Bati Charchari with Love

I made a different kind of bati charchari yesterday, one very different from what my mother makes. She makes it mostly with potatoes chopped in long, slender, finger like slices but mine was more like this. I had green beans, cauliflower, pumpkin, potato, potato peels(aloo'r khosha), and even peels from the pumpkin.Though traditionally a bati charchari would be made in a steel container with a lid (a bati),  which was then be put in  a pot of boiling rice, I make it in a kadhai and it tastes just as good.
With some tauk er dal with green mangoes, it was perfect for a day which showed promises of getting warmer.

Revisiting a recipe from the past

My grandparents lived in an old rambling house in a nondescript para(community or development) in North Calcutta (now Kolkata). The house was old, it's days of glory being long over.As appendages were added on to it and banyan trees took roots in its crevices, the house tried desperately to hold on to its rich past.

In this house my maternal grandparents came to live after retirement as a part of a large "joint family", a term as rare these days as those old houses in North Calcutta. My Ma's three uncles and an aunt along with their offspring, some married some not lived under one roof, their kitchens separated but their roof united. There were some undercurrents among its residents for sure but on our annual visits every winter the whole house and the family came together and welcomed us as one.

So while we watched Chitrahar and snacked on alur chop ar muri lazing around at Baro Dida's (Eldest Grandma) ornate teak bed, we ate egg roll at Ful Dida's (Flower Grandma) fancy dining table. The main meals were always at my own Dida's(my maternal grandma) kitchen though and we wouldn't give those up for anything.

My Ma's aunt or pishi, C Dida, had lost her husband at an young age and lived in this house along with her four daughters. She was a proud soul and instead of being dependent on her brothers financially she worked as teacher at a nursery school and lived within her meager means to bring up her four daughters impeccably. One of her daughters pampered me a lot and so I would spend a considerable portion of my time at their room or tag along with her wherever she went.

Many mornings during those vacations, I would go and sit in their small kitchen while C Dida made breakfast. Their small but squeaky clean kitchen with a shiny pump stove and minimal utensils exuded a charm that no gourmet kitchen ever has. Their breakfast too was extremely simple, left over ruti(chapati/roti) lighty fried with little oil to a wafer like crispiness was served with bati charchari. I loved that simple breakfast so much that most days I would have that sitting on their red-oxide kitchen floor, still damp & cold with early morning moisture.

I don't know what makes an indelible impression in a child's heart, the stinging coldness on one's bottom, the hot off the tawa ruti mingled with the sharpness of mustard oil in a bati charchari or the love of near ones but those mornings of two and half decades back are etched in my childhood memory and bati charchari and basi ruti bhaja( fried leftover chapati/roti) is still a favorite on my food list.

My Ma too would make a Bati Charchari often and the only time I would have ruti for breakfast at home was when it was accompanied by a large serving of bati charchari.

On this post the other day, a reader Boishakhi, reminded me of the delicious yet simple Bati Charchari. She also mentioned how she adds other vegetables to this dish. That is what I have today. And so while my Ma's and C Dida's bati charchari had only potatoes, this has carrots and sugar snap peas in it. A sprinkle of glittering red middle eastern sumac makes the dish more international than you can imagine.

I am sending this off to WHB #190 hosted by Laurie from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska. This event was started by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen and now has a new home at Cook Almost Anything at Least Once


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Bati Charchari

Prepping the veggies: Peel and chop two medium sized potatoes in 1" long pieces. Peel and chop carrots similarly. I had about 1 and 1/2 cup of chopped carrots. Wash and keep whole 10-15 sugar snap peas. The snap peas are optional and you can use any other vegetable. I have also made this dish with a mix of green beans, cauliflower, pumpkin, potato, potato peels(aloo'r khosha), and even peels from the pumpkin Note: Ideally the vegetables for this dish should be cut thin and small, so that they all cook at the same rate.

Start Cooking:

In a heavy-bottomed deep pan heat 2 tsp of Mustard Oil

Add 4 hot Indian green chili, slit halfway

Add all the veggies

Add salt to taste + 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder and mix well

Add 1&1/2 to 2 cups of water and mix well.

Cover and cook without any stirring till veggies are cooked and water dries up. If needed add more water for cooking

Once done, add 1-2 tsp of Mustard oil on top before serving

I sprinkled some sumac for its gorgeous color but this is totally optional as it is not a native ingredient for this dish.

Note: I have not used Red Chili powder, tomatoes or coriander since my Ma wouldn't. I also went a little low on the oil. You can adjust these according to taste.

A is for Aloo Posto and Aamer Tauk

Yesterday I asked a question on my FB page
"If we did a A-Z of Bengali Cuisine, what dish would you choose to start with A?"

There was a huge response of about 78-77 answers and guess what ? The winner was Aloo Posto, as I had feverishly hoped.Please God, please, let the folks say Aloo Posto and then I can have one more reason to cook and eat it. Not that eating Posto needs any reason or season but it is always nice to have some validation. 

This Posto is made with potatoes and other vegetables. The traditional Aloo posto has only potatoes

Now "Aloo Posto" or Posto with Potatoes is actually  a dish of posto or poppy seeds where the aloo (potato) is simply a qualifying adjective. This posto in Bengali cuisine is so versatile that we could do a whole A-Z of Posto with Aloo Posto, Begun Posto....Zucchini Posto and not even so much as glance at any other dish.But still the general consensus was that "A for Aloo Posto" is uniquely Bengali and even though there might be a North Indian aloor dom or a Mexican Mango Chaatni, there could never ever be an Aloo Posto that spoke anything but Bangla.

