Aloo tikki (potato patties)

 

                                          

Hello readers!

Welcome to easy cooking blog no.10

 

Introduction

ALOO TIKKI/ POTATO PATTIE: This mouth-watering snack which is commonly known as Aloo Tikki does not need any introduction owing to its popularity amongst the Indian community. At the same time, it has also been winning hearts of many people around the globe for many decades. Undoubtedly, this is one of my absolute favourites which I can have 24/7.

The process of making this snack is very simple and straightforward, so anybody can master this recipe after giving a few trials. The main ingredient of this snack is the king of vegetables “potato” which is first boiled, mashed, and subsequently mixed with different traditional spices and herbs and finally shallow fried in an oil (sunflower, mustard), oven baked, or air fried depending on your choice of your cooking method and food preferences, although it tastes better when shallow fried. 

The Indian weddings, festivals, birthday parties, or any other special occasion are incomplete without having this delicious snack in their menus, although it is cooked on random days too.  So basically, we look for an excuse to make it and enjoy bingeing on them.  It is well loved by all age groups. This is indeed a vegan snack, high source of energy, obviously, little bit on oily side if shallow fried.

“I am so fond of this snack that whenever I attend any wedding function or ceremony back in India, I do not bother going around and explore any other food items on the menu but look specifically for this “tikki stall” and eat it to my heart content. I am kind of obsessed with its taste and the ways it is served”.

After coming to South Africa, I used to crave for this snack (tikki) a lot. Since, I was so busy with other things and did not have ample time for experimenting cooking, I would just nag my husband that I feel like eating this snack, and all he would say that go to sleep and dream about it ha-ha, that was so harsh but funny of him to say something like this.

So, there a very famous saying “Necessity is the mother of invention”, one fine day I finally decided to try my hands on this recipe. After a few trials, I managed to prepare it the way I wanted it to be like. When you initially start cooking and things are being clumsy, do not worry it’s a part of learning. We make mistakes, we try and soon we master things which we want in our life. 

Now, whenever I feel like having this snack, I make it within no time and pig out on it.

Check out other interesting recipe links given below!

Aloo paratha (potato stuffed flatbread)

Punjabi poha (flattened rice snack)

Dahi sandwich (hung-curd sandwich)

Bread pakoda (bread cutlet)

Let me quickly show you the list of ingredients that we do need to make this snack.

                                                  

Ingredients                                                               Qty

Boiled potato                                                            5-6

Red onion                                                                  1

Green chillies                                                           as per taste

Dal(Split black gram/chana dal)                              4-5 tbsp

Cumin seeds                                                              1 tbsp

Coriander seeds                                                        1 tbsp

Carrom seeds                                                            1/2 tsp

Fenugreek leaves                                                      1 tbsp

Dry mango powder (optional)                                   1 tbsp

Anaardana (dried pomegranate seeds)                   1 tsp (optional)

Red chilli powder                                                      as per taste

Salt                                                                            as per taste

Chat masala (optional)                                             for garnishing

Oil                                                                              for frying

 

Cooking time

60 minutes (excluding boiling of potatoes). This snack needs to be fried on a medium to low heat for nice and crispy tikki from outside and well-cooked form inside. Do not fry them on high heat.

Method

There are two ways that can be used to make two different types of patties.

1.      Aloo tikki with split black gram lentil (urad) or split gram lentil (chana dal).

2.     Aloo tikki without lentil: plain aloo tikki with spices and herbs only.

In the first method, I use split black gram lentil (urad dal) which is generally used to make dosa, or gram lentil (chana dal) soaked for at least 8 hours. If you like extra crispiness and crankiness, this method is perfect for you.

In the second method, no lentil is added, so the patties (tikkis) prepared here are soft and spongy. You can try either of these methods depending on your taste and availability of the material. However, my recommendation is that you try the first method if lentils are at your disposal as the addition of lentil takes the taste to another level.

Different steps adopted to make the potato patties are summarised as follows:

Step 1: Soaking of lentil (dal)

Take 4-5 tbsp of lentil (for 7 to 8 patties) in a bowl rinse it thoroughly under running water. Pour some fresh water and soak it for at least 8 hours or overnight. Once it is soaked nicely drain the water and keep the lentil/dal aside.

