ALOO CHOP / ALOO BONDA RECIPE

Aloo Chop / Aloo Bonda is a popular evening street snack allover India made with mashed potatoes and besan coating. It is a deep fried snack and can be served along with any choice of spicy chutney or tomato ketchup sauces. It is also served in almost all tiffin centers and resturants for evening snacks along with a cup of tea or coffee.

INGREDIENTS:

FOR ALOO MASALA:

• 3 tsp oil
• ¼ tsp Mustard seeds
• ¼ tsp Jeera / Cumin
• 1 tsp Urad dal
• ½ onion, sliced
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 green Chilies chopped
• 2 pinches saunf / fennel seeds crushed (optional)
• ¼ tsp turmeric
• ½ tsp kashmiri red chilli powder
• ¼ tsp coriander powder
• ¼ tsp cumin powder
• ½ tsp chaat masala
• Some groundnuts
• 3 potato, boiled & mashed
• Salt to taste
• Lemon juice optional
• 1 spring curry leaves chopped
• 2 tbsp coriander leaves optional

FOR BATTER:

• 1 cup Besan / gram flour
• 2 tbsp Rice flour
• ¼ tsp kashmiri red chilli powder
• ¼ tsp turmeric
• ¼ tsp ajwain
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• ¼ cup water
• Oil for frying

METHOD:

• Firstly, in a large pan, heat 3 tsp oil and add dal, mustard, cumin. Fry until the dal turns golden.
• Next add the chopped onion, salt, curry leaves and green chilies and saute until the onions turn golden brown.
• Also, add 1 tsp ginger garlic paste and turmeric, chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, saunf powder and chaat masala. Saute on low flame. Add the groundnuts and fry for some time.
• Further, add 3 boiled and mashed potato and mix well. Sprinkle lemon juice and coriander leaves.
• Cool this and make 6 – 8 small balls.

   Making batter:

• Add besan, rice flour, salt, chilli powder, turmeric, ajwain and baking powder to a large mixing bowl.
• Pour enough water little by little and mix it well to make a batter that is neither too thin nor too thick. Beat the batter well.
• Dip the aloo balls in besan batter and coat uniformly.
• Deep fry in hot oil, stirring occasionally till the aloo chop turns golden brown and drain off over kitchen paper.

Finally, enjoy aloo chop with green chutney.

• Bonda has a sweet and a spicy variant. Keralites prefer the sweet one called SUGIYAN, while the savoury version is common in the rest of India. The major difference of taste lies with use of different ingredients and masala used for the preparation of the potato stuffing.
• A similar Maharastrian version is known as BATATA VADA used as stuffing in bada pav.
• Mashed potato can be replaced with mashed topioca or sweet potato to make TOPIOCA BONDA, which is a version in Kerala or with boiled vegetables like potato, cabbage, carrot, green peas and french bean to make VEGETABLE BONDA, a snacks of Udupi cuisine.