It’s mid November, the onset of winter season. This is the time when we get to see lots of fresh vegetables in the market and more number of veg dishes on our dining table. I’m a Bengali and I have noticed that people from my community  are attracted towards fried snacks like chops, cutlets, pakoras, samosas, etc., more in the winter season than any other time of the year. We enjoyed the cold evenings with a steaming hot cup of tea along with some hot fried bites. One of these snacks, is the vegetable chop or vegetable cutlet, which is more enjoyed in the winters than any other time of the year.  So, today I am writing the recipe of vegetable chop or cutlet.

Ingredients 

Beetroot 3 medium sized, grated

Carrot 2 medium sized, grated

Potato 2 medium sized, boiled and mashed

Onion 1 small, chopped 

Green chilli 3 or 4 chopped 

Ginger 1 tbsp grated

Peanuts 1 tbsp, fried and split into halves 

All purpose flour or maida about 1 cup

Bread crumb about 2 cups 

Fennel seeds 1 tsp

Roasted curry spices powder 1 and 1/2 tsp

Garam masala powder 1 tsp

Red chilli powder 1/2 tsp

Black pepper powder 1/2 tsp

Salt as per taste

Sugar as per taste. Since this chop is a little sweeter in taste, the amount of sugar should be a little more than that of salt

Oil 1 tbsp + enough oil for deep frying the chops

Procedure 

• Heat 1 tbsp oil in a kadhai at medium low flames and temper it with the fennel seeds. Then, add the chopped onion and stir and fry until it becomes translucent 
• Now, add the grated ginger and chopped green chillies and sauté for few seconds
• next, add the grated beetroot and carrots, add a little bit of salt and stir and cook for about 2 minutes. After 2 minutes, again add a little more salt, mix well and cover and cook untill the beetroot softens. Do not add all the salt at once
• now, once the beetroot and carrots gets cooked well, add the mashed potatoes and mix well with other ingredients. Keep on stirring and mixing untill you get an even mixture 
• now, add the fried peanuts and mix well. At this stage, check the salt and adjust as per taste
• next, add the sugar, roasted curry spices powder, garam masala powder, and stir and mix well with all the other ingredients. Cover and switch off the flames. Allow the vegetable mixture to cool down completely 
• now, in a mixing bowl, take the all purpose flour, red chilli powder, black pepper powder, about 1 tsp of salt and mix well. Now, add water little by little with constant mixing to form a thick batter
• once the vegetable mixture has cooled down, divide it into small and equal portions of size of your choice. Then, shape these portions according to your choice. It could be shaped  like a circular patty, flattened rhombus, or like that of a capsule. I gave it the shape of a capsule, as in our place these chops are mostly found in this shape
• now, take these chops one at a time, dip them into the batter and then, roll them over the bread crumbs. Do this process one more time, first dip into the batter and then roll over the bread crumb.
• this way, ready all the chops and keep them in the fridge for about an hour. After an hour, heat enough oil in a deep kadhai at medium high flames. Once the oil becomes hot, reduce the flames to medium low
• now, drop in the chop into the hot oil one by one and fry them evenly from all sides until they turn brown in colour. Take them out into a plate lined with some kitchen paper to soak in the extra oil
• vegetable chop is ready. Serve it hot with some kasundi or mustard sauce and tomato ketchup. These cutlets can also be served as a starter.