Happy Holi

Enchor er Dalna -- green jackfruit curry

I made enchor er dalna two weekends back. The basic recipe is same as my old one but it has been worked on and the rough edges polished over the years with helpful tips from the Mater.

This one was a hit with my non-Bong friend who fondly remembers "kathal" but has never dared the canned ones in the US. The canned jackfruit as I have said has a salty-sour undertone because of all that brine. I do wash in several changes of water and soak the pieces in fresh water overnight but even then the briny taste lingers.

You should really use the fresh ones if you can get some. Incidentally I did see fresh green jacfruit at the Indian grocers here but I have no clue or desire to chop a whole jackfruit, so there.

This time I tossed the jackfruit pieces with red chili powder, a little cumin powder and fried them with a sprinkle of sugar. This is how one of my Ma's house help would do it back home and though I never tasted it, Ma says it would make the curry more delicious. With fresh raw jackfruit, you can skip this step or do it without the sugar.

I also fried the onions and then made a paste instead of making a paste of raw onions. This makes the curry more rich and delicious than regular.

I have updated the old recipe with Notes of my changes. So please go there if you have plans to cook up a delicious enchor dalna for the weekend.

The realization how fragile and powerless we are in the hands of nature kept me away from food this week.

Will be back next week.

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