Temper the hot oil with black mustard seeds and Red Chili. Cover with a lid to avoid mustard dancing spraying in your kitchen. You can avoid the Chili if you don't want spicy.
7. When the mustard sputters, add the chopped tomatoes, a pinch of turmeric powder, little salt and sauté them.
8. Then cover and cook the tomatoes at low heat. The juicy tomatoes will release a lot of liquid and will cook in their own juice. Every minute or so, remove the lid and give a good stir
9. Once the tomatoes are almost done, add the chopped dates and raisins. Stir well.
10. If you have amsotto (Bengali mango bar or in some places called mango papad), add some chopped now.
11. Add about ginger juice and water and cook for a few more minutes till the tomatoes have totally disintegrated and thoroughly cooked to a soft pulp.
12. Add sugar and mix well, adjust for salt & sugar according to your taste.
13. Let the chutney simmer and reduce to a thick consistency
14. To make the chutney tangy add tamarind chutney to the tomato chutney. You can use a store bought one or make one of your own using tamarind pulp. This really gives the chutney a sweet-tangy taste instead of just sweet.
15. You can optionally sprinkle few drops of lemon juice here to make it tangier. In fact you can replace the tamarind chutney with a few more drops of lemon juice as well.

Now your sweet tangy spicy tomato chutney is ready to be consumed. Before serving, sprinkle with dry roasted cumin powder or dry roasted and ground paanch-phoron powder.

Serve this dessert with any meal or as we used to do in our childhood have it emni emni (alone).

As always please feel free to comment, criticize and seek if any help is required. I am all ears.