Given the season and abundance of green mangoes, coming a very very close second in this poll was  Aamer Tauk which I have blogged about in Aamer Chaatni or Ambol and Aamer Chaatni Version 2

The other A dishes that make a Bengali proud

Aloor Dom

Aloor Dom Niramish

Aloor Chop

Aloo Seddho or Aloo Bhaate

Aam Doi and Aam Kheer keeping in mind the mango season 

Aloo posto was one of my very first dish on this blog some eight long years back. A lot of water has flown in the Ganges and Hudson since then but this dish is still a favorite in my home and heart.

"Posto or Poppy Seed is an oilseed obtained from opium poppy. The seeds are harvested from dried seed pods and have no narcotic effect. Posto or the dried white poppy seeds are hugely popular in Bengal. It was actually the food of the people of Rarh, the "land of red soil" on the westernmost corner of West Bengal. More so for the people of Bankura and Birbhum district in this area. This region has a very dry and hot climate and they believe posto has the effect of a coolant and protects them against the heat. In the days when there was no restriction in cultivating Indian poppy and farmers in this area grew poppy in abundance, the posto seeds became an integral part of their diet. A mid morning meal of posto and bhaat protected the farmers from the searing, dry heat as they worked in the open fields.

But the reason why they started growing posto or poppy seeds goes back to the 18th-19th century when the last Bengali Nawab was dethroned by the British East India company. The East India company found that opium generated huge profit not only in local markets but also in China. Thus started the Indian Opium trade. The conditions in Birbhum-Bankura area were probably most suitable for poppy cultivation and the reason why the British colonists forced farmers in that area of Bengal to grow mostly poppy on all available agricultural lands. It was natural that farmers in those areas had little choice but to incorporate posto, the dried poppy seeds a by-product of the crop, in a suitable form in their daily meal. They ground the dried seeds to a nutty flavored paste(posto bata) which they had either raw with some seasonings(kaancha posto bata) or cooked with whatever little vegetable they could avail of. Little did they know that a dish invented out of necessity would one day be representative of Bengal."

Posto was mostly cooked in my home during the summer months keeping its cooling properties in mind and so it felt perfectly the right dish for a sunny, warm day in May today.


Traditional Recipe

Prep 

Soak 1/4th Cup of  White Poppy seeds in water for 10-15 minutes. Next strain the water and then wet grind the seeds in a grinder with little splashes of water. Ideally the seeds would be ground on a flat block of stone called shil-nora. The grinding should ensue a creamy white paste.

Alternately, you can also dry grind the seeds to a fine powder in a spice grinder. mix water with the powder to make the creamy paste.

Peel and chop 1 large potato in small cubes.

Start Cooking

Heat 2 tbsp Mustard Oil in a kadhai

When the oil is smoking hot, temper the oil with
3/4th tsp of  Kalonji/kalo Jeere/Nigella Seeds
1 Dry Red Chilli
2-4 Green Chilli slit along the center

When the spices start popping, add the cubed potatoes.

Saute the potatoes with a sprinkle of turmeric powder. Now this turmeric is  a cause of much consternation as there are two camps-- one who believes in turmeric in posto while the other doesn't. Choose which party you belong to.

Saute the potatoes until they are a pale golden brown. Don't over fry them. Now add the posto bata aka the poppy seed paste. Mix well and saute for a few more minutes making sure that the posto has coated the potatoes.

Now add water(about 3/4th cup), salt to taste, give a good stir and cover and cook.

Check for potatoes to be done. Once the potatoes are cooked, open the cover and drizzle a little Mustard oil. Give a good stir and cook for a few more minutes until the water has dried off.

Serve with white rice.

Modern Touch

Now on most days I throw in some vegetable or the other along with the potatoes and posto. The most recent usage by the husband-man has been about half cup of frozen vegetable mix(a mix of carrots, beans, corn and peas). He defrosts half a cup of this vegetable medley and throws them in with the potatoes. It tastes oh so good and looks as good as in the first picture.

Aloo Tikki Chaat -- or Ragda Patties

While everyone else was making sweets and wearing silks on Diwali I was making this aloo tikki chaat in yoga pants that has seen better days.And why ? For the simple reason that I had soaked some yellow (or was it white?) vatana in the morning to make ghugni and suddenly just a ghugni for dinner did not seem right on Diwali. I am ashamed to say but that was the most I could do. In light of all your karanjis, besan ladoos, gulab jamuns and murukkus my struggle to put together a plate of  "pick-me-up-and-have-a party-in-your-mouth" aloo tikki chaat seems to fizzle out like a damp cracker.

But guess what ? It was okay. At least I thought it was okay. Only I cribbed about the fairy lights that would go on the front porch in our old home and that still remained in their cardboard box, resting, probably itching to get out and spread some light. We weren't able to put them up here. Not yet. Those lights will have to wait till we figure out how to put them up in this front porch with a different facade.It is the lights I worried about most. For Diwali to me is more about flickering, twinkling, bursting lights on a dark autumn night than anything else.

Now to the aloo tikki chaat which as everyone and their neighbor's dog knows is a famous Indian street food. Only thanks to my street food phobic mother I never tasted it at a street-side. I have spent many school afternoons looking longingly at the tikki wala standing behind a huge disc of greased tawa--flat discs of aloo tikkis  and green chilies adorning its periphery--stirring around a ghugni with a non-chalance that was enviable. Bevy of school girls, usually the high schoolers surrounded his cart as he went tan-tan with his steel ladle on the iron tawa. I have no idea how it tasted, all I can remember is my Ma talking about the steel plates he used not being properly washed and some such reasoning to prevent me from having it.

