When it comes to vegetarian street food from Indore, you can't miss 3 street foods- Poha-jalebi, Baked samosa (bana hua) and Vijay Chat House's Khopra Pattice. Rest other things like Kachori, Samosa, Pani Puri, Bhutte ka Kees etc become secondary options. Indore is called the cleanest city in India and is situated in the Malwa Plateau region therefore the weather is moderate. Sometimes it is quite dry during the day, but evenings come with the splashing of fresh cold breeze, tempting people to spend more time on the streets and enjoy the street food. One hotspot of Indore for every Indori to not miss is the legendary Khopra Pattice by Vijay Chat House. These are inspired by Surti Pattice and are extremely popular in Indore. But for folks living outside the city, I have got the exact recipe so that you can make it yourself and relish it whenever you want. the only tip I would like to give is please follow the recipe as mentioned, do not add or skip anything (ingredient or procedure). This Khopra pattice is served with two types of Chutney- Dhaniya Pudina Chutney and Khajur Chutney. I will be sharing the recipe for these chutneys too. You can also watch the entire recipe video below.
(Though the Pattice is made without garlic, the green chutney has garlic. So all those watching the video recipe - my apology for adding garlic to the pattice.)
Let's begin with the recipe for Khopra Pattice. It is divided into two parts one is the stuffing and the other is the outer layering which is extremely important.
Ingredients for the Outer layer- (Serves- 8-9 medium pattice)
4 medium-sized boiled potatoes (preferably steam the potatoes, and use big sized potatoes that are used to make chips. People living outside India use Baking Potatoes), freeze the boiled potatoes for an hour at least.
1/4 cup arrowroot powder (or 2tbsp maida+2tbsp rice flour)
1/4 tsp salt (use sendha namak or kala namak/black salt)
Tip- do not use cornflour, it will make potatoes moist and soggy.
Method-
Mash the boiled potatoes, and make sure there is no moisture in them. You can use the pav bhaji masher or grater to mash/grate the potatoes. Add arrowroot powder giving it a nice mix. It becomes like dough, do not add salt at this stage as salt makes potatoes moist. Add salt just before we start stuffing the Pattice. Cover it and refrigerate it until the stuffing is ready.
Ingredients for Stuffing-
1/2 cup fresh coconut, grated
1/2 cup dry coconut (khopra), grated (you can use desiccated coconut here)
1 tsp green chilli paste
2 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt (preferably send or Kala namak)
1/2- 1 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
3-4 tbsp pomegranate
3-4 tbsp dry fruits nuts chopped (magaj aka melon seeds, kismis/raisins, cashew)
1 tsp khus khus (poppy seeds)
Method-
Firstly dry roast fresh grated coconut on a low flame. Mix it continuously to avoid it from getting burned or over-roasted. It takes about 10 minutes to roast the fresh coconut as it has moisture in it. Once roasted to perfection i.e; until the coconut becomes slightly dry and lighter in weight. keep this aside and allow it to cool. Meanwhile, dry roast the grated dry coconut or desiccated coconut. dry coconut needs less time than fresh coconut otherwise it will release the oil, which makes the stuffing taste like coconut oil. Roast for 5 minutes on low flame, once done keep it aside and cool it.
Now, mix the above-grated coconut together, to this add the chopped nuts mentioned in the ingredients (do not add any other dry fruit or nuts to this), and add all the rest ingredients- cumin, grated ginger, chilli paste, khus khus, pomegranate, sugar, salt and lemon juice. mix everything well.
Stuffing the Pattice-
Once the stuffing is made immediately start making the pattice.
Remove the potato dough from the refrigerator and divide it into small equal balls. Apply little oil to hands while working with the potato dough. Now to stuff, flatten the dough into a small Katori/ bowl shape and stuff the khopra filling in it. Seal the pattice neatly without letting the stuffing come out. (stuff the way we stuff aloo paratha).
In case you find it difficult to handle the potato dough apply little oil over it and then try to seal the pattice. make sure it is stuffed proper without leaving any air pockets, which makes it soft not crispy and also the pattice deflates after frying as there is an air pocket inside, If stuffed well the pattice stays crispy for a longer time and retains its shape.
Once all the pattice are stuffed cover them and immediately keep them in the refrigerator until we make the chutneys or approximately 15 minutes.
Frying the Pattice-
For frying use only and only Groundnut/Peanut oil.
You can use refined sunflower oil if you don't find groundnut oil.
Heat sufficient to moderate temperature oil for deep frying. Now to check the exact temperature, take a small piece of potato dough and add it to the oil. Now if the potato dough takes about a minute to float on the surface that means the oil is heated to moderate temperature.
Immerse 2-3 pattice at once and fry it on medium flame till it floats on the surface and turns golden. (actual sunherara rang)
Once fried immediately serve with the chutney.
