Aloo peyajkoli bhaja – the crispy fried potatoes with ‘peyajkoli’ which can be closely substituted by the greens of the scallions – is an authentic Bengali dish enjoyed best with chapati. The generous sprinkle of poppy seeds is the icing on the cake!
Though I am a Bengali, I do not have enough Bengali recipes in my blog. Not yet! It is not intentional, neither that I do not cook authentic Bengali dish at home.
The reason simply was that I was so accustomed with these recipes from my growing up years that I never seriously thought that they need to be shared.
I was under the impression that these must be already known by all! Like this very humble aloo peyajkoli bhaja!
So when I made these aloo peyajkoli bhaja for our dinner once, my husband asked me very naively – why don’t I post this in my blog?
I laughed at the proposition at first but then gave a second thought – why not?
My blog is nothing but the collection of recipes which I make at home for our regular meals, so why not this aloo peyajkoli bhaja which was such a favorite dish of mine since my childhood! So here it is – from my kitchen to yours!
Now let me talk about this thing – peyajkoli – for a while before going to the recipe. If you are not a Bengali then chances are that you are not familiar with this stuff.
This is not exactly green onion or scallions but it is that particular green stem of onion plants which has a bud at the top.
Peyajkoli can be substituted with the green parts of the scallions; but I have always used the real thing. Do let me know how the substitution worked if you have tried it.
- Potatoes – 4, medium
- Scallion (Peyajkoli) – 200 gms
- Mustard oil – 2 tbsp
- Onion seeds (kalonji) – ¼ tsp
- Dry whole red chilli – 2
- Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
- Poppy seeds – 2 tsp
- Salt to taste
- Peel and cut the potatoes into small cubes about 1 cm long.
- Chop the peyajkoli/scallions into 1 inch long strips.
- Heat oil in a skillet and temper it with onion seeds and whole dry red chillies. Let the seeds crackle.
- Now add the turmeric powder and the cubed potatoes. Saute them till they are three-fourth done.
- Then add the chopped peyajkoli/scallions and stir well.
- Saute everything till the potatoes are cooked through and the scallions are soft enough. I keep the scallions a bit crunchy since I like it that way.
- Now sprinkle the poppy seeds and give a final stir.
- Remove from heat and serve hot with chapati. Enjoy!
I have tried substituting peyajkoli with scallion and although it isn’t exactly the same, it comes close and tastes great too. I also add some shrimp which goes very well with the flavors.
Thanks for letting me know! Yes, shrimps taste fantastic with this! 🙂