Ragda Pattice

Ragda pattice is a flavorful and popular street food of Mumbai, consisting of two parts: ragda, which is a dried yellow pea stew, and pattice, referring to a fried mashed potato patty. It is typically served with various chutneys, then topped with papadi and sev. Toppings can be various like chopped onion, Chopped tomatoes, boiled sweet corn, chopped coriander and green chillies!

 Although not much is known about the origin or the inventor of the dish, ragda pattice remains one of the most popular chaats of Mumbai beaches, sold by numerous street food vendors.

"Chaat" is derived literally from the Sanskrit word and it means "To lick". It is believed that chaat was originated in Uttar Pradesh. There are numerous varieties of chhat like tikki, golgappe or pani puri, papdi chaat, tamatar chaat, pakoda chaat, dahi bhalla, dahi papdi , samosa, matar chhat and so on in India and my love affair with them is well known to my friends and family! By the very mention of names is making me drool ! 😋😋😋I can survive on chaat for countless days I guess! But nobody allows me to actually do that. I remember when we used to go out in India, I would grab a plate or two of aalu tikki (aalu tikki is my favorite) and that was enough for dinner. My father-in-law would scold me for not eating proper food but he could never understand that for people who are a little eater like me, two plates of chaat are more than suffice! 

Now back to our ragda pattice. This chaat is not only deliciously spiced but also filling. The Ragda which is served with it not only adds taste but also satiates your hunger. 

Ingredients:

1- Boiled potatoes-250 gm.

2- White peas (Kabuli Matar) 1/2 cup soaked in water overnight

3- Bread slices-2

4- Onion finely chopped-3

5- Coriander leaves- finely chopped 1/2 cup

6- Suji- 3 tbsp.

7- Salt

8- Red chilli powder

9-Roasted cumin powder

10- Black salt

11- Tamarind soaked (Lemon sized)

12- Baking soda -1/2 pinch or 1/4 tsp.

13- Tamarind dates chutney

14- Coriander Mint chutney

14- Oil for shallow frying

Method:

* First, we will cook white peas. In a pressure cooker, add soaked peas with 3 cups of water, salt and baking soda. (This is enough if you are using sweet and sour Tamarind chutney). But no worries if you are out of that, even then you can make a very delish chaat: just do the following---

           Also add soaked tamarind, jaggery (Ping pong ball size), black salt, red chili powder and roasted cumin powder.

* Now close the lid and cook till 5-6 whistles, keep aside.

* Peel and mash potatoes and add wet and squeezed bread sliced.

* Add salt and red chili powder according to taste and make round tikkis filling inside chopped onion and coriander.

* Coat in suji and heat oil in tawa and shallow fry pattice till a nice red color is visible.

* Serve hot with ragda, both the chutneys( if you don't have red tamarind chutney, just serve with green chutney as you have already prepared the spicy ragda, toppings and  roasted cumin and red chili powder.  

Don’t be daunted by the long ingredient list and cooking instructions. It is not as difficult or complex as it sounds. With little planning and preparation, you can pull it off this most delicious plate of goodness in no time! If you are cooking for the large gathering or even cooking for your friends and family, you can prepare most of the ingredients well in advance, may a day before you serve it. To make it simple, I am dividing the whole preparation and cooking for two days.

On day 1, soak the peas, cook potatoes and also prepare the chutneys. Peel the potatoes and mash them well and add all the ingredients for patties. Prepare the potato mixture for the Patties and put them in an air tight container and store it in refrigerator. Similarly prepare the chutneys and store them in refrigerator in an air tight container.

On day 2, take out the potato mixture and place it on a counter to bring it to room temperature. Meanwhile proceed to make the Ragda by following the recipe above. While the Ragda is getting cooked, finely chop the onions, tomato and fresh coriander leaves for garnishing. That’s it! Plateful of Ragda Patties will be ready in no time and all your hard work will be paid off royally when you see your loved ones devouring it! No need to fish for compliments or ask how it tastes... When you hear just the words like ‘ahh’ and ‘mmm’s’ and no other words, consider that you have cooked one of the best tasting dishes!