Motka Halwai’s Alu-ka-Tarkari, That Sunday Morning Runny Potato Curry

I like to role-play in my kitchen. When I am not playing Nigella, I play more realistic characters, like Motka Halwai, the neighbourhood sweet-maker from my life in Patna.

No one knew his name. Perhaps he had a sexy name like Raj, or Rohan, or Shahrukh. But somehow those names do not quite go with his personality or the way he looked like. Hence, we shall call him Motka Halwai (Hindi for Fat Sweet-maker).

Motka Halwai was 300 kilos of pure adipose. Dripping sweat in his shabby dhoti and ganji-vest, which probably had seen whiter days.  Sitting cross-legged on a wooden platform, which did not quite look like it could withstand the beast of burden any longer. Rolling out hundreds of kachoris every morning, ladling piping hot alu-ka-tarkari in tiny sal-leaf bowls. Dextrously making crispy, spiralled jalebis, dripping with sugar syrup. That is a picture I have lived with for the last three decades. And it has been a torture of sorts.

Motka Halwai was my childhood superhero. He possibly is the only superhero with the underwear in place.

I can say that I have been successfully been able to replicate his alu-ka-tarkari taste here in TO, with some long-distance help from the Mother.

Ingredients for Motka Halwai’s Alu-ka-Tarkari are:

8-10 medium size potatoes, halved and cut into quarters, retain the skin
2-3 tablespoons chana dal/Bengal gram, soaked in water for a couple of hours and sieved
One tablespoon coriander powder
Half teaspoon red chilli powder
One teaspoon turmeric powder
One teaspoon panch phoron (five whole spices mixed together in equal quantities – celery seeds, fennel seeds, cumin, Nigella seeds and fenugreek seeds)
5-6 dry whole red chillies
2-3 tablespoons mustard oil
One and a half cups water
Salt

Start by heating oil in a pressure pan. Add the whole dry red chillies and panch phoron seeds. Let them splutter for a few seconds.

Add the quartered potatoes and the chana dal and mix well. Cook these ingredients for about 4-5 minutes on medium heat. Now add the coriander powder, red chilli powder and turmeric and mix everything up. Cook for 3-4 minutes.

Add water and salt. Bring to a boil and pressure cook till 1-2 whistles go off.

Serve Motka Halwai’s runny potato curry with kachoris or luchi. You can also fantasize about his absolutely indomitable waist circumference. It is pretty exciting if you mix it with the idea of a man cooking for you.

Calcutta Churmur Chaat

There are two things you need to have to enjoy street food in India – stomach and attitude. One thing that I can eat any time of the day is phuchka. I am not selling myself high when I say I can out-eat myself each time I have phuchka. I know there is nothing elegant about opening your mouth wiiiiiiiide and eating phuchka if you have people staring at you. There comes your attitude, I know my husband would quip!

But even street food can have its share of style. To add a touch of health and elegance to leftover phuchka, try making this Churmur Chaat. The word “churmur” literally means a crunch sound usually made inside your mouth! “Chaat” is Hindi for a medley of ingredients ranging from fresh or boiled fruits and vegetables predominantly potato, cooked chickpeas, black gram, or sprouts, a commonly used garnish of fresh coriander, green chilies, red onions, and a bevy of spices and chutneys. Chaat usually has a mix of sweet and savory taste to it. Often served with a dash of cool yogurt drizzling all over it!

Eating chaat in India is undoubtedly an unforgettable experience - watching the chaat wala scoop, pinch and ladle out each ingredient. You look at him all mesmerized as he “assembles” everything with the right balance of spices, and plates out the most delectable, colorful assortment of ingredients neatly lined in his push cart or small “redi”.

Since I cannot travel to India each time I have a chaat-urge, which is pretty much every other day, here is how I make Churmur Chaat at home!

