I’ve already told u guys that how much love we Bengalis treasure for simple Alu (potato). At any form at any time of the day we would love to have them. No jokes.. Seriously! Ask any bong around you if you don’t believe me. But amongst all variety of potato items what we love most? Our unforgettable Alu bhate (smashed potato with onion, fresh chilli and mustard oil) and jhiri jhiri alu bhaja (thinly sliced/grated fried potato).
Most of us regularly enjoy this smashed potato in our daily life. But due to the lengthy process and tricky procedure of chopping and dicing this typical jhiri jhiri alu bhajais now stuck to only occasional meals And ofcourse we get to see them during Durga puja or on Noboborsho’s (Bengali New Year) lunch on our platters only. Even I thought about making it on my own countless times but never dared to try it until I came to know the secret trick.
After I posted one of the snaps of my recent dinner spread, I received loads of request to post a recipe with step by step photo of this jhiri jhiri alu bhaja. So I thought to give it a shot (read photo shoot).
Ingredients:
Potato: 4-5 (large)
White Oil: enough to deep fry (½ of the wok should be filled with oil)
Salt: 2-3 tbsp
Lime juice: ½ tsp
Preparation:
Wash and clean the potatoes properly.
Peel off the skin and keep them in a large bowl of water such a way that all potatoes should be
under water. Otherwise potatoes will get dark patches.
Grate potatoes with the help of a grater.
Take a large bowl. Fill the bowl with water (room temperature). Add salt and mix. Add grated potatoes. Make sure all pieces should be soaked.
Leave it for 10-15 mins.
Drain potatoes and spread them on paper towel to dry. Before you start frying make sure potatoes are completely dry.
Fill the ½ of the wok with oil and wait until it’s hot.
Slip 1 piece of grated potato to check the temperature. If it sizzles and rises immediately, your oil is ready.
Add grated potato to the hot oil by small portions batch by batch and fry them until they are crisp and golden in color.
Don’t get temped to fry them longer otherwise they will be dark in color and bitter in taste.
Here, before you add potatoes make sure the oil is ready completely. And also remember to add small portions of grated potato at a time in the oil. Otherwise your final result will be a good amount of lump. And there is no way you can revert it.
After frying keep them on paper towel. This will help you to get rid of excess oil as these fried potatoes consume much oil.
Now sprinkle some lime juice and salt on it and serve with steaming hot plain white rice or pulao. Even you can serve it as it is as it’s a good appetizer 🙂
I served them with Steamed Rice, Ilish Begun (Hilsa Eggplant curry) and Cauliflower in Spicy Yogurt Curry.
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