Ragada Patties - A New Twist On A Popular Mumbai Street Food

Everything was white and fluffy around my neighborhood today. I've seen my dad clear our driveway at least three times since the morning. However, snowmaggedon 2016 aka Jonas is still going strong and covering whatever was cleared with more white powdery flakes. 

We are hunkering down and staying warm with hot beverages such as hot tea with ginger and spices as well as hot chocolate with marshmallows. 

Although, we didn't join the bandwagon of people "storm shopping", we had everything we needed for situations like this right inside our food pantry and freezer. PHEW!! We just decided to go shopping for dish ideas in there. 

Luckily, we had everything we needed to make one of my mom's favorite street foods, Ragada patties. 

Ragada patties are a popular Mumbai and Hyderabadi street food. My mom and her siblings used to enjoy eating this snack in the good old days, as she told it.

The patties, which are fried potato cutlets, are lined along this large hot tava (similar to the Chinese wok) on the street carts. When a customer approaches the cart, the street vendor toasts a patty on the tava and tops it with ragada (dried yellow peas mixture), sev, tamarind/date chutney and coriander chutneys.

It's definitely a comfort food worth having during this cold season. Check out our own twist in this comfort food for those who don't want to spend all day cooking. 

Ingredients:

for Ragada

- 1 cup dry peas (yellow or green)

- 1 medium onion, chopped finely

- 1/4 cup Hunt's tomato sauce (or 2 plum tomatoes pureed)

- 1 Tbsp ginger-garlic paste

- 3 tsp Dhanjeera powder (dhanjeera is ground coriander and cumin seeds)

- 3/4 tsp chili powder

- 1 tsp garam masala

- 1/8 tsp turmeric

- 1 Tbsp brown sugar

- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds

- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds

- 1/4 cup fresh coriander, chopped

- 1 Tbsp lemon juice

- Salt, as per your taste

- 3 Tbsp Vegetable oil

- pinch of hing (optional)

for patties

- pack of frozen hash browns 

for Ragada patties assembly

- tamarind/date chutney

- coriander chutney

- sev

Instructions

 1) Soak peas in plenty of water over night. Discard the soaked water and wash the peas with fresh water. In a separate pan, add peas and enough water to cover them and slightly more. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and pinch of hing. Pressure cook the peas for 7 to 10 minutes. 

2) Heat vegetable oil in a medium saucepan. Hover your palm over the pan and when you feel the heat, add mustard and cumin seeds. When they splutter, add hing and mix. Then add chopped onion ans saute for 2 to 3 minutes until onion is translucent. Next add turmeric, garam masala, chili powder, dhanjeera powder and mix well for 30 seconds. Add ginger-garlic paste and tomato sauce and stir for couple of minutes to remove the raw taste. 

3) Next add the cooked peas mixture, 1/2 tsp salt and additional water into the pan. Cook for 10 minutes at low/medium heat under closed lid. (Note: bring mixture to gravy consistency, as shown in picture below.)

4) Taste and adjust salt if needed. Remove from stove ans add lemon juice and brown sugar. Mix well. 

5) Instead of making the fried potato cutlets from scratch, we improvised and used store bought frozen hash browns instead. Simply, defrost the hash browns and toast them to your liking. 

Check out these toasty hash browns just waiting to be topped with ragada gravy. 

6) Place each toasted hash brown in your favorite bowl, top with the ragada mixture, sev, and your favorite chutney (as shown below). I love eating mine with tamarind chutney. 

Hope you enjoyed our take on a popular street food. We like re-creating our favorite street foods that we grew up with at home because we can't always fly to these exotic destinations to enjoy such yummy comfort food whenever we want. 

Have a favorite Indian street food you'd like us to re-create? Let us know. For now, good night and stay warm. :-) 

Tater Tots Revived - Not Just 4 Kids!

My last entry about "Hot Summer Treats" featured this snack called Aloo Papdi Chaat that I have tried at many restaurants but I never liked it as much as when I make it at home. The ingredients are fresher and everything is still crispy when you are eating it.

Well today, I've got another treat for you to try. It's called Aloo Tikki Chaat and the main ingredient is none other than TATER TOTS!!

You're probably thinking, "is she crazy, those are for kids". Well, I'm not and they are perfect for this "off the street" snack. I say it's off the street because in India, specifically in Delhi and Bombay, there are street vendors that make this hot off the grill and serve it up with different sauces and people go crazy for them. You don't have to go to India to enjoy this snack, I will show you how to make it in the comfort of your home.