Ingredients for Churmur Chaat are:

2 medium size potatoes, boiled
Quarter cup black gram, soaked overnight and boiled
Quarter cup green moong, sprouted overnight and boiled
1 small red onion, finely chopped
Handful of cilantro, finely chopped
4-5 green chilies, finely chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon tamarind pulp
2 teaspoons bhaja moshla (dry roasted cumin and coriander seeds, roughly crushed)
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1 teaspoon Chaat masala
Half teaspoon black salt
8-10 readymade gol gappas
Roughly slice the boiled potatoes in a bowl, add the boiled green moong and black gram. Add the chopped onions, green chilies, and cilantro.
In a small bottle, add the tamarind pulp, lemon juice, red chili powder, bhaja moshla, chaat masala, black salt and very little water. Shake well to get some citrus action going. This is the instant chutney I make to drizzle over the chaat.
Pour this chutney over the potato mixture and mix well. Check on the seasoning and make necessary adjustments. I like to have a a good balance of tang and heat in my Churmur Chaat.

Just before you are about to serve, crush gol gappas between your the palms of your hand, and lavishly top the potato and spice mixture. Do not mix. The phuchka wala in India will usually use broken phuchkas or the ones which haven’t fluffed up.

Serve immediately as the wet ingredients will turn the crushed phuchkas/ gol gappas soggy.

Someone very wise once rightly said, this is how you experience an explosion of taste and texture in your mouth on the streets of Bengal. And that someone is me!

Isn't it a thing of beauty – the Calcutta Churmur Chaat waiting to happen! From my kitchen to yours…bring home street food.

Alu Chorchodi ‘R Luchi

I had to write this post. I owed this to the many people who read distorted Bengali recipes on the Internet.

This is the easiest thing you can do with some potatoes. A quick sautéing of Nigella seeds and cubed potatoes, cooked with slit green chilies. Nigella seeds or kalonji is surprisingly the only spice which goes into the making of the Alu Chorchodi (Potato Mishmash).

A Chorchodi is never quite the same in any Bengali home. Its essentially a non-intrusive side eaten for lunch. A toned down version of a one ingredient chorchodi also makes way for breakfast or jolkhabar (evening snack) in many traditional Bengali homes, mostly accompanied with luchi or porotha.

A Chorchodi can be made with fresh greens like pui shaak, palong shaak (spinach), or kumdo pata (pumpkin leaves), along with a fish head (rohu or ilish) thrown in.

A vegetarian chorchodi is a medley of roughly chopped vegetables like potato, pumpkin, radish, carrot, flat beans, eggplant, drumsticks, and cauliflower. Its often high on its nutritive value; albeit by Bengali standards.

Unlike some modern home-cook’s versions, it is NOT a curry and there shouldn’t be any runny gravy in it. The thing about a good  chorchodi is its thick consistency.

I made this Alu Chorchodi with two large potatoes, some green peas, slit green chilies and Nigella seeds, cooked in mustard oil. Some people usually garnish it with freshly chopped coriander, I left that out today.

2 large potatoes
4-5 green chilies, slit lengthwise
Half cup green peas (optional)
Half teaspoon Nigella seeds
1 tablespoon mustard oil
Salt

In a pan, heat mustard oil, sauté the Nigella seeds for a few seconds. Add the slit green chilies, let them pop before adding the cubed potatoes. Fry the potatoes but do not brown them.

Whether they are mashed, stashed or fried, all potatoes need two things – seasoning and moisture. Add salt to taste and pour enough water so that the cubes of potato are drenched. Add the green peas. Cover and cook till the potatoes get mushy between your fingers. And all that water has evaporated. I served this Alu Chorchodi with some hot Luchi and shredded mango pickle (sweet).
Homemade goodness on a plate. That’s why I believe that simple things make you the happiest. But please do not call an Alu Chorchodi a Potato Gratin. That Bengali in me will beat the *beep* out of you. I promise.

