Everyone have their own weird internet hobbies. Mine is viewing funny videos in YouTube of Indian grandmas making all kinds of weird and intriguing dishes. Those videos are usually in Hindi or some other Indian language and it took me quite some time to be able to understand the recipe without understanding the language.

Lately I’ve encountered somethings called “Ragda Patties”, which is a Chaat dish based on potato patties covered with a full-of-spices chickpeas curry, topped with yogurt, fresh tomatoes, onion, more spices and chutneys. A magnificent feast indeed. This dish will definitely be unraveled one day but in the meantime I decide to start with something less ambitious – the potato patties (= Aloo Tikki).

Those patties are served as an appetizer, side dish or a light dinner and are perfectly matched with sweet chutney and/or green chutney. This recipe is the outcome of some trial and error and the end result is crunchy and spicy.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30-40 minutes for the potatoes + 10 minutes frying of the patties

Ingredients (15-20 patties)

• 2-3 medium potatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 carrot
• bunch of cilantro leaves
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 cm ginger
• 3 tbs rice flour or corn flour
• 1/2 tsp red chili powder or 1/2 fresh green chili (chopped)
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions

Cook the potatoes on high flame in pot with water or in steamer until they are completely soft. It should take about 30-40 minutes. Cool the potatoes a bit, peel and mash.

Finely chop the onion, grate the carrot and chop the cilantro leaves. Add the veggies to the mashed potatoes. Grate the ginger finely, crush the garlic cloves. Add them to the mixture. Add the rice flour and all the spices.

Mix everything with your hands until combined. No need to add liquids, the mixture is quite dry and easy to work with. Heat oil in a pan, shape the mixture into patties and fry on medium heat for at least 5 minutes on each side or until it gets golden and a little elastic when you touch it. Take out to a dish with a paper towel. Serve hot with chutneys.

Comments and suggestions

Flour. The rice or corn flour is responsible for the crunchiness in this recipe. You can replace it with regular white flour or chickpeas flour in the same amount but the patties will turn out less crunchy.

Baking. Prefer to skip the frying? You can heat an oven to 180 degrees and bake the patties on a baking tray with a generously greased baking sheet for 30 minutes on each side or until it browns up nicely.

For how long can I store it? The fried/baked patties can be kept in the fridge for two days. Heat them in the oven (or even in the microwave) before serving. You can also prepare the mixture a day ahead and keep it in the fridge. By the way, if the patties are sticking to the pan you can place them in the freezer for 1-2 hours before frying, and then take them out cold from the freezer directly to the hot oil.

In short

Cook 2-3 medium potatoes until soft, peel and mash. Finely chop 1 onion, grate 1 carrot, chop a bunch of cilantro leaves, finely grate 2 cm ginger and crush 2 garlic cloves. Add to the potatoes. Add 3 tbs rice or corn flour, 1/2 tsp red chili powder, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp coriander powder, 1/2 tsp turmeric and 1/2 tsp salt. Mix well with your hands, shape patties and fry in a pan with some oil for 5 minutes on each side or until it browns nicely.