At this point I can only thank my stars that Ma was not that strict when it came to phuchka or egg roll. Phewww...can't imagine what my life would have been otherwise.

So the point of the matter is I have always had aloo tikki chaat at sanitized surroundings, in small restaurants, a step away from the street, and it has tasted as good as it can in that surrounding. I have nothing to compare it against. Same goes about mine. It is good. Pretty good. But I have a niggling doubt it is not as good as that tikki wala's who sat outside the huge green gates of my school.

There are several recipes of aloo tikki chaat or ragda patties. The aloo tikki is a spicy potato patty which is shallow fried and the ragda is a spicy peas curry kind of thing. The aloo tikki chaat can be just the potato patties itself topped with all the tamarind chutney, sev and other chaat paraphernalia.My girls love the aloo tikki by itself, at least BS does. The patties also make great sandwiches.It can also be made into an aloo tikki chole chaat where instead of peas curry there is a garbanzo beans curry.

I like all the variations and for most of the time my ragda is more in the lines of a Bengali ghugni and does pair beautifully with the aloo tikki. It is a comforting dish, makes a complete meal and heals any pain you may or may not have in absence of twinkling fairy lights.

Aloo Tikki Chaat -- Ragda Patties

Make Aloo Tikki

Boil 3 large-ish potatoes.

Cool the potatoes and then peel.Now mash the potatoes very smooth.

Next take 3 slices  of bread, remove the sides, dampen by sprinkling water and add to potatoes.

To the above mashed potatoes and bread add
1 tsp Amchoor
1/2 tsp Cumin powder
1 tsp Red Chili Powder
2 clove of garlic minced
2 tbsp finely chopped onion
salt to taste
some Beet noon or rock salt or kala namak

Mix all of the above with the potatoes and make a smooth dough. Take a little and taste. Something missing ? More spicy ? Less salt ? Adjust and add more of the spice that is missing.

Heat a non-stick pan lightly greased. Very, very little oil is needed and spraying a non-stick pan with oil or greasing with your fingers works best

Now take a scoop of the mashed aloo, flatten on the palm of your hand and put on the pan. If you are using a large pan you can do about 7-8 patties/tikkis at the same time. At medium heat cook for 5 minutes and flip. You will see that the side has deep brown spots. Next cook other side for 4-5 minutes.

Remove and arrange on a serving plate. You can later make a chaat out of it or serve it to kids just like that with some ketchup

Make the Ghugni or Ragda

Soak 1&1/2cup of dried White peas (white vatana) in water overnight.

Next day rinse the peas. The peas will now have swelled to almost 3 cups

Heat oil in a Pressure cooker
Temper with
1 heaped tsp of Cumin seeds
2-3 cracked dry red chili
2 clove of garlic minced

Add the peas. Sprinkle a tsp of turmeric powder, a tsp of Red chili powder and saute for 2-3 minutes.

Next add enough water so that peas are all submerged(about 3-4 cups),  2 tsp of grated ginger, salt to taste and close the lid on the pressure cooker. Cook for 5 mins at ful pressure.

Once you can open the lid add a tsp of Amchur/Mango Powder, some finely chopped coriander leaves, squeeze of little lime juice and adjust for salt and spices. I often add a little beet noon or kala namak to finish off. If you like more heat add some finely chopped green chili.

Assemble The Chaat

To serve the chaat arrange 2-3 aloo tikki on a plate. Ladle few spoonfuls of ghugni/ragda over the tikki. Drizzle a little Tamarind Chutney. Next drizzle little whipped yogurt. Sprinkle sev liberally on top. You can add some more chopped onion and green chili to finish.

Niramish Alu Dom -- Ma's recipe for Holi

Bengalis and only bengalis can come up with a term like "Niramish Alu Dom". I mean isn't it plain common sense that Alu Dom IS a "niramish" aka vegetarian dish. But Bongs are so fastidious about their vegetarian food that they divide it in two categories --- (1) the regular vegetarian cooked with vegetables but may contain onion and garlic and (2) the strict satvik vegetarian which uses no onion or garlic.

Onion and garlic are considered as "rajasik" or "tamasik" food which increases body heat and supposedly fuels passion and ignorance. About ignorance I am ignorant but I can imagine the heights of passion that an onion-garlic breath can bring about. Passion to run away.

But honestly as I said earlier if I have to choose between not shedding tears on my allium and passion, I will go with the former. I am very passionate about my comfort that way. So I was super interested in this super vegetarian alur dom that my Ma made. No onion. No garlic.The Other aloor dom on my blog does have onion after all.

My Ma, the queen of matching up spices with vegetables makes this Alur Dom with the Bhaja Masla that she makes. The smoky, intense bhaja masla makes a spicy gravy that clings to the potatoes like my 3 yr old is wont to do with me. she also uses Methi seeds and Hing which gives off a beautiful flavor to the hot oil and thus the dish. It is an extremely simple recipe with tantalizing results. You wouldn't believe that something so delicious could turn up with such an easy recipe. I mean easy if PBJ sandwich is not the only thing you eat or cook or know about. But even then this is easier than a finely made PBJ sandwich. Me thinks

Wishing you all a Very Colorful Holi with this Alur Dom. Stay Tuned as I have something to share with you in the next post. Till then "Dhoom Macha De...Raang Jama de"


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Niramish Alu Dom

Potatoes -- 14 small red ones
Boil for 10-15minutes in salted water till partly cooked
Peel skin, prick the potatoes randomly and toss them with  salt, 1 tsp of ginger paste and 1/2 tsp of Kashmiri Mirch and 1 tsp of garlic paste. Fry the potatoes in 1 tbsp of oil till they develop gold spots.

