The Cafe Style Bengali Dimer Devil Recipe or the Egg Devil Recipe! I made these last week for a Diwali party at home! Growing up I have never seen my Mom attempting to make these at home. And devil was not available easily in the parar choper dokan (neighborhood store selling croquettes and fried goodies) those days. These were the treats that we would have in the cafes and cabins as they were known especially when we went to College Street with baba to buy books. And that barely happened one-two times a year and hence absolutely fossilized in my memory. These old vintage eateries seldom boasted anything fancy except the fact that their menu included some items which earned the status of cult classics in the snacking lexicon of the city.
Kolkata’s Famous Dimer Devil Recipe
Making Dimer Devil from scratch at home always needs a special reason as these are extremely labor intensive. The group of friends I was entertaining last week were all from Kolkata and the repertoire of dimer devil memories for this group is indeed very very nostalgia provoking. So the devil and cha or tea made for the perfect setting of a Bong adda.
Also there are certain prerequisites of a good croquette/cutlet, I had written a little article on it and you can read it here [2]. The exterior of the croquette should be breaded well and yet not very thick. When you dip it in a little ketchup or kasundi (Bengali mustard sauce) and bite into it, you should have just the right medley of textures, the crisp fried bread skin, a fair amount of the actual meat filling, and then the hidden jewel, the boiled egg with the creamy yolk and all tied in together by the piquant mustard sauce. It’s a mouthful of completely complimentary flavors and is an experience by itself.
Along with Bengali Dimer Devil Recipe, You may also like the recipes below:
Machher Chop [3]
Vegetable Chop [4]
Mangsher Ghugni [5]
Print [6]
Bengali Dimer Devil / Egg Devil
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 60
- Total Time: 90
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
An iconic Bengali snack that brings back pure nostalgia! Try this Bengali Dimer Devil recipe at home.
Ingredients
- 2 Large Hard Boiled Eggs – Halved
For the Meat
- Minced Chicken/ Chicken Keema – 200 grams
- Onion – 1/2 cup, finely chopped
- Garlic – 2 cloves, finely chopped
- Ginger – 3/4 inch, finely chopped
- Bay Leaf – 1
- Cumin Powder – 2 tsp
- Coriander powder – 2 tsp
- Red Chili powder – 1 tsp
- Garam Masala – 11/2 tsp
- Salt – 1 1/2 tsp
- Vegetable Oil – 1 tbsp
- Tomato Ketchup – 1 tbsp
- Cilantro – 1 tbsp, chopped fine
For the Mashed Potato Mixture
- Russet Potato – 1 medium
- Salt – 1/2 tsp
- Mustard Oil – 1 tsp
- Green chili – 1, chopped fine
- Bread Crumbs for the filling – 1/4 cup
For the Breaded Exterior
- All Purpose flour – 3/4 cup + 1/4 cup
- Salt – 1/2 tsp + 1 tsp
- Garlic Powder – 1/2 tsp
- Black Pepper – 1/2 tsp
- Panko Bread Crumbs – 1/2 cup
- Regular Bread Crumbs – 1 cup
- Vegetable oil – 1 cup, for frying
Instructions
- In a pan, heat a tbsp of vegetable oil, add the bay leaf and a minute later add the chopped onion and fry for a couple of minutes until it becomes translucent.
- Add the ginger and stir for a couple of minutes more.
- Add the minced chicken. With a spatula make sure to break the lumps in the chicken.
- Add the ketchup and salt, and keep stirring.
- Take 1/2 a cup of water and add the cumin, coriander and red chili powder in it. Stir well.
- Now add this mixture to the pan along with the chopped garlic. Keep stirring for the next 5-6 minutes until the chicken looks cooked. There would be sufficient moisture in the chicken, so you have to cook in it uncovered on high heat so that the moisture evaporates away for another 2-3 mins. You have to stir continuously.
- Now add the garam masala and cilantro and mix everything well. Remove from the stove and let it cool.
- In the meantime, boil the potato till it becomes fork tender. Peel it and mash it with the salt, mustard oil and green chili.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the chicken keema, potato and the 1/4 cups bread crumbs and mix together. It should come together in a non sticky tight dough.
- If the dough looks sticky add 1 1/2 tbsp of corn flour. Adjust a little salt and sugar to taste at this stage again. I would take a little bit of the dough and taste it for salt and sugar. Everything in the dough is cooked and so it can be safely tasted.
- Now divide the dough in 4 portions. Take a ball of the dough and flatten it on one of your palms.
- Place a halved egg on the flattened dough and now cover it on all sides with the dough using both your hands. Make sure the boiled egg can’t be seen.
- Once the egg halves are covered, set them aside for 5 mins.
- Take 3/4 cup of the all purpose flour and add 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 tsp of salt in it and make a thick slurry.
- On another plate, place the 1/2 cup of plain all purpose flour.
- And yet on another plate, pour in the two types of bread crumbs mixed together along with 1 tsp of salt, garlic powder and black pepper mixed in.
- Take one of the prepared croquettes and first roll on plain flour and dust the flour off.
- Now put it in the flour and water slurry we made and make sure to coat it well.
- Now place on the bread crumbs and with your dry hand roll it to cover it well.
- Repeat the dipping in the flour slurry and rolling in bread crumbs again to ensure a firm and steady double coat.
- Heat a cup of vegetable oil in a medium to small pan and once heated, place the croquettes in the oil one by one. Over a medium flame fry them completely submerged till they become golden brown in color. It takes about 5 mins
- Place them on a paper towel before serving. Serve alongside ketchup and kasundi ( Bengali mustard sauce).
Notes
- I make 4 good sized devils with this recipe, however, you can also squeeze in 5 or sometimes 6 with the same especially if you have small sized eggs.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4
- Calories: 0
- Sugar: 0
- Sodium: 0
- Fat: 0
- Saturated Fat: 0
- Unsaturated Fat: 0
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 0
- Protein: 0
- Cholesterol: 0
Keywords: Dimer Devil Recipe, Egg Devil Recipe, Bengali Dimer Devil Recipe
Find it online: https://www.myfridayfoodswings.com/bengali-dimer-devil/ [9]