Vegetable Chop ( Bengali Style Vegetable Cutlet )

Today I will share a mouthwatering street food of Kolkata called Vegetable Chop. The city of joy is known for its delicious street food like Jhal Muri (puffed rice mixed with other ingredients), Phuchka, Singara/Samosa and different kinds of deep fried cutlets. Vegetable chop belongs to the category of cutlets, a fusion of the British and Indian food styles.  Many of the snacks that you get in cities in Kolkata  like Cutlets and chops – crumbed and fried – are among the Anglo-Indian dishes that are now very much a part of our own cuisine.

Vegetable Chop is nothing but a vegetarian version of cutlet. The filling is a combination of mashed potato and some winter vegetables like, carrot, beetroot and peas.  In Indian cuisine, a cutlet specifically refers to cooked meat or vegetable stuffing that is fried with a batter/covering. At first vegetable itself is cooked with spices and then it’s dipped in an egg mix and then in breadcrumbs and fried in vegetable oil.

The Kolkata street food crossed boundaries and entered into regular party menus, starting from wedding to birthday parties. In our childhood days, we used to see that when there was a small gathering at home, the most common snack that used to be served with tea was vegetable chop. We knew that we would get at least half piece of the same once others are done. Being a non-resident Bengali, I miss these street foods a lot and try to make as regular as possible for different pot-luck parties with our close friends. Some of our family friends are very fond of my vegetable chops and sometimes I have to make some extra for them. Tomorrow we are going to have snacks party for the grand super bowl event in one of our friend’s home and I thought this would be the perfect crowd-pleasing finger food from my side.

Recipe of Vegetable Chop ( Bengali Style Vegetable Cutlet ) for 16 to 18 pieces Chops 

Ingredients :

For Stuffing :

Carrot : 3 medium 

Beetroot : 2 medium 

Potato : 3 large 

Peas (frozen or fresh ) : 1/2 cup 

Onion : 1 medium size, finely chopped 

Ginger : grated , 1 tablespoon 

Cumin powder : 1 teaspoon.

Green chillies : 2 or 3 chopped 

Roasted half peanuts : 2 tablespoon 

Golden Raisins : 2 tablespoons ( optional )

Salt : to taste 

For Roasted Spice powder ( Bhaja Masla ) :

Whole Cumin : 1 and half tablespoon 

Whole Red chili : 1 

For Coating :

Egg : one  

or 

Corn flour : 4 to 5 tablespoon (If you want to avoid egg use corn flour )

Breadcrumbs : 1 cup and more ( if needed ) 

Oil for deep frying 

Method :

1. Peel and cut the potato and beetroot in halves. Peel the carrot too and Wash everything. Cook the vegetables till they are tender. I used pressure cooker. If you are using pressure cooker, add all the vegetables, add one cup of water and salt to the pressure cooker. Cook on medium heat and wait for 3 whistles. Let the pressure cooker cool down, open the lid and drain the water. 

2. Mash the vegetables coarsely, add the peas to it and set it aside. 

3. For roasted spice powder, dry roast the cumin seeds and the red chili. Once nice aroma comes up, turn off the heat. Let it cool down and grind it to a powder. 

4. Take a pan, add 2 tablespoons of oil and heat it up. Add chopped onion and fry it till the color changes to golden brown. Add salt and add grated ginger. Keep stirring for couple of minutes. Add green chillies, add cumin powder and cook. 

5. Add the mashed vegetables. Stir and mix in everything. Add salt and saute the vegetable mixture till the excess water dries up and leaving the sides. If needed add one or two tablespoons of breadcrumbs for binding.

6. Add roasted spice powder, roasted half peanuts and raisins. Mix thoroughly. 

7. When the mixture cools down, divide it into 16 to 18 equal portions. Now give them oblong or oval shape. 

8. Make a thin batter with corn four and water.  ( Or make egg wash. )

9. Dip the chop / croquette in above mix, roll it in breadcrumbs, until it gets a nice coat all over it.

10. Take a dip frying pan, add enough oil for frying. When the oil is smoking hot, lower the flame to medium high and fry them in small batches till they are golden brown on the both sides. Remove with slotted spoon and place it on a paper towel to drain excess oil. 

11. Sprinkle some black salt ( beet nun ) and serve hot with some ketchup and a salad ( sliced cucumber and onion) . 

• If you want to bake your cutlet instead of deed frying, check the procedure here Baked Cutlet. 