Edited on April 30th, 2013: In another version I toss the potatoes with salt, ginger powder, amchoor powder, kashmiri mirch and black pepper powder and then fry. The black pepper adds a beautiful layer to the dish

Next heat 2 tbsp of White Oil + 1/2 tsp ghee.

Temper the Oil with
2 Bay Leaf
2 Dry Red Chili
1 star anise
15-20- methi seeds
1/4 tsp of Hing
Switch off the heat and let the oil soak in the flavor of the spices. Switch back on again.

Add 2 large tomato finely chopped along with 5 green chili chopped in rounds. Or puree 2 large tomatoes with 5 green chili and add that. Fry for 6-7 minutes till the tomato is mushed up and reduced to a sorry pulp.Puree is a better option. Also little tomato paste along with fresh tomatoes works wonder.Note: I had made this alu dom very spicy, you can adjust the chili heat to suit your style.

Add about
1/2 tbsp of grated ginger
and fry for 2 more minutes.

In a bowl make a paste of
1 tbsp yogurt
+ 1/2 tbsp of Corriander powder
+ 1 tbsp and 1 tsp of Bhaja Masla. (Bhaja Masla recipe is here. It is the last one.)
Lower heat and add the paste.
Add 1/2 tsp of Red Chili powder.
Fry the masala, sprinkling water as needed for couple of minutes. Add the potatoes, toss in the masala.

Add about 1 cup of water, salt to taste, 1/2 tsp of sugar and simmer. Cook covered till potatoes are done.

Garnish with chopped coriander and two green chili chopped in thin rounds.

Alu Kabli -- the Bongo Potato Salad

"Go, watch a movie", my Mother prods. She does this every time she is here. Religiously, during the course of her six months of stay, she asks me to go out to a movie theater. To a multiplex, with digital screens, buckets of popcorn, large glasses of coke, the whole zing-bang. She says it the same way she asks me to take my vitamins, calcium , drink milk, exercise, kapalbhaati, breath in-out.

If she had put so much effort early on in my life, I could have watched QSQT, Maine Pyaar Kiya, Roja, Bazigar, Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar, all first day , first show. But that never happened.

Even now there are constraints. She doesn't want me to go and watch any movie by myself, my friends or even with her.The movie has to be watched along with my legally wedded husband, the D, only. That is the rule she lays down. Watching movie at the theaters with one's spouse, is the litmus test by which she checks all izz well between me and the guy.

Can't blame her. There is little else to rest one's faith on when all you see the couple arguing over is, "You get the Milk from Costco, I will pick up Bitter Gourd from Patel", "I did all the pickups and drop off last week when you were traveling, this week you better pick BS up from karate"

I take up my Mother's proposal with much hope, excitement even. Three hours away from clinging kids in a dimmed room with Shahrukh Khan/Farhan Akhtar/Tom Cruise and a glass of chilled coke doesn't sound too bad. If things go okay, we can hold hands even (without arguing). The husband however is not much enthused. He would rather watch "how they make shiny steely razors" instead on SCI, stretched out on the couch and eat Haldiram's Nav Ratan Bhujia.

Also the movies I want to watch is not the ones he would be caught seeing, even in a dark theater. At least not anymore.Sickly mushy romantic movies with a touch of humor are my genre. He likes the rock, car chases, hooded men and anything animated. Even if we agree on the animated we cannot white-lie a eight year old and say "We have to pick up groceries" when all we are doing is going to watch Tintin in 3D.

With every movie that we finally do not watch and argue instead, my Ma wants to dial Ajmeri Baba on hot-line.

Finally we do. Not call Ajmeri Baba. Watch a movie. At the theater. With a large glass of coke half filled with ice and toasted nachos. The nachos are terrible and I really wish there was something better. Alu-Kabli would have been perfect. Tangy with a tamarind chutney, salty with sprinkles of pink salt, hot with the tiny pieces of green chlili. It would have perfectly matched the excitement of Ethan Hunt rappelling down the Burj.

Next time maybe. A year later. And then maybe we can also hold hands.

Alu Kabli is the easiest thing that you can make in your lifetime. All you have to do in the cooking department is cook potatoes or rather boil them. You can do that step in the MW, stove top or the Pressure Cooker. Baas, you are done. To make life easy use a can of chickpeas which you drain, rinse and then just eat. If you do not have access to canned ones, you need to soak chickpeas overnight and then cook till they are soft and edible.

When I had asked in FB months ago, Eve's Lungs had this about Alu Kabli-- "tiny cubed pots, soaked red chana, onions chopped small,motor boiled ,cucumber - small diced , dhania patta , loads of imli , bhaja moshla,kalo noon and yummo"
Tanushree said -- "plus u have to have kacha lanka and chine badam..................must. "

Mine does not have cucumber, coriander leaves or roasted peanuts. If you want add them to yours.


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Alu Kabli

Boil 2 medium potatoes in their jacket.Peel and then cube. Soak chickpeas overnight and cook them till soft. OR buy a can of chickpeas, drain, rinse well and use.

Chop half of a large onion in small pieces. Chop about 6 small green chili in thin rounds.

Dry roast 1/2 tbsp Cumin seeds till they roast to a nice smell. Dry roast or char by holding directly on fire two Dry red Chili. Okay, only one for the faint hearted. Dry grind the cumin seeds and red chili together to make a fine powder called Bhaja Masla.

