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.