Arooq

Description
Ground chicken fritters. This dish comes from a family of Iraqi Jews who settled in India over 100 years ago. The arooq, an Iraqi dish, has, what with the green chillies and turmeric in it, been Bombay-ized. It is quite delicious and is the sort of thing that one just cannot stop eating. Amongst Bombay's Iraqi Jews, it is sometimes served with rice and lentils. When children come home starving after a day in school, it is stuffed inside a pita, along with a little salad and served as a snack. Arooq can also be made with ground fish or very finely ground lamb.

Ingredients

 * 2 scallions
 * 1 lb raw ground chicken
 * ⅛ tsp turmeric
 * ¼ cayenne pepper
 * ½ tsp very finely chopped fresh, hot green chilli
 * ½ tsp salt
 * freshly ground black pepper
 * 2 tbsp plain white flour
 * 2 eggs, beaten
 * vegetable oil, for deep frying

Directions

 * 1) Cut off 1" of the white, onion-like parat of the scallion, as well as the top, very green section.
 * 2) You do not need them.
 * 3) Cut the middle sections in half, lengthwise, and then cut these strips crosswise as finely as possible.
 * 4) Put the ground chicken/fish/lamb in a bowl.
 * 5) Add turmeric, cayenne pepper,green chilli, salt, black pepper, scallions and flour. Mix well.
 * 6) Add the eggs and mix again.
 * 7) Cover and refrigerator for at last 1 hour (you can even make the mixture a day ahead of time).
 * 8) Just before you are ready to eat, pour enough oil into a wok or karhai to come to a depth of 1".
 * 9) Heat the oil over a lowish flame.
 * 10) Give it time to heat.
 * 11) Use two soup spoons to make the fritters.
 * 12) Lift up a ball of the chicken mixture, about 1" in diameter, on the front end of the spoons.
 * 13) Help release it into the hot oil with the second spoon.
 * 14) Make as many balls as will fit easily in one layer.
 * 15) Stir and fry them until they are golden brown on the outside and cooked inside.
 * 16) This should take about 5 minutes. Adjust your heat, if necessary.
 * 17) Take the fritters out with a slotted spoon and drain them on paper towels.
 * 18) Make all the fritters this way.
 * 19) Serve them hot.