In a bowl add 2 tbsp of Tamarind Chutney, 2 tbsp water, 1 tsp of Bhaja Masla, a little salt to taste and 2 of the finely chopped green chili. Mix well.Note: I used Deep Brand Tamarind Chutney, you can also make your own

In another bowl assemble the potatoes and a cup of boiled chickpeas.Sprinkle rest of the bhaja masla, some pink salt according to taste, the chopped green chili and the chopped onion. Squeeze a little of lime juice, maybe a teaspoonful. Toss together and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Now dole out a serving in a bowl. Drizzle the tamarind water you made. Garnish with some more chili and onion. Sprinkle with some hot sev if you wish. Eat immediately.

Vegetable Chop or Bhejetebil Chop

Vegetable Chop or Bhejtebil Chop(sic!) is another popular snack from streets of Kolkata

My Mother having grown up in the mofussils, where everything from rosogolla to chingri'r chop(shrimp cutlet) was made at home, had an uncanny fear of Kolkata street food. Actually any street food.

All through the 80's, she stymied my attempts at street food with a vengeance that matched a NRI mother who washes her hands with Bisleri and rubs Purell before a meal at Flury's. She thought anything cooked and served along the streets could bring nothing but cholera, jaundice and disaster. My school days were thus spent, longingly watching the alu-tikki and chole chaatwala serving myriad of school girls in badly washed steel plates. All I was allowed to buy, once a month, was a packet of spiced up potato chips in a transparent plastic packet or a bar of Golden ice cream from the yellow ice cream cart.

It was her good fortune that we did not live in Kolkata or its suburbs where phuchka and telebhaja(fried stuff) by the road side was easier to find than a S23( a bus) in service. On our annual visits to my Dida's home in Kolkata, my Ma would ease a little and allow an alur chop here and a phuchka there. Those brief sojourns were so rare that the taste of those treats ached my memory until we came back to visit Dida next year.

My Ma however compensated for this behavior of hers by cooking a lot of those things which we were denied outside at home. She would make shingara, dim er devil, khasta kochuri and bhejetebil chop all through winter.

Once the Northern winds started blowing and it was time to take out the napthalene scented hand-knit sweaters and Kashmiri shawls; the deep red beet, flame orange carrots and green peas flooded the vegetable market.Those were the days my Mother made vegetable chop, lots of it. With the freshest and sweetest of beet and carrots, those chops would be delicious. If I am allowed to be totally honest, I will say that I still missed the chops fried in stale oil, dusted with grime and carrying the germs of cholera but my Mother's vegetable chops were the best you can do in a clinically hygienic condition.

Now while I had the vegetable chop down to the last peanut theoretically, I have always made it when my Ma is visiting us. Only that means she cooks the beet, the carrots, the potatoes, makes the stuffing, fries the chop while I eat them. My Ma thinks they are good for the kids, a good way to make them eat veggies she will say and so makes them quiet frequently while she is here. Once she had boarded her flight, I just make a stew with the same vegetables.

Last week however I made vegetable chops just by myself. I did not even think "kids", I only thought about myself and okay a little about the husband and how it will be nice to have some vegetable chops for breakfast for a change.

It is pretty easy and though involves some frying in gallons of oil is not too bad for you. You are eating vegetables you see. Yeah, keep chanting that. With some planning you can cook the vegetables beforehand and make the croquettes and refrigerate them for 4-5 days. That way you can fry up some as needed and enjoy them with a cup of chai.


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Vegetable Chop

I think this recipe made about 24-30 vegetable chops but I can never be sure. Also my chops were smaller in size than standard

First lets make the Bhaja Masla

Cumin Seeds -- 1/2 tsp
Fennel seeds -- 1/2 tsp
Corriander seeds -- 1/2 tsp
Clove -- 6
Green Elaichi -- 3
Cinnamon -- 1/2" stick
Peppercorn -- 12
Red chili -- 2-3
Bay leaf -- tiny

Roast the above on stove pop, cool and then grind to a fine powder. Do not char. Note: If you are feeling extremely lazy pop in toaster oven instead of stove top roasting. You can store this powder in a air-tight jar for months.You can use it to sprinkle on chutneys and make more chops.

Second --- We will work with the veggies, good stuff here.

Now we will chop the following vegetables in chunks
2 medium beet ,
2 carrot (if carrot is the thin kind use 4 else 2 should be fine),
2 large potato

Cook the above vegetables till they are mash-able. I usually cook them in the pressure cooker. Note: Sometimes I grate the beet instead of boiling it and then cook it while making the stuffing.

Once cooked, drain water and mash the vegetables. It is okay if the texture is little grainy and not totally smooth
Note: My Mother used to grate the beet and have her veggies a bit coarsely mashed, there shouldn't be any bite-able veggies but they can be a notch lower smooth.

Now heat a little oil in a Kadhai/Frying Pan

Roast 1/4 cup of halved peanuts, remove and keep aside

In the same oil add
2 tbsp of minced or grated ginger
3-4 green chilli chopped in rounds

Next add
the mashed vegetables,
3 tsp of Bhaja masla,
1/4-1/2 tsp of red Chili Powder,
salt to taste
sugar if needed

Saute the mashed veggies, mixing with the masala till the excess water dries up and the veggies come together, leaving the sides. Add 1 tbsp of finely chopped coriander leaves/dhone pata if you wish.Also add the roasted peanuts. Check to see the spices are right.
Note: If needed add 1-2 tbsp of bread crumbs or maida for binding.

If you have grated your beet instead of boiling it, add the grated beet to the pan before adding the mashed carrots and potatoes. Once the beet is cooked, add the mashed carrots+ potatoes and spices and follow the previous step.

When this mixture cools, grease your palms and fashion croquettes out of them. Add a golden raisin to each.
The usual shape is oblong or oval but I have made small slightly flattened balls.

