Aloo Tikki - Spicy Indian Potato Cake

 Every holiday in India we try to go on a journey by train.  This time too, it was no different. The journey was special because we have never travelled on the Shaan-E-Punjab (The Pride of Punjab). All the way from Amritsar to Delhi on the Indian Railways. It was a 5 hour journey on the seater car of the train. The scenery was quite different to what I was used to down in South India where it is greener and with lots of bodies of water.

The food was also different - and just to be safe we ordered just vegetarian food. So it was vegetable biriyani and Aloo Tikki. I was not very impressed with the food in the train - (only because we had enjoyed three days of amazing local food in Amritsar) - and I didn't give it much thought until we arrived in Delhi.

In Delhi, we stayed at my friend's house and her maid was the one who really got us hooked into Aloo Tikkis. These delightful crisp skinned potato cakes with bits of peas and cauliflower, dipped in a sweet, tangy and sour tamarind sauce and a bit of mint chutney were just too good to stop at one.

The best part was you could make them and use them like burger patties and watch a game of footy while pretending to be in Delhi. So this is what I did today - to relive my holidays!

Ingredients:

For Aloo Tikki:

1 kg potatoes ( I used Desiree)

1/2 cup green peas

1 large red onion

5 - 6 green chillies ( use less if you want it milder)

1 heaped tablespoon of rice flour

2 teaspoons dry mango powder

1 teaspoon black salt

1/2 teaspoon normal salt

2 - 3 mint leaves, chopped fine

a small bunch of coriander leaves, chopped fine

Oil for shallow frying.

Method:

Boil potatoes, skin them and mash them.  Set aside.

Boil peas and drain them, mash them and add to potatoes.

Add chopped chillies and finely chopped onion to the potatoes.

Add salt, give it a good mix, then add the chopped mint and coriander.

Finally, add the rice flour and dry mango powder.

Mix well and taste for salt, heat and sourness.  If you would like it a little more sour, add 1/2 a teaspoon more of the dry mango powder.

Mix well and shape into balls.

Flatten the balls like this:

Shallow fry the tikkis in hot oil taking care to not burn them:

Drain on paper towels and serve hot with tamarind chutney and mint chutney:

Or have it like a burger with toasted bread rolls:

Serve immediately and enjoy!

Note: 

For mint chutney, blitz together half a bunch of mint, a quarter of a bunch of coriander leaves, a couple of green chillies, 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder, black salt to taste and lemon juice. The green chillies I used for the chutney are the mild large green chillies from the supermarket.