Jhuri Aloo Bhaja, the name is enough to make a typical Bengali happy. This is a quintessential delicacy prepared with delicate pieces of potato and needs no further introduction for sure. Aloo Bhaja, as we call fried potatoes in Bengali is the epitome of comfort food.
Jump to:
- How to cook perfect Jhuri Aloo Bhaja?
- Jhuri Aloo Bhaja Recipe Video
- Variations: Aloo Bhaja
- Tips to make the perfect Jhuri Aloo Bhaja
- Recipe Card
- Bengali vegetarian Side dish Recipes from Debjanir Rannaghar
- Have you tried the Bengali Jhuri Alu Bhaja recipe from Debjanir Rannaghar!
- Here's the Jhuri Aloo Bhaja Pin for your Pinterest Board!
How to cook perfect Jhuri Aloo Bhaja?
The recipe of Jhuri Alu bhaja is quite simple. It calls for very basic ingredients, such as potatoes, a few spices, peanuts, curry leaves, and also oil. The traditional professional cooks (Rannar Thakur) or Caterer serve amazing Jhurjhure Aloo bhaja, especially as part of celebratory Bengali lunches. This is also famous as part of the lunch of a typical Bengali marriage day or similar events along with Bengali dal such as Bhaja Moong er Dal or Macher Matha diye Daal.
The crispiness and the cut of the potatoes make this particular type of fried potatoes special. It is not difficult to cook Bengali Jhuro Aloo Bhaja if you know the tricks. Fried potato is not a difficult recipe after all. We call this delicacy Jhuro Aloo bhaja and also Jhurjhure aloo bhaja as well. The terms Jhuri, Jhuri, and Jhurjhure are used interchangeably which stands for crispy stick-like pieces. The consistency or size is similar to thick-sized sevian or shredded cheese.
Jhuri Aloo Bhaja Recipe Video
Variations: Aloo Bhaja
In Bengali households, we at times fry thick pieces of potatoes, at times potato rounds, and also wedges. The thickness varies as well. Based on the cut of the potato, it is been decided how to serve the fried potatoes. We like soft fried potatoes with roti or luchi or paratha while round-shaped fries with rice. For special occasions, we prefer Jhuri Aloo bhaja to be served with hot dal maybe after finishing a portion of rice with Shukto.
Tips to make the perfect Jhuri Aloo Bhaja
As I have already mentioned this delicacy is a feast favorite and is being cooked as part of a decorated marriage or any lunch party. Needless to say, it takes certain tricks to make this perfect. The caterers and old age Rannar Thakur clans are known for serving perfectly fried crunchy Jhuri Aloo Bhaja. The recipe I follow is provided lovingly by Pahari Jethu, the professional cook who was regular at my ancestral place until he was alive.
Recipe Card
Jhuri Aloo Bhaja
Jhuri Aloo Bhaja is a Bengali style crunchy fried potatoes prepared with shredded potatoes
Ingredients
- 5 Potatoes
- 30 Curry Leaves from 2 medium-sized stems with leaves
- 75 g Peanuts
- 4-5 Dry Red Chili or 6-7 if using small chilies
- 300 ml Oil or more for deep frying
To make the spice mix:
- ½ Tsp. Red Chili Powder
- ½ Tsp. Rock Salt
- ¼ Tsp. Chat Masala
- ½ Tsp. Salt
Instructions
- Wash potatoes thoroughly. Do not remove the skin of potatoes while shredding those.
- Using the shredder, shred Potatoes one by one.
- If using a shredder like I am using, use the bigger holes to shred potatoes.
- In case using a cheese grater, you will not have an option for choosing though. You can use a food processor as well.
- Last but not the least, if you do not have any of these, you can manually chop the potatoes.
- Once you have shredded one potato, immediately transfer the potato to a bowl full of water.
- This step is a must.
- If you left potatoes as it is, they will turn red.
- Soaking potatoes in water helps in washing the excess starch coming from the potato.
- Following the same process shred rest of the potatoes.
- Keep soaking the potatoes in water.
- Now take a perforated bowl and strain the potatoes and discard the water.
- Wash the potatoes under running water for 1 minute or till the water is clean.
- After that take clean water in a bowl and soak the potatoes.
- It is very important to wash off the starch completely from the potatoes else you will get soggy fried potatoes, which are anything but Jhuri Aloo Bhaja!
- Now heat sufficient Oil (Refined Oil preferably) in a Pan till smoke comes from the oil.
- Take 2 strings of Curry leaves (wash before using) and deep fry those with the stem on.
- Instead of the strings, you can use separated leaves as well.
- Strain the fried Curry Leaves from the pan and place over a kitchen towel.
- Now fry Peanuts in the same oil.
- It will take around 1 minute to fry the Peanuts.
- Strain fried Peanuts from the pan and place over a kitchen towel.
- Now take 4-5 Dried Red Chillies and fry those for 30 Seconds.
