Bengal is famous for its scrumptious street foods. People who live in Bengal and visit Bengal never miss trying the local street foods. Few popular street foods include puchka, jhalmuri, ghugni, chop, cutlet and many more. Deep-fried snacks are popular amongst the varieties available in street food. A portion of yummy yet straightforward street food is the “chana koraishutir chop“. These are delicious fritters/pakoda made of cottage cheese and peas. As it contains peas, it is considered winter special because that is when fresh peas are available the most. It is a perfect snack for the vegetarians out there.
Ingredients:
- Channa – 500g (paneer/cottage cheese can be homemade or store brought)
- Fresh peas – 1 1/2 cup (boiled)
- Raisins – 2 tbsp
- Ginger – ½ tbsp, chopped
- Green chillies – 3, chopped (can be added more or less as per taste)
- Coriander leaves – 2-3 tbsp, chopped
- Salt – to taste
- Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
- Cumin powder – 1 tsp
- Amchur powder – 1 tsp
- Garam masala powder – 1 tsp
- Bread crumbs – (for coating)
- Oil, for shallow frying
- Flour – 2-3 tbsp
- Water
Method to prepare:
- To begin with, take a bowl and mash the channa to make a soft dough. After it is mashed well, leave it aside.
- Next, heat some oil in a pan, add the cumin seeds. When it starts to flutter, add the ginger and green chillies. And stir it lightly.
- Now add the boiled peas to the pan and sauté it for about 5-6 minutes. After it is salted well, take them down in a bowl.
- Along with the peas, add the coriander leaves, dry masala powders, raisins, salt, and some bread crumbs in that bowl. Now mash it well to make a smooth filling. Make sure all the ingredients are mixed well together.
- Next, take some channa dough and make a semi-flat shape in your hand, making a gap in the middle to stuff the filling in it. In the gap, add some peas dough and cover it with some more channa dough so the filling does not come out.
- Repeat the same process for making enough chops with the channa dough.
- After the channa chops are prepared, take a small bowl and add the flour to it. Gradually add water to the flour and stir it, so the consistency is not too runny or thick.
- Now dip one by one the channa chops in the flour mixture and coat it with breadcrumbs. Coat it well, so the entire chop is covered with the breadcrumbs and shake of the extra.
- Heat some oil in the pan, and shallow fry the chops until they are golden brown. And it is ready to serve.
* Ideal to have with kasundi (mustard sauce)
