Patties (or Pattise as we call in our local language) is a very popular street food in India, especially in North India. The boiled and mashed potatoes stuffed with boiled and spice flavored lentils (Chana Dal or Bengal Gram), roasted on griddle with some oil or butter and generally served with curried Garbanzo (Ragda) and a dash of tamarind and coriander - mint chutney (Indian Dips) , some sliced onions and there you go, happily relishing a filling meal by itself or a snack.

Today's recipe is restricted to the Patties only, while the recipes of Ragda and Chutney shall follow soon .

Patties

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Recipe: Patties (Spiced lentils stuffed potato cutlets)
Prep Time: 30-45 minutes, mainly for cooking the potatoes and lentils
Cooking Time: 3-4 minutes per batch of cutlets (each batch could be of maximum 4 cutlets)
Makes: 6-7 Cutlets
Shelf Life of cutlets : Can be refrigerated for upto a day
Recipe level: Intermediary
Recipe/Post by: Alka

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Ingredients:
For Potato Covering:
3 large Potatoes, boiled and mashed
3 Bread Slices
2-3 Green Chillies
Few spoons of Chopped Coriander Leaves
1 tsp Chaat Masala (Optional. Available in any Indian grocery shop)
1 tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
Salt to taste

For Stuffing:
1 cup (A tad less than that) Chana Dal/Split Bengal Gram/Split Chickpeas
1 Green Chilli
¼ tsp Turmeric Powder
¼ tsp Garam Masala Powder
Salt as per taste
¼ tsp Amchoor Powder/Dried Mango Powder or Chaat Masala
1 tsp Jeera/Cumin seeds

You will also need:
Oil/Butter/Ghee for shallow frying

Special Utensils:
Pressure cooker for speedy boiling of potatoes and dal/lentils.
Griddle or Fry Pan (Note that the textures of the crust comes out best when cooked over iron griddle than pan. Again, a nonstick pan gives a less crispy crust, but you will save on calories).

Potato Covering with Spiced Lentil Filling

Procedure:

Preparing Potato Covering & Lentil Stuffing:

1. Mix boiled and mashed potatoes with bread crumbs (grind bread slices along with green chillies).
2. Add salt, coriander leaves, cumin seeds and chaat masala (optional).
3. Mix it properly and keep aside. Take care that there are no lumps in the mixture.
4. For stuffing pick, soak, wash chana dal, add salt and turmeric powder, chopped green chilli and about one and half cup of water. The water should barely cover the dal. Close the lid of the cooker.
5. Boil the dal till just cooked(two whistles in pressure cooker).
6. Put off the gas, let the pressure subside and then open the lid. If dal is cooked but still some amount of water remains, then drain the excess water. If just traces of water are remaining, then heat the dal without covering with lid on high flame. Remember we need just cooked chana dal, not mushy.
7. Add some garam masala powder, amchoor powder, cumin seeds and keep it covered for few minutes. You can also add some raisins and cashew nuts (Kishmish and Kaju). Let the dal cool properly.
8. Now take a small portion of potato mixture, pat it on your palms(greased), place the stuffing of chana dal and roll it back into a ball.

Patties before shallow frying

Shaping & Cooking the Patties:

1. Now if you have the heart shaped mould that is used for making patties, then use it otherwise just make a tikki shape, a ball of mixture flattened a bit from both sides(just press the stuffed ball in between yours palms, very gently).
2. Shallow fry on a hot griddle, adding some oil/ghee/butter and tossing it at intervals. Do not fry more than 4 patties in a single batch.
3. Cook it on medium flame till the surface becomes crisp and brown.

Serving Suggestions:

1. Serve it with chutney, or chickpeas in gravy (Chole), with some sliced onions.
2. Tastes best with soft buns (Laadi Pav) but goes well on its own too.

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Special Notes/Tips:

• Using ghee/butter while shallow frying gives the patties a real flavorful taste, but avoid if you are counting calories and use oil instead.
• I have found that making these on nonstick pan, do not result in crispy layer. Iron griddle works best to make the out layer crispy.
• If there are unexpected guests, you can deep fry or microwave the patties, since shallow frying could take more time.
• In absense of Ragda (if you haven't presoaked chickpeas or you run short of time to cook the elaborate meal), the patties goes well with just Coriander-Mint Chutney or even Tomato Ketchup.