Pub Style Fries @ Home

For years potatoes have been misrepresented. But don’t underestimate the “lowly” potatoes. With the exception of Vitamin A, potatoes pretty much have all the nutrients, especially in its raw form, like the much needed  Vitamin C. But then we don’t eat them raw. We love to bake and boil them. Or deep fry them, the surest way to turn them into salty bites which never fail to touch our taste spuds.

Since my Blog is not about medical advice or the character of vegetables, I will go back to doing what I do well. Well…reasonably well! Sharing with you a recipe I learnt and tried out myself.

These Fries may look like your usual fare from fast food joints, but wait till you see that there is a culinary process and technique involved too! A Chef from a local pub shared this three-step fry-making process, here is how!

Step One:

• Peel and cut potatoes for fries
• Wash them thoroughly with cold water to drain off all that starch
• Blanch the potatoes in water for about 5-7 minutes
• Drain in a colander and put in an ice bath, to stop the cooking process
  

Step Two:

• Let the potatoes cool
• Put in a closed plastic box and in the fridge for 30 minutes (or until frying)
  

Step Three:

• Heat vegetable oil in a wok
• Start deep frying the cold potato strips till they get a nice golden color
• Season with salt and pepper
• Drain excess oil on a paper towel
• Serve hot!
  There you have them – a socially contagious side for that dinner tonight. 
  I served the crispy fries with some Jerk Chicken and fresh salad.
  

Ek Plate Alu Tikki Chaat

Nobody has the right to mess with my Alu Tikki Chaat, not even the fat lady at the famous chaat shop in Little India. All I wanted was a plate of warm tikki chaat which would remind me of home. What I got instead was a plate of hardboiled chickpeas floating along ONE small, soggy potato pattie. Yes just one. And a tag of a whopping $8 for that plate of *beep*.

The desi chokri (that’s my husband’s nick for me) that I am, I wanted value for money. And all the love and care that goes into making a plate of chaat back home. This is not acceptable. I decided then to take matters in my own hands, and in my own kitchen.

Here is how I transformed potatoes and chickpeas into a mouth watering plate of heavenly, homemade Alu Tikki Chaat.

The ingredients are:

For the chickpea/ chhole:
2 cups chickpeas soaked overnight
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Boil the chickpeas in enough water with all the ingredients. Let them get mushy before you stop cooking. Breaking the chickpeas down with a ladle is also a good idea.

For the patties:
4-5 boiled potatoes
Half tablespoon corn starch
2 teaspoon chopped coriander
2 teaspoon chopped green chilies
Vegetable oil
Salt
Peel the boiled potatoes, mash and add all the ingredients and mix well. Make balls (golf ball-size), flatten to make patties. Heat a non stick skillet/ frying pan and place the patties on it. Let both sides get nicely browned. I like my patties crispy, so I brown for a few more minutes. Add a few drops of oil around the patties. Let it brown nicely on low-medium heat. Keep aside.
 
For the garnish:
Half cup beaten plain yogurt
1 small red onion very finely chopped
2-3 green chilies finely chopped
2 tablespoon finely chopped coriander
Few drops of lemon juice
Tamarind-jaggery chutney (I make it at home)
2 teaspoon Bhaja Moshla (equal quantities of cumin and coriander seeds dry roasted and coarsely ground)
1/4 teaspoon red chili powder
1/4 teaspoon chaat masala
1/4 teaspoon black salt

For plating:
First go the potato patties on a small dish. Drench them with the boiled chickpeas. Drizzle some beaten yogurt and the tamarind-jaggery chutney. Add the chopped coriander, onions, and green chilies. Top the chaat with all the dry spices and a few drops of lemon juice.
If you can handle all the spices and the heat, do not be skimpy with the garnish.

Serve the Alu Tikki Chaat, literally translated as Potato Patties Chaat, while its warm!
You will be surprised how you can completely turn some plain potatoes and chickpeas into a happy hour of homemade heartiness. (Strange fit of alliteration that!)