East Indian Potato Chops
By: Beverley Ann D'Cruz
Published: Saturday, January 30, 2010 - 1:31am

Ingredients




2 1/4 cups potatoes, boiled, skinned and mashed smooth with salt
250 grams (1/2 pound) ground beef
4 large onions, chopped finely
2 green chillies, deseeded and chopped finely
6 garlic cloves, chopped finely
1 inch fresh ginger, chopped finely
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped finely
1 tablespoon fresh mint, chopped finely
juice of one lime
oil for frying
breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten lightly
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1 Heat a teaspoon of oil in a frying pan and add the chopped onions. Fry the onions until they caramelise lightly. 2 Then add the ginger, garlic, green chillies and continue to fry the mixture until fragrant, about two to three minutes. 3 Turn up the heat. Now add the ground beef, salt and pepper to taste and fry the meat until browned lightly. Lower the heat and continue to cook the meat until all the water released has evaporated. When cooked through, remove from the heat and toss with the herbs and lemon juice. Set aside to cool until needed. 4 Take a portion of the cooled mashed potato (about the size of a ping pong ball) and flatten it to form the shape of your palm (it should be about ¼ inch thick). If the potato is too sticky, grease your palm with some oil. Cup your palm a little to form a pocket. 5 Add a tablespoon and a half of the cooled meat mixture to the centre of the flattened potato pocket. Enclose the filling by drawing up the sides of the potato and cover the filling completely so no minced meat is visible. Continue the same process with the rest of the mashed potato and mince. 6 Heat a generous amount of oil in a wide frying pan. Roll each of the potato chops in some egg and then breadcrumbs before frying until the each potato chop is golden brown. 7 Serve hot with a side salad or home-made chilli sauce

About


Potato chops, an East Indian speciality of mashed potato stuffed with delicately spiced beef mince is one of my mother’s signature dishes. As I currently live abroad in Dubai, UAE, it is often one of the first things I request my mother to make when I return home on vacation to Bombay, India. One of the best memories my sister and I have is of my mother using these as a weapon against my father when they just had a fight. No she didn’t throw them at him. Since they were usually not speaking to each other, my father refused to eat any food prepared by my mother and would resort to cooking his own meals. Of course for my sister and me it meant twice the amount of food and we weren’t complaining. However, when the cold war went on for more than a day or two my mother would turn to making potato chops to put an end to it. And that is one thing my father couldn’t resist – yes, the chops are that good. Of course my father wouldn’t touch any of them during the day when they were just prepared. After my mum had packed them away for the night he would then have a midnight feast. The next day my mother would check the storage container and triumphantly take note there were a couple missing. And that was the truce. When they faced each other that day, they used to smile, kiss and make up. I recently found a recipe for Kubbat Potato in The Iraqi Cookbook by Lamees Ibrahim. In brackets underneath the title it read 'potaita chap'. The recipe was similar to the way my mother makes the potato chops, except for the use of parsley and addition of flaked almonds. The pictures were virtually interchangeable. The biggest question I had was - had we East Indians borrowed it from them or were they inspired by us? Either way here’s my mother’s recipe, which I have finally learnt to make after years of watching her and complaining it is too tedious. Now I just have to get my own husband addicted to them.

Comments:
Deborah Barnett

how many does this make? 4 large onions seems like a lot!
Beverley Ann D'Cruz

Hey Deborah,
It is quite a bit but helps create a nice deep flavour base for the minced meat. The onions cook down as they caramelise, which is why my mother always starts out with a large amount of onions.
The recipe makes about 12 to 14, depending on the size.
Hope that helps.
Deborah Barnett

That does help - thank you. And don't get me wrong... I do love me some onions! ;o)
Have you seen my curry hummus recipe? If you like Indian flavors.. you would like this. I have friends who are Indian and they LOVE this....
Deborah Barnett

ooops.... just realized I haven't uploaded that to Foodista yet. You can find it here > http://debsperfectbite.com/2009/04/22/curry-hummus-naan-bread/
Beverley Ann D'Cruz

The hummus does sound yum!
ninveh

India and Iraq have had very strong influence with each other when it comes to cuisine. I'm Iraqi myself and we make food very identical to Indians ( which I believe we borrowed from Indians) Chicken qorma, Biryani, Rice pudding, Qeema, Wheat balls in yogurt, Loubia.... Baghdad was the top notch Bazaar a long time ago we had any merchants and sellers from all over the Eastern world. Spices from Egpyt and India came through Iraq. Love the recipe!
Sandylc

Made these last night.  Also thought that 4 large onions seemed really wrong.  Used one.  My chops turned out delicious and looked just like the photo; however, I had a LOT of leftover filling, because I only had enough potatoes (yes, measured the correct amount of them) to make 8 of them!
Carl

Firstly ive never heard of anything like it , so I gave it a try.
Secondly I followed your recipie guide and cooking technique , it turned out fantastic.
Finally as im a chilli freak I added extra chillies & it blew my friends head off & minds.  Top recipie Thanks , keep em coming
Carl

Firstly ive never heard of anything like it , so I gave it a try.
Secondly I followed your recipie guide and cooking technique , it turned out fantastic.
Finally as im a chilli freak I added extra chillies & it blew my friends head off & minds.  Top recipie Thanks , keep em coming