What is aloo bhujia? Also known as bhujia, it’s a traditional crunchy snack made with potatoes, gram flour, moth beans & spices. According to Wikipedia, aloo bhujia was first made in Bikaner city of Rajasthan, during the reign of Maharaja Shri Dungar Singh in 1877. Over the years, it became a popular snack all over India & is sold by many brands. The taste, texture and flavor of aloo bhujia is different from one brand to the other. I won’t say this recipe will give you something similar to the packed version. But it will surely help you make the best bhujia at home and you can easily customize the flavors to suit your taste. I made aloo bhujia with 1 kg ingredients. But I have scaled down the recipe for this post. So the quantities you find in the pictures are 2x of the recipe.
Preparing potatoes
- Boil whole potatoes in a pressure cooker or pot until just done. To cook in traditional Indian pressure cooker, pour 1 cup water and place a rack or trivet inside. Place the potatoes in a bowl and then in the cooker. Pressure cook for 4 whistles. To cook in instant pot, I pressure cooked on high pressure for 5 mins. My potatoes were of different sizes but were done perfectly.
- Once the pressure releases, peel the potatoes while still hot/warm. Cool them completely. Then grate them with a fine grater.
- Once done, run your fingers through the gratings and ensure there are no lumps or crumbs of potatoes as they get stuck in the sev maker. Break the crumbs if any.
- These are the spice powders I used. You may add everything according to your taste.
Mint powder (refer tips below to make your own)Kashmiri red chilli powderBlack pepper powderChaat masalaGinger powderGarlic powder (refer tips below)Garam masalaCumin powderHing (asafoetida)
- Place a sieve over the grated potatoes. Sieve all of the spice powders along with salt. I was left with very little coarse particles from the chaat masala and mint leaves which I discarded.
- Mix up all of these. The mixture will be too moist and sticky at this stage.
- Sieve 2 cups (240 grams) besan to a separate bowl. Measure and spread 1½ cups of it over the potato mixture. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a kadai until very hot & quickly pour it here. The oil will sizzle. Using a spoon incorporate the oil into the flour first. Then mix everything well with your hand.
- Mix everything well to get a stiff and non-sticky dough. If your dough is still sticky you may add more besan little by little. You will need a maximum of 250 grams of besan. Do not add all of the flour at one time as we cannot use water here. Your hands will be too sticky at this stage, grease your fingers if needed. Taste test and add more spices or salt as needed. Cover and keep this aside until the oil heats up.
- Begin to heat oil in a kadai on a medium flame until hot. Meanwhile grease your sev maker generously and fit the plate/ attachment with the smallest holes. Divide the dough to 2 to 3 logs and keep one log in the sev maker.
- When the oil becomes hot, test if it is hot enough. Drop a small portion of the dough to the oil. It should come up immediately without browning. This is the right temperature.
- Press down the sev maker to release the aloo bhujia. Keep moving your hand slowly in a circular motion. Since this dough is sticky, towards the end you will use a spoon to break down the sev from the maker. Fry on a medium heat. When they are slightly firm, invert the whole thing gently & fry.
- Tip: As soon as you drop, check if the bhujia is tangled. To fry them evenly, gently loosen the tangles with a wooden stick or spoon. Do this only if needed.
- Aloo bhujia gets fried very very fast compared to other snacks. It just takes 2 to 3 mins to be done. So remove them in time as soon as they become crisp and light golden. Do not brown them.
- Remove to a steel colander. As soon as they cool, transfer them to air tight containers. Break them and add to a serving bowl. Sprinkle chaat masala, black pepper and mint powder.
Tips to make aloo bhujia
It is hard to make aloo bhujia with the pistol shaped sev maker as the dough is sticky. Try to use the traditional maker as it is easier.Avoid using water to make the dough. The trick here is to add flour only as needed to soak up the moisture in boiled potatoes. So we don’t need water at all.1:1 proportion of aloo & besan works well for me. For 500 grams aloo, I use 500 grams flour. This may vary depending on the kind of potatoes.Fry the aloo bhujia only on a medium flame. Since these are very thin they get over fried very fast.Mint powder is easily available in Indian stores but you can also make it at home. I dehydrated 1 cup mint leaves in my oven at 60 C (140 F) for 10 mins and crushed them in my hands. You can also skip it if you don’t prefer.You may skip garlic powder if you don’t have.Do not skip adding chaat masala to the fried aloo bhujia. This is the key flavor enhancer.You can also make thick sev with the same dough. Fry them on a medium flame for longer.
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