Potato Chops
Potato Chops
Be it Sunday breakfast, brunch, lunch, afternoon tea or even dinner, these Potato Chops will do on at any part of the day with extras for the weekdays. Ever wondered why its called potato chops, when it is stuffed with cooked mince meat? I had these for the first time at a friend's house - a thorough English gentleman from the British High Commission in New Delhi - decades ago. He can't cook but was a great food critic and they were made by his Anglo Indian friends. On asking him, why its called a chop, he said, those days (maybe his grandmother's days), it was either a cooked lamb or pork chop wrapped in mashed potatoes with the rib bone still intact/sticking out, dipped in egg, coated with bread crumbs and fried. Over the years, maybe due to war, rationing or non-availability of the cut of meat required, the cooks and khansammas became innovative by using mincemeat (either beef, pork, lamb or chicken). In later years, they started mixing canned salty Corned beef, shaped it into cylindricals called Croquettes. They also used canned tuna fish as fish cakes, and even had a vegetarian version with boiled carrots, beans or peas called cutlets. How true it is I can't say, but I do believe in what he told me as it does makes sense. Over the years we change the original recipes to adapt or modify to suit our needs, the availability of time and ingredients we can get hold of, and in the long run, simplify it. For example, some would simply mix cooked mince into the mash... which is absolutely a 'no no' for me. Potato chops were originally deep fried in oil, but since everything is cooked I don't see why you need the extra calories, so pan frying in a little oil is good enough.
Ingredients
- 1 kg Potatoes
- 300 g Mince meat
- 2 large Onions
- 1 tbs Chopped ginger
- 1 tsp Cumin powder
- 1 tsp Coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp Chilly powder
- 1 medium Fresh green or red chilly
- 1/4 cup Chopped fresh coriander
- 1 cup Bread crumbs or crushed corn flakes
- 1 large Egg beaten
Instructions
- Peel, cut in chunks and boil the potatoes till done. Strain and return to the hob to dry off any excess moisture. Remove, put it through a potato ricer and season with salt and pepper.
- In a pan, add a table spoon of oil, saute the mince till cooked, add ginger and all the dry spices, salt and pepper to taste. Add the chopped onions, mix well, throw in the chopped coriander leaves. Keep aside to cool.
- Divide the potatoes into balls - approximately a quarter cup each, flatten with your palm, add a spoonful or more of the mince, wrap, seal, roll into a ball, then flatten slightly.
- After finished making the cutlets, roll into beaten eggs, then coat it with bread crumbs or crushed Corn flakes.
- Allow it to sit in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight to firm it up.
- Pan fry in little oil on both sides till golden brown.