Third -- Lets do some Coating

Vegetarian Coating

Make a batter of 1/3 cup of chickpea flour/besan + 4-5 tbsp of water. The batter should be thin, thinner than the pakori batter.

Dip the croquette/chop in above Besan mix, roll in seasoned breadcrumbs. Refrigerate the croquettes/chops for an hour. You could refrigerate these for about 4-5 days in a closed container. Only don't forget about them and go on a vacation. They need to be used sooner than later.



Egg Coating

I prefer this breading more than the former. I dredged the balls in all-purpose flour, dipped them in egg wash(2 eggs beaten with a tsp of water) and rolled them in bread crumbs. I then refrigerated them for a few hours/overnight before frying

Finally -- Now is the Frying Time

In a Kadhai heat enough oil for frying. Once the oil is hot, check if it is right temperature by putting a tiny piece of bread in it.

Roll the croquettes lightly again in seasoned breadcrumbs and fry in hot oil till golden brown. Remove with slotted spoon and keep aside in a plate lined with paper towels to drain excess oil.
Note : If you had added besan as a binder you might get a scent of besan in the chop. In that case fry a little more at medium heat till it is cooked through.

Sprinkle some chat masala or beet noon and serve with some ketchup and a salad of onion, cucumber.

Notes: First time Vegetable chop makers please read the note

1. There is two kind of Bhaja Masla that Bongs make. The one in the recipe is how my Ma, her Ma, me etc. does it. The second kind is one where Cumin Seeds + Dry red Chili is roasted on stove top and then grind to a powder.

2.The besan coating for the chop should be a VERY thin coating. It SHOULD NOT be thick as in a Alu Bonda/Vada.

3. If you do not like besan coating you can make a thin batter of white flour + water. You can also do dip in egg wash and then roll in breadcrumbs like here in Maacher Chop

4.My Ma-in-law grates the beet instead of boiling and mashing all veggies, that gives a nice texture to the chop.

5.Many people say that drying the mashed vegetables takes considerable amount of time. To avoid this, drain the carrots, beet and potatoes well and only then mash it when they cool a little

Updated on May15th, 2013: -- Recently I made a version of this same chop where I deviated from being completely niramish. To the mashed veggies I added some crispy fried onions(from a box). Also for the coating I dredged the balls in all-purpose flour, dipped them in egg wash(2 eggs beaten with a tsp of water) and rolled them in bread crumbs. I then refrigerated them for a few hours/overnight before frying. I clearly prefer this method.

Aloor Chop or Alur Chop

Aloor Chop | Bengali Potato Fritters

Alur Chop or Aloor Chop, spicy discs of mashed potatoes that are coated in a batter of chickpea flour and deep fried are the best Bengali snack with cups of ginger tea on a rainy evening. They sell like hot cakes in the very popular "telebhaja" shops in bengal.

"Knock, Knock"

"Who's there?"

"Apple"

"Apple, who?"

"Orange"

"Orange, who?"

Thus it goes with names of whatever fruits available at home. And then

"I am a fruit salad"...with peals of laughter

Right on cue we start laughing too. We have to. For that my folks is a joke in LS's realm

She has a whole repository of Knock, Knock jokes. She makes them up. None of them make sense. They are not even funny. But we laugh.

It really doesn't matter. Laughing does though.

Yesterday while watching the Oscars Big Sis asks me,
"If you were a director of a very important movie and one day something very important had to be done for the movie and also the same day something very important needs to be done for the family, what would you choose ?"

I was stunned by the question. These are the kind of questions I would expect at the last page of Ladies Home Journal, not from a 7 year old. I am waiting to see if she spurs such stuff at Daddy too.

I made Aloor/Alur Chop (Potato Fritters) after a long long time. I make these things so rare that sometimes I am not even sure the taste lingering in my memory is real or laced with imagination.Should it taste like this or should it taste like that ? The that is illusionary.

This time I made it more spicy because I thought I prefer it that way. The husband's version is a tad less spicy. He says, mine are pretty good but not like Shoshthida's. Shosthida, the neighborhood telebhaja guy, spiced the potato less.

Makes sense. Shosthida, with all my apologies and admiration, had his perspiration, diesel fumes and dirt under his nails to make up for less spices he used. I perspire too, but not when the temp is at 45F and central heating is just making us comfortable.

Deep frying however makes up for anything I lack. With a bowl of muri on the side and a steaming cup of tea you won't ask for anything more. Ok, a "knock, knock" joke perhaps to complete the scene.

Get this recipe in my Book coming out soon. Check this blog sidebar for further updates. 

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Alur Chop -- Potato Fritters

The Husband's original version

What You Need

For the Chop/Patties

Potatoes ~ 4 medium
Onion ~ 1 medium chopped fine(about 3/4th of the large ones found here in the US)
Garlic ~ 3 cloves minced
Ginger ~ 1 tbsp minced
Green Chili - 4-5 chopped fine(adjust to taste)
Chopped fresh Corriander leaves ~ 1-2 tbsp if desired

Roasted Cumin Powder or Bhaja Moshla  ~ 2 tsp
Bhaja Moshla -- To make this dry roast 1 Tbsp of cumin seeds, 1 Tbsp of coriander seeds and 2 Dry red Chilli until fragrant. Cool and roast to a powder. Use 2 tsp of this. Store the rest in an airtight spice jar. you can sprinkle it to spice up anything you are making.

