Small Chop - Part II

Continued from my last post…

I left off where I had my SHITTO ready to eat. It was warm in the wok and my kitchen was filled with the heady scent of cooked spices. The second heating I gave the sauce got rid of the watery residue leaving behind this creamy paste, packed with flavor.

I decided to pair my SHITTO with a combination of fried samosas and onion rings. Now these are not the type of onion rings you get at Burger King. The bad boys are actually rings made of chopped spring onions and other herbs wrapped in puff pastry and shaped into a ring. The samosas are the same skin stuffed with chopped potatoes, onions, and cilantro. I bought these ready made (not fried) at the little Indian grocery store on the 6th floor. It is actually an apartment operating some covert ops corner shop operation, obviously way under the tax radar. You can get all your Indian goodies in there like chevro, Indian spices, some veggies, frozen small chop, and pictures o0f God. What more does an Indian need? This place is like an underground crack house for Indian expats in Guangzhou. I love it.

Many people like to deep fry their ‘small chop’ in 3 or 4 inches of oil, especially the old aunties and grandma’s. I only fill my wok with about a centimeter of oil. But I leave it on high heat till it is piping hot. I was going to photograph the frying process but it all happened so quickly. Plus I figure it’s never a good idea for me to be fumbling around hot oil with my tack record in accidents. I dropped the onion rings into the hot oil one at a time, very carefully, only frying 4 pieces at a time so as not overwork the oil making it cold. I let them cook for about 45 seconds on each side keeping them moving all the time till they became a nice golden brown color. Then I laid them out on the newspaper try I had carefully prepared before hand.

Not all my ‘small chop’ came out golden brown though. Many of them were a little darker than I would have liked but its all good. The onion rings cooked faster than the somosas and they absorbed less oil. The samosas sometimes get all dark on the outside but the potato filling inside stays cold. For this reason it is a good idea to let them thaw for at least an hour before frying. Personally the samosas are way too oily for my liking but other people seem to dig it.

After the samosas and onion rings have cooled off and drained out some of the oil, I switch newspapers. I do not have cool crockery here yet but I make do with what I do have. Viola…

The combination was fucking awesome and my hosts were impressed. For an apparently unrefined person, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. Irafath, you like? This post also goes out to my man HB. You are still inspirational and educational. Keep ya head up!