- Do not over fry Chillies.
- Strain from the pan and place over the kitchen towel.
- Now start frying the Potatoes.
- You will have to fry potatoes in small batches.
- It will take around 2 minutes to fry the first batch.
- The potatoes will change color and texture once fried.
- Once done, strain fried potatoes from the pan.
- It is advisable to strain all the potatoes in one go.
- You can transfer Jhuri Aloo Bhaja over a kitchen towel however, I prefer to use a Jhuri (Bamboo Container) as it will naturally extract excess oil from the fried potatoes.
- Now fry the remaining potatoes in small batches.
- Please note, it will take extra time to fry the potatoes from the 2nd batch.
- Do not add salt while frying, as it will make the fried potatoes soggy.
- Take Salt, Rock salt, Chat Masala, and also Red chilli Powder in a bowl and mix those to make the spice-mix.
- You will need ⅔ of the mixture for 5 potatoes.
- Sprinkle the seasoning over the fried potatoes.
- Now remove fried Curry leaves from one string and add as it is.
- Crush the remaining fried Curry Leaves and add those as well.
- Now add fried Red Chillies.
- Add fried Peanuts.
- Finally, toss everything.
- If you follow the process that I have shown, you will get exactly Biyebari style Jhurjhure Aloo Bhaja.
- You can store this Jhuro Aloo Bhaja for more than 7 days in a container (preferably airtight).
- Even if eating on the very same day, transfer fried potatoes to a container to keep the crunchiness as it is!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Bengali vegetarian Side dish Recipes from Debjanir Rannaghar
- Narkel diye Niramish Ghugni (Also known as Bengali No Onion No Garlic Ghugni or Yellow Peas Curry with Fried Coconut)
- Bori Aloor Jhal (Also known as Bengali Bori’r Jhal)
- Lau Shaker Chorchori (Also known as Bengali Vegetarian Mishmash with Bottle Gourd Greens)
- Katoya Data Chorchori (Also known as Bengali Style Mix-veg with Drumsticks)
- Papor er Dalna (Also known as Bengali Papad Curry)
- Sheemer Jhal (Also known as Bengali Shorshe Sheem or Broad Bean Curry with Mustard Paste)
- Panch Mishali Tarkari (Also known as Panch Mishili Torkari)
- Phulkopir Roast (Also known as Bengali Roasted Cauliflower)
- Lau ar Aloo er Khosa Bhaja (Also known as Stir-Fried Bottle Gourd and Potato Skin/ Peel )
- Narkel diye Cholar Dal (Also known as Bengali Cholar Dal)
- Kumror Chakka (Also known as Bengali Pumpkin curry)
More Recipes
- Chanar Dalna (Also known as Bengali Cottage Cheese and Potato Curry)
- Aloo Phulkopir Dalna (Also known as Bengali Potato and Cauliflower Curry)
- Rosogollar Dalna (Also known as Bengali Rasgulla Curry)
- Sada Aloo Chorchori (Bengali Potato Curry)
- Lomba Dantiwala Begun Bhaja (Bengali fried Eggplant)
- Bengali Kolai Dal (Also known as Biulir Dal or Bengali Urad Dal)
- Postor Bora (Also known as Bengali Poppy Seed Fritters)
- Aloo Posto (Also known as Bengali Poppy Seed curry with potato)
- Gota Sheddho (Also known as Bengali Veggie Cold soup Gota)
- Kancha Aamer Chutney (Also known as Bengali Raw mango chutney)
- Dhokar Dalna (also known as Bengali Lentil Cake Curry)
- Paneer er Dalna (also known as Niramish Paneer Er Torkari)
- Niramish Bhuni Khichuri (also known as Bengali Bhuni Khichuri)
- Neem Begun (also known as Bengali nikm Begun Bhaji)
- Chana Bhapa (also known ad Bengali Bhapa Chenna)
Have you tried the Bengali Jhuri Alu Bhaja recipe from Debjanir Rannaghar!
I would love to see a picture if you are making it following my recipe which you can share here at dolonchttrj@gmail.com. You can use my hashtag #debjanirrannaghar and share it through Instagram as well. and in addition, you can tag me at @foodofdebjani.
Here's the Jhuri Aloo Bhaja Pin for your Pinterest Board!
About Debjani Chatterjee Alam
I am Debjani Chatterjee Alam. A CSR specialist by profession and a food writer, food blogger, and food photographer as well. I live in Kolkata along with my Husband Mehebub who is an architect by profession, my daughter Pasta, and also my dog daughters Coffee and Luchi.
payalsflavor says
I recently tried making jhuri aloo bhaja using this recipe, and it was a hit! The flavors were spot on, and the potatoes were perfectly cooked with just the right amount of spice. It was a delightful addition to our dinner table and brought back memories of authentic Bengali cuisine. This recipe is definitely a keeper, and I can't wait to make it again. Thank you for sharing such a delicious and easy-to-follow recipe!