Related Posts :

Baked Fish Chop

Chicken Croquette ( Mangsher Chop )

Bengali Fish Fry

Egg Devil ( Dimer Chop ) .. Click for recipe

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Chicken Croquettes ( Bengali Style Chicken Chop )

For long time I had a dream to spend a weekend in an ocean side resort and enjoy with my family. Finally my husband gave me a surprise on president’s day long weekend and we went to a resort in a place called Palos Verdes near Los Angeles. After spending those pampering days, when we came back on Monday and we had a get together with some family friends at our residence. This time I cooked some new stuffs and taken photographs but there were no time to write the recipe and share with you. 

 

Starting this week I am slowly coming back to my old routine and hope would be able to maintain the pace. Today I am going to share a yummy snack, a popular street food of Calcutta and eastern part of India. If you visit the city, you would find hundreds of road-side vendors are selling this kind of snack. The formal name of this dish is Chicken Croquettes, commonly known as Chicken chop or chicken cutlet. The word Croquette has come from the French word "Croquer" that means to crunch.

Croquette is a small deep fried food that usually contains mashed potatoes or ground meet (goat, beef, chicken or turkey), fish, cheese or vegetables as filling. The Croquette is usually shaped like a cylinder, disk or oval shape.First dip the filling in egg wash, roll in bread crumbs and finally deep fry in hot oil. If you want to avoid deep-frying, you can bake them too at oven. The Bengali version can be of different types, both veg and non-veg. Potatoes, mixed vegetables, banana flowers are very commonly used as a filling when it is vegetarian. On the other hand fish (macher chop), minced mutton (mansher Chop) are very popular as non-vegetarian croquettes. Whether it’s veg or non-veg, each variety of croquettes has a distinctive taste and texture. Once they are cooked, become quite crispy on the outside but remains soft inside, very tempting as an appetizer or a party snack. Generally it is served with tomato ketchup or with your choice of dip and with onion rings and some salads. 

Recipe of Chicken Croquettes ( Bengali Style Chicken Chop ) : for 10 pieces 

Ingredients : 

Boneless Chicken breast : 1 lb / 500 g ( boiled and shredded )

Onion : a big one, finely chopped 

Ginger paste : 1 teaspoon

Garlic paste : 1 tablespoon

Tomato : a small one chopped 

Green chilies : as per tolerance (if you want to avoid green chilies, you can use black pepper powder or red chili powder.)

Coriander powder : 1 teaspoon 

Potato : 1 medium sized, boiled 

Green Cardamom : 2 

Cinnamon stick : 1 inch

Cloves : 2 

Salt : 

Egg : 1

Breadcrumbs : 1 cup 

Oil : for deep frying 

Method :

1. Take a big pan, heat it up and add 2-3 tablespoon oil. Once oil is hot, add cardamoms, cinnamon stick, cloves to it. Once they are fragrant, discard them from oil.

2. Add the chopped onion to the pan, saute it till it changes the color to light brown, add ginger and garlic. Stir it, cook until the raw smell goes off. Add the chopped tomato to the pan, sprinkle some salt. Cook it till the tomato becomes soft and smashed. 

3. Add coriander powder and green chilies. Stir it and mix it, till oil starts separating from the sides of the pan.

4. Add the boiled and shredded chicken. Mix it nicely with the spices and keep stirring for 4 to 5 minutes. Add the potato, smashed it with a spatula and mix well with chicken-spice mixture. 

5. Give some stirs, until the mixture is well combined. Check the seasoning, add salt or chilies if needed. Turn off the gas, now filling is ready. 

6. Divide the mixture into 10 equal balls, give them shape like a cylinder, disk or oval. 

7. In a small bowl, whisk the egg with 2 tablespoon of water and on an another flat dish, spread the breadcrumbs. 

8. Take a ball first dip into the egg mixture, then roll it on the breadcrumbs until it gets a nice coat all over it. Do the same process for the rest of the balls. 

9. Now take a deep frying pan, add oil and heat it up. Once oil is ready, deep fry the balls in two batches on medium-high heat until they are evenly golden brown on both sides. 

10. Take out them from oil and place it on a paper towel to absorb the excess oil. Chicken Croquettes ( Bengali Style Chicken Chop) are ready to serve. Serve hot with tomato ketchup or with your choice of dip and with onion rings and some salads. 

Note :

 If you want to avoid deep frying, you can bake them too. To bake the Chicken Croquette after 8th step, take a baking sheet, grease it with non stick spray. Place the Chicken balls on it and nicely spray with non stick spray. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F or 200 degrees C, bake them until they are evenly golden brown on both sides. In between check it, turn the other side and again spray lightly with non stick cooking spray. It takes approximately 5 to 7 minutes for each side to be done. To see the baking process in detail you can check this recipe too ( Baked Tuna Cutlet )

The same recipe, you can try with minced goat meat, or beef or lamb. 

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