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 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 mashed (4 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
- Ginger 1/4 tsp
- Green chillies chopped 1/4 tsp
Accompaniments
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 imli and green chutney.
- Seema Goel is a gourmet cook, a teacher, a singer and most importantly a mother committed to a lifetime of nurturing.