Red Chili Powder ~ to taste
Chat Masala - 1/2 tsp
Pink Salt (Beet noon) -- to taste
Salt ~ to taste
Mustard Oil ~ a few drops(optional)

For Batter

Besan/Chickpea Flour ~ 1 cup
Rice Flour ~ 1 tbsp
Baking Powder ~ 1/4 tsp
Salt ~ to taste
Water ~ 3/4 cup

For Frying

Plenty of Vegetable Oil

How I Did It

The Patties

Boil the potatoes thoroughly in a pressure cooker or in a pot of boiling water.Once cooked, drain excess water, peel and let it cool for 30 mins.
Now mash them using your fingers or a masher.
Note: Drain the water well from the potatoes before mashing. The mashed potatoes should not have lumps so make share to mash well

Heat 2 tsp Oil in a Kadhai/Frying Pan. About 1-2 tsp should be fine.

Add the chopped garlic, minced Ginger, the green chillies and the onion.All of these should be chopped real fine so that you do not bite into anything but the potato when eating the chop.

Sauté till the onion wilts and is pinkish brown.

Add all of the masala to the mashed potatoes.

Add the Roasted Cumin powder or Bhaja Moshla, Red Chili Powder, Chat masala to the mashed potatoes.

Add salt and mix the masala well with the potatoes. Add a few drops of Mustard Oil to the potatoes if you want. Taste and check for seasonings and adjust flavor .

Let this cool

Make small balls of the mashed potatoes which is now spiced up with the masalas
Flatten them between your palm and place them on a lightly greased surface. They should be really flat and NOT thick like alu tikki.

Batter and Frying

Make a batter with the ingredients under Make Batter. Add the water gradually as you don’t want the batter to be runny. The batter should be tight as it has to form a coating on the potato patties.

Heat Fresh Oil in Kadhai/Frying Pan. The patties would be deep fried so add enough oil.

Dip the patties in the batter, so that the batter uniformly coats the patties
Gently release the dipped patties in the hot oil and hear the sizzle. Keep heat at medium.

Fry till both sides are golden brown.

Remove with a spoon/chalni which has slots/holes so that the excess oil drains out
Drain excess oil by placing the fried patties on a kitchen towel.

Sprinkle some Chat Masala or kala namak/black Rock salt(beet noon) on the patties while serving

Alu Seddho/Alu Bhaate -- Thanks for Mashed Potatoes

This Thanksgiving I am really thankful that BS does not have a Thanksgiving Feast at school.

Now don't get me wrong. Usually I have no problem with them, the feasts that is. Actually I love feasts more when they are hosted by a third party.

In all her pre-school years, the teacher would put up a sign up sheet behind the door a week before the party and the parents would pick anything from that list to get for the feast. The school was paranoid about food allergy in a good way and no cooked food from home was ever allowed. The list was always always made up of boxed or packaged items, juice, fruits and paper products. The school supplied the rest.

Her school since last year is no less paranoid about food and does not even accept home baked cake etc. for birthdays.

So last year when her teacher sent home a list a week before Thanksgiving with a tick and my name against Mashed Potatoes, I was flummoxed. With despair I looked at the Paper Products, Table Cloth, Juice boxes, Apple slices all there on the list but nary a tick for me on any of them but Mashed Potatoes.

Why me ? I said silently and soon after I said 20 "Hail Marys". I mean shouldn't I be thankful that after all it was only mashed potatoes and not a whole stuffed turkey.

And what after all is Mashed Potatoes ? Nothing but what in Bengali we call Alu Seddho and what I ate for breakfast with rice and ghee for the first eight years of my life until the doctor intervened.

Alu Seddho or Alu Bhaate with a hint of mustard oil, finely chopped red onion and green chili, served with steaming rice, light masoor dal and a spoonful of flavorful ghee is after all every Bengalis comfort food. My Ma could make it with her eyes closed. Why, even my Dad could make it with his eyes open and that speaks volumes about the ease of the dish.If I had doubts about mashed potatoes I would be putting my Bong upbringing to shame.

So I said "Hah" and promptly forgot all about it.

However as the day dawned near I started having my doubts. Logical doubts based on real life. Doubts like would BS's classmate take to mustard oil like fish takes to water ? Was it ok to put finely chopped raw red onion in food served to 20 odd kids, half of whom probably had never seen an onion in life ? What if their parents sued me because the green chili was too hot or the mustard oil caused them to sneeze ?

So, I sent her teacher a mail asking what kind of Mashed Potatoes they preferred, Asian-Indian or American-Indian ?

The teacher said I need not worry too much and I could pick any American recipe.

So, of course I googled and each recipe of mashed potato looked worse than the other. I mean, milk, heavy cream and cream cheese in your mashed potato ? Why would you need two sticks of butter to make a potato taste good, hello, who set up that rule? What was I doing here, trying to teach kids spell O-B-E-S-I-T-Y?

Chop potato in quarters. Boil in pressure cooker or in an open pan. You can also microwave. When the potatoes are done, cool and peel the skin. Mash the potatoes with a masher or your hands. Add few drops of mustard oil, very finely chopped red onion, very finely chopped green chili, salt to taste. Work everything together. Make uneven, rustic looking balls and serve with steaming rice and ghee.

So, there I am again, e-mailing the teacher, asking which exact recipe she wanted me to follow.

Was Alton Brown's mashed potatoes with garlic good enough ? Did she want cream cheese or just milk and butter was fine ? What potatoes did she think would cut the deal, Russet or Yukon Gold ? How many times should I wash my hand and was Bath & Body Anti-bacterial better than Purell ?Did she even know how much a bag of Yukon Gold cost ? I mean, what is wrong with Idaho, I make Alu Seddho with Idaho and they are very good.

At this point I am sure the teacher must have hollered a few choice words at me in confinement of her school's staff room. In a very polite mail, she suggested I just buy mashed potatoes at the super market and send it to school.

