Ragda Patties
Ragda Pattice is a one of the most popular Indian street foods. Recently, when I was sharing chaats on my Instagram stories, I briefly shared about different types of chaat. Ragda patties also falls in that category but its more filling than other chaat. It can be prepared as a meal or dinner option.
It made with potato patties and a pea stew topped with sweet tamarind and spicy cilantro chutneys, onions, tomatoes, sev, and garnished with cilantro.
Ragda Patties is by far one of the popular dishes in Mumbai street food. It’s often compared to its counterpart Aloo Tikki Chaat. Because the potato patties are similar and the only difference is it is topped with chana masala, the more well-known dish. Even though they have so many similarities the experience in eating both dishes are very different. Often when you get this at street stall, they keep the patties and Ragda very light in flavors and spices. Then when it is served, they would add some spices on top to customize it with customer’s choice of spiciness. It’s a great idea. When we are making at home, we know what everyone’s likes it to be so I just add spices in the recipe.
Interestingly Ragda Patties happens to be vegan and gluten-free. How cool? So, it’s a good dish to keep in mind when you have dietary restrictions.
Every time I talk about chaat, my mouth starts salivating.
Let’s breakdown the recipe.
Ragda – Ragda literally translates to something that’s mushed and stewed. It is a made with dried white peas, that are soaked overnight and then boiled and then we flavor it with spices. You will find a lot of variations of Ragda. Some people do not add onions, tomatoes, garlic and ginger. Some will. In my case I do. So, it’s up to you, if you want to keep the flavors moderate.
Patties – Patties are made with boiled and mashed potatoes and then we add very few ingredients to it and season it with salt. These are then shallow fried in oil which results in crispy exteriors and soft creamy in the inside. They are also kept very simple in terms of flavors and can be customized.
Those are literally two main things in the dish, but it is not complete until you add all the chutneys and toppings. Chaat cannot be a chaat until you have these toppings. These go into every chaat recipes. (Good for Chaat theme party)
Chutneys – Chutneys as I mentioned are quite an essence of the chaat. There is a sweet tamarind chutney and mildly spicy cilantro chutney. Both are easy to make at home or you can buy them at the stores too. They are stored in the refrigerator. It’s always a good idea to take a short cut when you are making elaborate dishes or the ones that have too many components.
Other Toppings – finely chopped onions, tomatoes and cilantro. Finish of with some sev (yellow fried chickpea flour noodles) and some pomegranate arils. I often sprinkle some chaat masala for that extra flavor.
Ragda Patties
Ingredients
- 3-4 medium potatoes boiled (use white potatoes)
- 2 tbsp cornstarch or as needed
- 1-2 white bread or breadcrumbs
- 1 small green chili finely chopped
- ¼ tsp garam masala
- Salt to taste
- Oil for shallow frying
- 2 tbsp neutral oil
- 1 cup dried white peas
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp garlic
- ½ red onion chopped
- 1 to mato finely chopped
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp red chili powder
- Salt to taste
- 1 tsp cumin coriander powder
- 1 tsp garam masala
- Toppings
- ½ red onion finely chopped
- ½ to mato finely chopped
- ¼ cup pomegranate arils optional
- 3-4 tbsp tamarind chutney
- 3-4 cilantro chutney
- 1 cup Sev
- Chaat masala
- Cilantro
Instructions
- Soak the dried white peas overnight or at least (8 hours) in enough water so they are well covered under water. As they swell, they will soak up water.
- Drain all of the water after soaking them for 8 hours and rinse them. Cook them on stove pot until tender and completely soft. If you are using pressure cooker, then add 3 cups of water and cook until 3-5 whistles. I let the pressure release naturally and then open the pressure cooker to remove the peas. They should look creamy and mushy.
- Pre heat a pot or deep pan, add some oil. Once the oil heats up, add the cumin seeds, let them splutter and add garlic, ginger, onions. Cook them until onions become translucent and then add the tomatoes. Cook them for a little bit, then add all the spices like red chili powder, turmeric powder, garam masala, coriander powder and salt. Add some water if it looks too thick. The consistency should be stew like not soupy. Let it simmer and the spices get along for another few minutes.
- To make the potato patties
- Boil potatoes and mash them. It’s easy to mash them when they are hot) be careful with all the steam coming out while mashing them. Mash as smooth as possible. Add cornstarch (1 tbsp at a time), soak bread in some water squeeze out the water and mush it and add it to the potatoes, add chopped green chilies, garam masala (optional) and salt to the mashed potatoes. Mix well until everything is well combined. You should test out by rolling out some into patties. If they are still sticky, then add some more cornstarch or bread/breadcrumbs. It should hold its shape while frying.
- Divide into equal portion. Take one portion, use some oil on your palms to avoid sticking and flatten them to shape into round circles. They should not be too thick or too thin. Finish making all from rest of the mixture. Keep them aside.
- Pre-heat some oil for shallow frying. Once the oil is hot, add the patties, few at a time not overcrowding the pan. Cook them on one side until golden brown and the flip and cook them on the other side too. They will have browning on the top and bottom parts. Middle part will still look kind of light.
- If they seem to have a lot of oil, then drain them on absorbent paper.
- Serving
- Add some Ragda on a plate and plate 3 patties and then drizzle a tsp of each chutneys, you can always add more later. Followed by chopped onions, tomatoes, pomegranate arils, sev and finally with cilantro. Sprinkle some chaat masala.
- It is served warm or hot.
Notes
This dish can easily be customized to your liking of sweetness or spiciness.
XO, Devangi