A simple niramish street food recipe from Odisha, that anyone can follow. Seasoned mashed potatoes balls dipped in chickpea flour/besan batter and then deep fried to perfection. Enjoy these slightly crispy from outside and soft from inside cutlets as your evening snack with a cup of tea or coffee.

Spicy potato croquettes. A popular street food in Odisha and Bengal served with some chopped onion and some chutney.

Spicy potato croquettes deep fried in a chickpea flour batter.

Spicy potato fritters. A popular Vegan street food in Odisha and Bengal.

Table of Contents

WHAT IS ALOO CHOP?

“Aloo” means potato, and the word “chop” means a small cutlet fritters or croquette in Odia.

Aloo Chop is an Indian fried snack made with boiled potatoes and various spices. If you have ever been to the Eastern part of India – Odisha and West Bengal, you will find these yummy potato cutlets being sold as street food on every nook and corner.

Seasoned potato croquettes coated with a thick chickpea flour batter and then deep fried into perfection. Slightly crispy from outside and soft from inside, each bite will give you that spicy kick, you are looking for!

The Oriya style Aloo chop recipe is made in the same way as Maharashtrian Batata vada. Though in this recipe, the use of spices simpler. There is also no onion or garlic used in this recipe, making them niramish.

WHY YOU WILL LOVE THIS RECIPE

Great as a snack made with pantry ingredients
Best use of leftover boiled or mashed potatoes.
Can be air fried
Can be used as a patty for sandwiches
Vegan
This recipe doesn’t have onion or garlic making them Niramish aloo chop.
batter-coated potato stuffed fritter dumplings.

INGREDIENTS USED TO MAKE ODIA STYLE ALOO CHOP

POTATOES:

I have used 3 medium sized potatoes

GREEN CHILIES

Used 3 green chilies. Since potatoes are bland, a little spice can elevate the flavors.

BESAN/CHICKPEA FLOUR

This is needed for making a flour batter to dip the potato balls. Chickpea flour/besan is available in Indian stores. You can also use Bob’s Red Mill chickpea flour from major American grocery stores.

RICE FLOUR

This is required to make the aloo chop batter crispier. You can substitute corn flour for rice flour

CUMIN POWDER, CORIANDER POWDER, TURMERIC, SALT, GARAM MASALA

These are the seasonings used to make the rice fritters spicier.

VEGETABLE OIL

You will need vegetable oil for deep frying the aloo chops

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS

BOIL THE POTATOES

I have boiled the potatoes in a pan on stove top. You can use an Instant pot or a pressure cooker.

Wash and peel the potatoes. Cut them into small pieces so that they boil faster on stove top. The potatoes have to be cooked well and to check their doneness, slide a fork through the center of the potatoes and it should slid smoothly without any resistance.
Remove the potatoes and let them become cool.
Once cooled, mash the potatoes smooth. Keep aside.

MAKE THE ALOO CHOP STUFFING

In a nonstick pan, heat 3 tbsp oil
Add 1/2 tsp mustard seeds and 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
Add 1 tsp ginger paste and 2 finely chopped chilies and 2 spoons of peanuts. Sauté on low heat for 2 minutes.
Add 1 chopped tomato, salt, turmeric, cumin powder, and coriander powder, and keep cooking on low heat till tomatoes are cooked through and the base is prepared. This will take approximately 7 to 8 minutes on low to medium heat.
Add the mashed potatoes to the tomato base and mix thoroughly.
Cook on low heat for 5 to 6 minutes. Switch off the heat and add 2 tbsp chopped cilantro. Mix well.
Once the potato stuffing is cool down, make small to medium-sized potato balls from them. Keep aside.

ALOO CHOP BATTER

While the aloo/potato stuffing is cooling. lets prepare the besan batter.

In a big bowl, take 1 cup besan. Add 2 tablespoon rice flour, 1 tsp turmeric and 1 tsp salt.
Now add 1/3 cups water in batches. Make sure that the batter isn’t too runny nor too thick. It should be a little thicker than the pancake batter.

FRYING THE ALOO CHOPS

Time to make aloo chops in Odisha style

Heat oil in a kadhai/deep bottomed pan

NOTE – To test if the oil is hot enough, add a small spoon of the batter in the oil. If the batter comes up steadily on top of the oil, the oil is ready for frying.

2. Dip a potato ball in the besan batter and drop it carefully into the hot oil.

3. Fry the aloo chops on medium flame.

4. When one side is light golden and lightly crisp, then turn them over with a slotted spoon and fry the second side.

5. Again turn them over when the second side is light golden or golden.

NOTE – Line your platter with a kitchen paper towel before placing the aloo chops on it. The paper towel will absorb extra oil.

Enjoy these spicy Odia style aloo chop with some masala chai

HOW TO SERVE ALOO CHOP

Aloo chop is served with a side of chopped onion and some spicy dipping sauce.

TIPS & TRICKS

The fried Potato Chops, can be frozen for days. Defrost the cutlets before reheating in a toaster oven or microwave.
While mashing the potatoes to prepare the potato chop dough, make sure that there is very little moisture.
The aloo chops can be shaped in whatever shapes you wish.
While deep frying the aloo chops, deep fry in a low to medium flame till they are golden in color.
rice flour handy, you can use corn flour.
Whisk besan batter for 2-3 minutes, so air particles incorporate into it and help to make fluffy aloo chop.
The leftover besan batter can be used to make onion pakoras. Add some chopped onion into the batter and deep fry a spoonful of the mixture to have a hot and spicy onion pakoda.