We had reached an impasse for lunch yesterday. I wanted alu bhaaja (fried potatoes) to go with daal, rice and ilish bhaaja. K wanted alu posto (potatoes in poppy seeds) which I am bit tired off.
Then I saw a tweet from @madhumita whom I first met at the Koli Fish Festival recently. The tweet said “making aloo chokha. mashed potato with caramelised onions. perfect with muger daal bhat”.
I got my answer. Improvised a bit. Briefed Bunkin Banu who wasn’t bunkin for a change. And here you have, a very easy and tasty dish. As someone told me yesterday, potato is rich in vitamin C. And as I always say, God ran out of ideas in vegetables after he created potatoes. One of his best works.
So here’s my recipe for alu chhok:
Prep:
- Boil 4 potatoes in a pressure cooker. Peel. Half and keep
Cook:
- Heat oil in a pan. 1 tablespoon will do
- Add some Nigella Seeds or kaalo jeere
- One the seeds crackle and the oil splutters, add a tablespoon of finely chopped onions
- One this turns translucent add two split green chillies and one dry red chillies
- Then add the potatoes and half a teaspoon of salt
- Use a ladle and smash and mash the potatoes
- See that the Nigella seeds and chillies spread into the potatoes
- Switch of the flame once bits of the potato browns and becomes a tad crisp
- Top with a bit of fresh chopped coriander leaves
That’s it. Made for a great Saturday afternoon lunch. Kainaz and I both loved it.
Nigella seeds and coriander make it Bengali. If you don’t have these then you can use whole mustard seeds and curry leaves to to give it a South or West Indian feel. Add the curry leaves to the oil in the beginning then
