Bombay Style Ragda Patties

India is blessed with a variety of street food. Every city and state have their own famous street foods. Be it the chaps or gol gappas in Delhi or the Onion Naans and Lassi from Amritsar; kebabs and biryani from Lucknow. Who can forget Franky, Vada Pao, Pao bhaji, and Ragda patties from Mumbai?

I am such a big fan of all kinds of chaat. This year I ditched Dahi Bhalle which is a must on Holi since it was still very cold this year. Instead, I decided to make Ragda patties which basically is Aloo tikkis had with dry peas gravy, yogurt, and a lot of Tamarind and green chutney.

Ragda Patties is a popular street snack from Bombay and is loved by one and all. I hope you like this stepwise recipe for making the patties and enjoy it too.

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes
COOKING TIME: 60 minutes
SERVINGS: About 10 patties
DIFFICULTY SCALE: Medium

INGREDIENTS: 

For the Tikkis/Cutlets – 

1. Potatoes – 3, large
2. Bread crumbs – ½ cup
3. Fresh coriander – ¼ cup, finely chopped
4. Roasted cumin powder – 1 teaspoon
5. Red chilli powder – ½ teaspoon
6. Cooking oil – 2-3 tablespoons
7. Salt – to taste

For the Peas sabzi –

8. White dried peas – 1 cup, soaked overnight
9. Water – 2.5 cup
10. Turmeric powder – 1 teaspoon
11. Fennel seeds – 1 tablespoon
12. Cumin seeds – 1 tablespoon
13. Coriander seeds – 2 tablespoon
14. Asafetida – 2-3 pinch
15. Cooking oil – 1 tablespoon
16. Jaggery – a small piece
17. Lemon juice – 2 tablespoons
18. Salt – to taste

For the toppings/garnish –

19. Onion – ¼ cup, diced
20. Tomatoes – ½ cup, diced
21. Yogurt – ¼ cup
22. Imli/Tamarind chutney – 2-3 tablespoons
23. Green Dhaniya/coriander chutney – 2 tablespoons
24. Roasted cumin powder – 1 tablespoon
25. Kashmiri red chilli powder – ½ tablespoon

UTENSILS/EQUIPMENT:

1. Pressure cooker
2. Mixing bowl
3. Non – stick Tawa/Air fryer
4. Frying pan
5. Potato masher

RECIPE:

For the Matar Ghugni –

1. Wash the peas thoroughly and soak them overnight or at least 5-6 hours.
2. Add the peas to a pressure cooker, and add 2.5 cups of water. Add turmeric powder and salt and close the lid.
3. Keep it on high flame until one whistel, then allow the peas to cook on low heat for about 20 minutes. This will ensure that the peas turn soft and mushy.
4. Take a frying pan and dry roast some cumin seeds, fennel seeds, and coriander seeds. Keep stirring so that they don’t burn.
5. Once they have cooled a little, grind them coarsely.
6. Take a potato masher and mash the boiled peas a little. If there is a lot of water, cook the peas on medium flame, till they thicken up slightly. Remember that the peas would also thicken up once they cool down, so don’t dry them completely.

7. Once the peas are thick, add in the coarse spices, jaggery, and some lemon juice. Adjust the salt if needed.
8. Take some oil in a small pan. Once it’s hot, add a few cumin seeds and asafetida. Add it to the mushy peas.

For the Aloo tikkis –

9. For boiling the potatoes, add the potatoes and enough water to submerge them, in a pressure cooker. Close the lid and keep on high heat until you hear three whistles. Remove from heat.
10. Remove the lid once the steam releases and allow the potatoes to cool.
11. Peel the potatoes and mash them while they are still warm.
12. Add bread crumbs, finely chopped coriander leaves, roasted cumin powder, salt and red chilli powder to the mashed potatoes.
13. Mix everything with clean hands.
14. Take a large tablespoon of this mix and make flat tikkis/cutlets out of it. Repeat this process until all the mix is used.
15. If the tikkis seem a little soft, you can place them in the refrigerator for 10 minutes or so.
16. You can cook the patties on a non-stick pan using little oil or you could cook them in an air fryer as well.
17. The patties take about 5 minutes each on a non-stick pan. Similarly, for crispy patties, you would need about 12-15 minutes in the air fryer at 200 degrees Celsius.

Assembling the Ragda Patties –

18. Take small bowls and add 1-2 tikkis/cutlets depending on the size of the bowl.
19. Add in 1 big ladle of the peas and add chopped onions and tomatoes on top along with some yogurt.
20. Sprinkle some cumin powder and Kashmiri red chili powder on top.
21. Add some Imli/Tamarind Chutney and Green Coriander chutney on top and enjoy while hot.