Step 2: boiling of potatoes

Take the potatoes and pressure cook them till 1 whistle, let the pressure released naturally, use fork or knife to poke the potato. If it is soft enough take them out of the cooker and let them sit to cool down a bit. Make sure the potatoes are not mushy.

Peel all the potatoes and mash them gently with the masher.

 

                          

                                                             

Step 3: Mixing of spices, herbs and lentil (dal)

Once the potatoes are mashed nicely, add all the dry spices, onions, chillies and lentil (dal), and mix everything well.

                      

Step 4: Addition of binder

There are different binders that can be used to bind the aforementioned mixture, for example, corn flour, breadcrumbs, rice flour or besan (chickpea flour). I have used rice flour for this recipe.

                                                 

Add the binder little by little and mix it well with the potato mixture and try to bring everything together. Grease your palms with some oil and divide the potato dough into small portions (depending upon how big or small patties you want).

  

Using your hands take the potato dough one by one and roll them into roundies and later flatten them by gently pressing between the palms.

                                 

Step 5: Frying aloo tikki/potato patties

Place a non-stick pan on a gas stove, let it heat a bit, pour some oil (preferably sunflower or mustard  oil can be used, avoid using olive oil as it has low smoke point, not ideal for cooking and frying). I used sunflower oil in this case. Let the oil heat up properly.  Please note that if the oil is not heated up nicely patties (tikki) will absorb large amount of oil while frying.

                                           

Once the oil is hot enough turn the heat to medium and place the patties (tikki) gently into it and cook them from one side first, later flip it to other side and cook nicely. In between frying use spatula to just press them gently so that it gets crisp from inside as well as outside. Check the pictures for the reference.

                               

Take them off the flame once you get nicely fried golden brown tikki/patties and serve while hot. 

Garnishing

These aloo tikki/patties do not need any fancy garnishing though, but if you like tangy (chatpata ) flavour you can sprinkle some chat masala over it before consuming them.

Serving suggestions

Interestingly these tikkies/patties can be served in 3 different ways, it is entirely up to you how you want to have it.

It can be eaten on their own, with some dip or chutney of your choice and some masala tea.

Should be consumed while hot for nice crispiness and crunch.

This can be enjoyed as a chat: for this take 2 to 3 patties in a plate, drizzle some tamarind chutney, mint-coriander chutney, some spiced curd or yoghurt, some chopped red onions and finally sprinkle some sev over it. In near future I will make a blog on different types of dips or chutnies we use.

Last but not the least, you can assemble your hash brown burger at home with this extra hash brown pattie along with chicken Pattie in the burger.

I personally love to have it in the form of chat, it gives you all the different flavours in one spoon and having my own veg burger at home using this potato patty. Isn’t it great?

                                               

      Tips and Tricks

Secret to make a perfect crisp aloo tikki, is the type of potato used to make it. There are different types of potatoes available in the market. But, for the aloo tikki use mash and bake potato as they do not get sticky after boiling.

Second trick is how to boil the potatoes- I have used bake and mash potatoes, I pressure cooked them till 1 whistle, and let the pressure released naturally. Check the potatoes after one whistle by using a knife or a fork to poke the potato.

Do not over boil the potatoes. The shape and skin of the potato should be intact. They should not be mushy and sticky after boiling.

You can soft the potatoes in a microwave or instant pot as well.

In case you do not find mash and bake potatoes, or the potatoes are bit watery, sticky, and mushy. Do not worry. You just add more amount of binder to make the dough like consistency.

Do not add the binder in one go, always add little by little and try to bring the mashed and spiced potatoes together like a dough.

Always fry aloo tikki on a medium to low heat, otherwise they will be cooked from outside only leaving the inside half-cooked. We must cook them patiently for best results.

Before frying the tikkies, the oil must be hot enough, if the oil is not heated up nicely, tikkies will adsorb all the oil. So, make sure the oil is hot enough.

Dal/lentil must be soaked for at least 6 to 7 hours or overnight. Drain all the water to use the dal.

That is, it for today’s blog.

I hope you like this recipe. Do give it a try and let me know in the comments below.

Take care and stay safe!

Thanks!

Neha