Love For Food: (Aaita’s) Aloo chop

(Aaita’s) Aloo chop

Vegetable croquette stuffed with a boiled egg!

I owe this one to Aaita (maternal grandma)… she was a real conjurer in the kitchen. Aware that as a child I’d run a mile away from anything green or orange; she devised quite a few ingenious means to make me eat all things that didn’t quite fit my ‘can eat list’. I think my parent’s had given up on that front. But Aaita: she was relentless and more often then not I ate whatever she dished out (the greens, orange bits et al).

Vivid as if it were just yesterday are memories of her fantastic chops. She did a variety of them but the one that I really fancied and I still do (I mean literally) were her aloo chops.

True I loved potatoes (wasn't a big fan of boiled eggs-omelettes were Ok; but absolutely loathed the leaves, carrot, green beans; just to name a few) yet, as a child this one was pretty mystery.… I mean I always knew she’d put in the abhorrent greens and orange things in there … but then the boiled egg: how did it ever get there?

Yes, she made a veggie croquette with a boiled egg inside! And I ate it… not because I’d started life afresh with a super liking for the things in it (particularly the then unmentionable ones) (I wasn't even concerned); but all for the excitement of seeing an egg in the middle of that mash! I think she named it ‘magic cutlet’ or something. And I trusted her.

…. Some 20 odd years latter ; an urge took over me today; to prepare something that invokes her ever presence around me. Her ‘magic cutlet’ ...... it was going to be. With a friend arriving for tea in just about a couple of hours, I needed to get going.

Things that I need:

Potatoes 3 medium

Eggs 2

Green beans 50 gms (finely chopped)

Carrot 50 gms (minced)

Ginger ½ tsp (grated)

Garlic 1 tsp (minced)

Spring Onion 2 tbsp (finely chopped)

Fresh coriander 1 tbsp (finely chopped)

Mint leaves 2, finely chopped

Bread crumbs 6 tbsp

Salt and pepper to season

Garam masala ½ tsp

Plain flour 2 tbsp, mixed well with 50 ml water

Plain flour 1 tbsp for dusting the eggs

Oil 2 tsp

Non-stick flat pan

Method:

Wash and scrub the potatoes. Keep their skin on and boil in a large pot of water. Cook until they are cooked inside-out. Immediately drain water (keeping them soaked in water will make the mash go soggy) and once cool, peel skin off. Keep aside

At the same time, lower the eggs into a pot of salted water and boil them for around 8 minutes. They should be well done. Once boiled, drain and run cold water on the eggs. De-shell and keep aside.

In a bowl, make a mix of the plain flour and water. Spread the bread crumbs on a platter. Keep handy a little flour to dust the eggs. Keep these aside for the time being.

Heat a little vegetable oil and slightly sweat the mince vegetables (French beans and carrots); tip them into a large mixing bowl. To that, grate the boiled potatoes. Add salt, pepper, garam masala, fresh coriander, mint leaves and amalgamate well.

Dust the boiled eggs with a little flour. This will help the veggie mash to stick onto it.

Take about 40 gm of the potato-veggie mix. Shape it like a disk using your palms. Place the boiled egg in the centre of the disk and work with your hands to envelope the egg with this mash. As an when you need more mash, go ahead and add it in. Work with your palms and fingers to get an even ball shaped croquette. Repeat the same with the other egg. Just make sure that there are no cracks on the surface of the croquette.

Now lower the croquettes into the plain flour water mix… quickly dabble it in that and then roll them in the bread crumbs.

Heat 1 tsp oil in a non-stick flat pan/skillet and roast the croquettes. Roll it around the pan carefully to get an even golden brown tinge.

Done! Serve immediately. Great as a tea time snack.