In the Aloo Papdi Chaat snack, you had to add crispy bits to make it more crunchy. For this recipe, you don't need to add those because you will use baked tater tots which you can make as crunchy as you want.
 

Here are the ingredients from left to right: Chaat Masala, Tamarind Chutney, Coriander Chutney, Yogurt, and Tater tots (or you can use Mini Potato Patties).  

Procedure:

1) Thaw the contents of the tater tots bag and place them in a greased baking sheet. Follow the baking instructions listed on the bag. If you want them to be a bit more crunchy, leave them in longer.  

 

(Hint: Make sure they do not get burned)

 

2) Take 5-6 tater tots or patties off the sheet and mash them up on a plate with a fork.

 

3) Dilute the chutneys with a little bit of water before adding to the potato mixture. Most of these chutneys are concentrated so they will have a strong taste. Adding water to them will tone the taste down and won't clump up your snack.

4) Next add yogurt to the mixture, and then sprinkle chaat masala and sev on top. The recipe is now completed.

I now present this scrumptious snack to you. Go enjoy it. Savor every last tot morsel.

***Quick Tip: Two of the ingredients in this recipe (such as tamarind and coriander chutney) are already found in most Indian households because they are used as condiments for other snacks and dishes. They are like ketchup or mustard sauce for American food.

Spinach Nuggets...Beyond Appetizers!!

Remember Tater Tots from your high school lunches? What about spinach nuggets from fast food restaurants with some spicy dipping sauce. Did you ever think you could make an Indian curry out of them? Here's what my mom had to say. The following is our conversation between mother (M) and I, the daughter (D):

M: Traditionally, Koftas (dumplings) are made using the following method: you first grate vegetables like potatoes, long squash, plantains or even Paneer (Indian Cheese). Then mix the grated vegetable with bread crumbs or gram flour, and then make them into balls. Next you fry these balls and add them to the gravy which you also have to make.

D: What?? All this sounds like a long process. Isn't there a way to shorten this recipe and still eat healthy.

M: I'm glad you asked because there's a way out. You can use tater tots or spinach nuggets as the dry koftas. No more grating or mixing and making balls. All you have to make is the gravy, which is not that difficult.

D: Okay, how do you make it? Oh, maybe we can make this for our guests tonight.

M: That's a good idea. It makes 3-4 servings, so we will have enough.

Here's what you will need:

Ingredients for koftas:

• 1 Packet Veggie Patch Spinach Nuggets - (12 pieces total)

Ingredients for the gravy:

• 2 tbsp Cooking oil
• 1 Medium Onion, finely chopped
• ½ tbsp Ginger-garlic paste
• ½ tbsp Garam Masala
• ½ cup Red Pack Crushed Tomato puree
• 1 tsp Chili Powder
• 1 tsp Turmeric Powder
• 1 tbsp Cream cheese
• 1 tbsp Regular Sour Cream
• 1 tbsp Fresh Coriander, finely chopped
• Salt to taste

***It's a good thing we have our Chaunk box (spice box) for some of the ingredients. It makes it easier to store them for cooking.

Procedure:

1) Bake the koftas in a toaster oven at 350°C for 20 minutes, alternately they can be toasted mildly on both sides in a non-stick pan.

2) Heat oil in a saucepan and sauté crushed onions until light golden brown. Add ginger garlic paste and sauté for 1-2 min. Then add turmeric, chili and garam masala powder and mix well.

3) Stir in crushed tomato / puree and mix well, add cream cheese & sour cream and mix it into the tomato mixture.

4) Next, add water to make the gravy to a soup like consistency and salt & boil the sauce. Evaporated milk (small can) can be used instead of cream cheese and sour cream to make the gravy.

5) Drop the nuggets into the sauce and continue to heat the curry to boil and remove and transfer into a serving dish.

6) Garnish with fresh coriander and serve the vegetable with rice or any type of bread.

***Quick Tip:
- To avoid koftas /nuggets from breaking, arrange them in the serving dish and pour hot gravy over them. Microwave for 3-5 minutes if needed.

- Fat-free or non-fat ingredients could be used to make a low-calorie dish.

- Mushroom and broccoli nuggets, Tater tots, or Ashoka's Hara Bhara Kebabs can also be substituted for spinach nuggets.