Trust me, till that time the e-mail arrived I did not know that they sold mashed potatoes in the Super Market. Yes, mashed potatoes in a tub or in a box, microwaveable and ready to eat. I could see before my eyes, Manju'r ma, my Ma's house help, losing an opportunity to be the next Martha Stewart simply because she did not know to package and market alu seddho. My eyes welled up at the opportunity lost and I cried fat tears right there at one of the aisles in the frozen section of Shop Rite or was it Wegman's.

Ok, I actually cried because there were so much to choose from. I came home with tons of mashed potato boxes, some with sweet potatoes, some with garlic and chive, some plain, some organic, some in tubs while others in flat boxes. The hubby not trusting my choices had made his own detour and came home with boxes which had dehydrated mashed potato flakes. Where do they need that now ? NASA maybe ?

Our dinner table overflowed with boxes of mashed potatoes of all kinds. We finally narrowed down to the kind we thought would serve the school right it's purpose and returned the others. Some for which we lost the receipt stayed in the pantry for the next 6 months till expiration date. Some stayed in the freezer and my Mom made delicious Alu'r chop with them.

And BS claimed she loved mashed potatoes the way her Didun made.

This year I don't remember the exact brand which we had sent to school and I would have to start all over again. But the school authorities had enough of my mails last year and this year second graders are not having a Thanksgiving feast.

Honestly, it is not my fault.

*****************

Ok, and today, at around midnight, I baked this zebra cake from this wonderful blog. The midnight part is not as important as the "I baked" part. It was an easy cake to bake and was quiet good to eat too. I found it a little less sweet for the kids liking so next time I am going to up the sugar. For now I did a cream cheese and chocolate frosting to enhance the sweetness.

Happy ThanksGiving folks, if you are celebrating. If not, just be thankful.

Aloo Methi and Methi in my Dal

I am having a choppy time, not physically but mentally. I always knew I was weird but then I thought everyone was in some way or other so that actually made me normal. Once I knew about hormones I was intelligent enough to assign my weirdness to them of course but the hubby thinks that is just taking advantage of the poor things. What does that have to do with blogging you might ask, nothing but it is just that there are days my interests take a dip and I don’t even want to open Blogger and so you don’t see me around. I still cook and eat though because that keeps me happy. Strange thing is I even take pics of all that food and not even download them. Real world friends (unaware of my blog persona) who happen to peek at them on my camera are convinced I am the weirdest.

Anyway, have you had days when you want go out and eat not because you want to eat something fancy or exotic but just because you are tired to whip up a simple homely meal and that is what you want to eat when you go out. You want to have a decent Indian every day meal and that does not mean a cream laden orange hued paneer butter masala paired with naan and a thick menacing Kali Dhaal. There is nothing wrong with these dishes and they have perfect right to be on the menu card but you go to an Indian restaurant (not a South Indian or Udupi restaurant) in one of USA’s 50 states and chances are you will only see variations of this on the menu.

Why can’t they serve phulkas I ask you, why should it always be Naan or Tandoori Roti ? And why can’t they have simple earthly dishes like alu-methi, bhindi bhaji, a simple toor dal flavored with garlic and red chillies along side the rich cousins? Am I the only one who wants to eat these stuff even if I am eating out or there is a market untapped? As it is there is no Bengali restaurant that I can hog at and there aren’t Indian ones that serve simple North Indian meals either, what is wrong with restaurateurs, I say.

Also the South Indian restaurants serve Thali with side dishes which I do not know the names of but taste like something you would have at a normal South Indian home too. Am I right? Are those dishes same as the ones you would cook for a weekly meal or are they typical special dishes too?

Disgusted with the restaurants and deciding to fend for myself I put the bunch of methi leaves from my Indian Grocery store to good use. I made a Aloo Methi ki Sabji and also added some of the methi leaves to my Dal. Served them with Brown rice cooked in water flavored with Cloves and Cardamom.

Aloo Methi

My Aloo Methi recipe is from here with some slight changes.

Finely pluck (a tedious job) and the wash about a bunch of methi or fenugreek leaves. Then chop them up. Peel and cut about 3 potatoes into small cubes. In a Kadhai/Frying Pan heat the ghee/oil. Temper with 1 tsp cumin seeds followed by half a clove of garlic finely chopped. Add the potatoes, salt, ¼ tsp turmeric powder, 3-4 green chilies and cook till the potatoes are cooked. Keep on stirring it so the potatoes do not get brown. After the potatoes are cooked add the methi (fenugreek) leaves and stir. The leaves will wilt in a couple of minutes. Add about ¼ tsp of Red Chilli Powder and ½ tsp of Kasuri Methi. Stir and cook for about 5-6 minutes. Serve hot.

Red Masoor Dal with Methi Leaves

I made a Red Masoor Dal exactly like my previous recipe here. After frying the onions and tomatoes I added the plucked and chopped methi leaves, sautéed for a couple of minutes and continued with the rest of the steps.

Plain Brown Rice

The Brown Rice, was hated by the husband unless it was a Fried rice he made or the Khichdi, but I am not the one to let go. So to make this rice I boil almost 3 times the water and flavor the water with a pinch of salt, Cardamom, Cloves and Bay Leaves. Cook the rice and drain the excess water. Now he likes the taste he says even if so at gun point.

Lastly Thanks Srivalli and Pooja for passing on such nice awards to me. I know, I know I am not doing tags either but I told you I am weird. For all you wonderful bloggers theres this wonderful music video from Shubha Mudgal featuring Nandita Das. And no I didn't make the video or music, I just loved both so sharing it with you guys.