I am a strong believer that food is so much more than just the nutrients it delivers to fuel our bodies! Food plays a role in celebrating exciting events, hanging out with friends, and often conjures memories of special people, places, and times in our lives. For me, potato chops will always remind me of my grandmother, or as I call her, mama. Whenever my family visited my grandparents, mama almost always had prepared potato chops, which we often enjoyed with a side of ketchup. (I’m suspicious that they’re not traditionally eaten this way, but that’s how we used to and will continue to!). Come to think of it, I’ve never eaten a potato chop that wasn’t made by my wonderful mama!
Potato chops is a common dish made in Goa, a state located in the southwestern region of India and the place my dad’s parents are from. It is a potato patty traditionally stuffed with a spiced minced meat filling, and dipped in egg and breadcrumbs before pan frying to create a golden brown crust. You can think of it as a deliciously spiced handheld shepard’s pie!
As my grandmother has aged and her abilities changed, it’s been a while since we’ve been able to enjoy her potato chops like we used to so often. So, I thought it would be exciting to create a vegan version of this comforting dish to honour my mama and revisit some of the memories I had as a child visiting my grandparents.
I spoke with my grandmother to learn more about the ingredients and methods she used to create this dish. After some slight alterations to make it plant-based, the result was a delicious potato chop, just like mama used to make them!
I hope you give it a try and enjoy them as much as I do!
Vegan Goan Potato Chops
Makes 25 patties
Ingredients
5lbs yellow potato
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large sweet yellow onion, finely diced
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp coriander
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
340g textured soy/ vegetable protein (I used 1 package of Yves Original Veggie Ground)
1 cup frozen green peas
3 Tbsp cilantro, finely chopped
1/4 tsp each salt and pepper + more to taste
plain breadcrumbs
Method
- Cut washed and peeled potatoes into quarters and place into a large pot of water. Bring water to a boil and salt generously. Cook potatoes until fork tender, about 15- 20min.
- Meanwhile, heat oil in a pan over medium to low heat and add onions once hot. Sauté onions until softened and slightly golden, about 4 -5 min.
- Mix in the turmeric, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, and garlic and sauté for about 1 minute.
- Add the veggie ground* and break it up in the pan with a utensil. Once it resembles ground meat texture, mix in the peas and cilantro.
- Once veggies ground is heated through and peas have fully thawed, remove minced mixture from heat and set aside.
- When potatoes are done cooking, drain and mash until smooth with no lumps. Salt and pepper the mash to taste and let cool until able to be handled by hand, but still warm.
- To assemble the potato chops, scoop 1/4 cup of the mashed potato* and flatten into a round disc shape on your palm. Place about 1 Tbsp of filling into the centre of the disc and fold up the potato to form a bowl-like shape, to then eventually closes over the filling. You may need to add a small ball of potato to help seal the top of the patty. Ensure there are no cracks and that the filling is completely encased by potato. Form into a flat cylindrical patty shape about 2-3 inches in diameter and 3/4 inches tall. Dip the top and bottom faces in breadcrumbs.* Continue to make patties until the potato and filling is all used up. Place patties on a baking tray and refrigerate for at least 30min to help the patties firm up before pan frying.
- To cook the potato chops, add cooking oil of your choice (I used grape seed oil) to a pan so that it just coats the bottom and warm over medium heat. Once the pan is hot, place patties in the pan and cook until golden brown. Carefully flip to brown the other side. Once cooked, transfer to paper towel lined pan to absorb any excess oil.*
- Enjoy served warm with fresh cilantro or with ketchup as I had it growing up!
*Notes:
- If you are not using a ready to heat and serve veggie ground product, be sure to prepare your textured soy protein according to its package prior to adding it to the onion and spice mixture.
- When assembling the patties, place the mashed potato in a covered bowl over a bowl of boiled water to keep them warm. I found that as the potato cooled, it was slightly more difficult to handle.
- Dip only the top and bottom faces of the patties (not the sides, like I did!) in breadcrumbs. Since these are shallow fried in a small amount of oil, any breadcrumbs on the sides will not get browned.
- To ensure all patties are warm when it comes time to serve, preheat oven to 250F to keep cooked patties warm until serving time.
alessia eats 