bateta Champ

May 25, 2020

Bateta champ, or potato cutlets, is a seemingly simple fried little nugget of deliciousness that has as many variations as it has names in the Dawoodi Bohra community, a sect of Shi’te Islam that lives in diasporas around the world, and particularly in India, Pakistan, and Africa. The community has its own distinct culture, customs, dress, language, and food traditions, which have become markers of its identity. In the areas where they live, the community is known for its love of good food. Every Bohra celebration or gathering is a testament to this fact.

The beginning of the Hijri calender year is the day when Bohras celebrate and give blessings for the new year, with all kinds of food and delicacies heaped upon a thaal (a round steel receptacle) that allows them to join together and collectively share the accompanying meal. This is followed by ten days of mourning of Ashura, for Prophet Mohammad’s (PBUH) grandson Hussain. At this time, Bohras congregate en masse in their cities where their community leaders hold annual sermons. Grand arrangements are made to ensure that the thousands who gather are fed three meals each day. Every other religious gathering is similarly marked by the inclusion of food, where the leader of the community, the Syedna, makes sure his children are well-fed and happy and prosperous. These deeply rooted beliefs led to the 2014 creation of a community kitchen service, which provides daily meals to every Bohra household around the world so as to ensure that everyone eats the same food regardless of their social status. This initiative also frees women from the daily rigors of cooking, allowing them to pursue other interests while they partake in this religious gathering.

As the entire world began to stock up on necessities at the beginning of this pandemic, it was natural for the community to make sure that all of its members were well supplied. Dry goods and other food supplies were given to each household, free of cost, by their respective community centers. As the month of Ramadan approached, it became clear that social distancing would require Bohras to remain at home, a significant change given that these thirty holy days are usually spent at community centers where breaking the daily fast is done over a collective evening meal. This was quite a blow for women, as it meant that most would have to continue cooking daily meals on their own. There would be no sense of community, which is essential to this period, and no break from their daily routines and the labour that entails. Although special meal packets were sent out to all households during Ramadan, and they included all the things needed for both the suhoor (pre-fast) and dinner meal, including dates to break open the fast each day, cooking remained a solitary and labourious task.

Fried foods are a particular mark of Ramadan, as many Muslims will tell you, and for the Bohra community this is also true. Although most refrain from having these every day for the sake of health and nutrition, occasionally we indulge in greasy foods such as samosas, pakoras (gram-flour dumplings), and other such delicacies during and beyond Ramadan. One of these fried delicacies is bateta champ, or as we call them in my house, patties. Every household has a slightly different variation to the name, but the basic recipe remains the same. I absolutely love these but could never make them, partly out of laziness, and partly because of the work involved in their assembly. Until this year, I preferred to ask my mother to make them whenever I went to her house. But moving to Montreal for my PhD meant that I would be deprived of them, given that I have been too busy with graduate studies and the responsiblity of raising two children. No matter how much I craved them, I just could not find the time to make them. That said, since the beginning of Ramadan this year coincided with being quarantined as well as the start of summer, I finally had the time to make them, along with some of the food items provided by my community center. As I assembled each step and lovingly fried them, I was reminded of my mother, and felt a sense of accomplishment in showing them off to her, just before I ate them all.

Ingredients

6 large russet potatoes, boiled and mashed

1 kg mince (chicken or beef)

1 tbsp ginger and garlic paste

2 finely minced thai green chillies

½ cup coriander, chopped

½ cup mint, chopped

¼ cup spring onions, finely chopped

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup breadcrumbs

½ tsp red chilli powder

½ tsp coriander powder

½ tsp cumin powder

Salt, as needed

Pepper

3 cups Oil, for frying

Method

1. Boil the potatoes and mash them with a fork and leave aside to cool. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper.

2. Boil the mince meat with ginger garlic paste, green chillies, some salt, and little bit of water until cooked and the water has completely dried. Cool the mince and add in mint, coriander, and the spring onions as well as the spices and salt and adjust to your level of spice tolerance.

3. Now take a big portion of the potato mash in your hands, you can use an icecream scoop for this, and roll it into a ball and then flatten it out into the palm of your hand, much like a pancake. Make sure your hands are greased with oil to prevent the mash from sticking to your hands. Following this, put about 1 tbsp of the mince mixture into the center of the mash pancake. Then slowly start bringing the sides of the potato mixture up around the mince stuffing it into the middle. Roll it with your hands into a ball, gently until it forms a slightly elongated ball. Dip once into the egg and then the breadcrumbs.

4. Assemble the rest until both mixtures are used. At this stage you can also leave them in the fridge to slightly firm them up.

5. For frying, make sure your oil is not too hot, it should be slightly warm and bubble when the end of a spoon is inserted. Put two or three cutlets into the pan, making sure not to overcrowd them, and spoon hot oil gently over the top. Only flip when you see the bottom is slightly golden and fry the other side. Do not flip more than once or they tend to break.

6. Serve hot with any sauce, particularly tamarind or coriander sauce, and a splash of lemon juice!

Arwa Hussain is a PhD student in the Department of Religition and Cultures at Concordia University. Originally from Pakistan, she now lives in Montreal with her family and will soon study the women of her community.