Recipe: Darshana Muzumdar
Serves 4 or 5
This delicious street food is a very popular fast food and snack especially in Maharashtra and Gujarat. Mumbai is especially famous for it. It is a nutritious and yet budget-friendly, flavorful dish made by assembling pan-fried potato patties (pattice), white pea curry (ragda), flavoured with sweet tamarind and coriander-mint chutneys and then garnished with chopped onions, fresh coriander and fine nylon shev. It is usually served as a snack in the evening.
Ingredients
- 250 gm dry white peas
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp cumin powder
- ½ tsp coriander powder
- ½ tsp fennel powder
- ½ tsp black salt
- 1 inch piece of ginger
- fresh coriander for garnish
- salt to taste
Method
- Soak the white peas overnight or for at least 8 hours in water.
- Drain and rinse the peas and put them in a small pressure cooker. Add enough water to cover the peas and more till it is around 1 centimeter above it.
- Add the turmeric, coriander, cumin and fennel powders, mix it well, and pressure cook it on high heat for one whistle. Turn down the heat to medium low and cook for 2 or 3 whistles.
- Switch off the heat, allow the cooker to release pressure on its own. Once cooled, open the lid and check to see if the peas have cooked well and mash easily between two fingers.
- To make the ragda, turn on the heat to medium and bring the peas to a boil. Turn it down to a simmer and using a potato masher, mash the peas lightly while keeping few peas intact.
- Add the black salt and salt and mix well. The starch from the peas will make the mixture thick in consistency.
- Chop the ginger finely and the coriander coarsely and add them to the cooked pea mixture
- Turn off the heat and keep this ragda aside.
Aloo Tikki or Pattice
Ingredients
- 5-6 medium sized potatoes
- 1 tbsp groundnut oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1-2 green chillies
- ½ inch piece ginger
- a handful of fresh coriander
- salt to taste
- oil to shallow fry the tikkis
Method
- Boil the potatoes well and peel them. Allow to cool slightly and chop them into large pieces.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan on medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and finely chopped green chillies.
- Allow to cook slightly and add the boiled peeled potato pieces
- Mash them with a potato masher or the back of a ladle.
- Add the finely chopped ginger and fresh coriander and mix well.
- Season with salt and keep mixing and mashing them for another two minutes.
- Transfer to a plate and allow to cool to almost room temperature.
- Once cool, take a heaped tablespoon or more of the mixture and make a small ball with it. Flatten the ball to make a flat tikki. Place the tikki on a plate ready to be shallow fried. Repeat till all the mixture is used up.
- Heat enough oil in a flat thick bottomed steel or iron pan on medium heat and shallow fry the tikkis till they are light golden brown on both sides. Remove these onto a plate ready to assemble.
Assembling the Ragda Pattice
Place finely chopped onions, finely chopped ginger, the coriander-mint chutney, sweet tamarind chutney, some chaat masala, the ragda and the potato tikkis all ready near one another.
Take a shallow plate and put a large ladleful of ragda on it. Place two tikkis on the ragda and break each into two or three pieces. Add more ragda on the tikkis. Sprinkle with chopped onions, fresh coriander, sweet tamarind chutney, coriander mint chutney, chaat masala and chopped ginger and serve. For added flavour use you can use a little fine shev, Kashmiri red chilli powder and lime juice. Omit the onion if you are using it as a Jain recipe.
For the Whole-Food Plant-Based (WFPB) version:
- Do not peel the potatoes.
- Instead of shallow frying the tikkis, brush the pan with a little oil and fry them on medium low heat till golden brown on both sides.