How to Cook the Note Perfect Aloo Tikki

Back in Delhi, when I was a little girl, there used to be a tikki, chaat and golgappa  vendor who would pass by our street every evening. The distinct sounds of ‘tun-tun’ that  the steel ladle made as it hit the cast iron tawa and the sizzling and sputtering of the golden fried crispy potato patties were nothing less than a musical melody. For me, it was truly a sound of pure joy.           The real flavours of the Delhi street food lie in the tempting chaats. The display of mouth-watering street food during Dusshera and Diwali, is simply irresistible. Street vendors serve a variety of freshly-cooked  aloo-tikkis, samosas, kachoris, paapdi chaats, dahi bhallas, golgappas etc to hungry passers-by at all times of the day.

   The famous aloo-tikki chaat is a golden, crispy fried potato patty, often stuffed with peas and dal masala and topped with an assortment of tangy,spicy sweet and sour chutneys, a creamy spiced yoghurt or both. It is assembled in a little, dried leaf plate known as dona and is possibly the mother of all the street food experiences.

Recipe: Serves 4

ingredients

• Potato boiled peeled and mashed4 medium sized
• Salt 1/2tsp
• Cornflour 2tbs
• Oil for frying for stuffing
• Channa dal  3tbs
• Salt to taste
• Red chilli powder  1/2 tsp
• Coriander powder 1/2 tsp
• Garam masala 1/4 tsp
• Amchoor 1/4 tsp
• Ginger1/4 tsp
• Green chillies chopped  1/4 tsp

For serving

Green chutney 1/4 cup

Sweet tamarind chutney  1/2 cup

Beaten curd 1/2 cup

method

• Soak channa dal for two hours in water. Drain water.
• Heat oil in a pan. Add ginger and green chillies.
• Add channa dal, salt, red chilli powder, coriander powder and garam masala. Fry till dal is done. Keep it aside.
• Mix potato, salt, and cornflour well.
• Take one and a half table spoon of potato mixture in your palm and flatten it.
• Stuff 1/2 tsp of filling into it. Make it into the shape of a tikki.
• Shallow fry them to get crispy outer layer that covers the soft and spicy inner crust of the potatoes and dal mixture.
• Serve tikkis with sweet and green chutney.