These ragda patties add a healthful twist to the traditional all-potato patties, while still retaining all that awesome flavor, authenticity and appeal of this Mumbai street favorite, making it an appetizing snack or even a complete meal in itself.
Ingredients:
For patties (makes around 20 medium sized patties):
- Potatoes (3 medium)
- Carrots (2 small)
- Broccoli (5-6 mini florets)
- Kale (2-3 leaves)
- Oil/Ghee (1 tbsp)
Spices:
- Cumin (jeera) powder (1/2 tsp)
- Coriander (dhaniya) powder (1/2 tsp)
- Asafetida (hing) (a pinch)
- Red chili powder (per taste)
- Turmeric (haldi) (1/4 tsp)
- Ginger (crushed) (1/2 tsp)
- Salt (to taste)
- Lemon juice (1 tbsp)
- Corn flour (2 tsp)
For ragda (makes 4 generous servings):
- Dried white peas (1 cup)
- Turmeric (haldi) (1/4 tsp)
- Salt (to taste)
- Ghee (1 tsp)
- Cumin (jeera) seeds (1/2 tsp)
- Cloves (2)
- Asafetida (hing) powder (a pinch)
For date-tamarind chutney:
- Dates (1 cup)
- Tamarind (large lemon sized ball)
- Black pepper powder (1/3 tsp)
- Himalayan pink salt/black rock salt (to taste)
- Cumin (jeera) powder (1/3 tsp)
- Red chili powder (1/3 tsp)
For green chutney:
- Coriander leaves (1 bunch)
- Mint leaves (optional) (1/2 the amount of coriander leaves)
- Ginger (crushed) (1 tsp)
- Green chili (per taste)
- Roasted peanuts (1 tbsp)
- Salt (to taste)
- Lemon juice (1 tbsp)
For dry powder seasoning (optionally, use chaat masala or equivalent mix):
- Himalayan pink salt/black rock salt (1 tsp)
- Cumin (jeera) powder (1 tsp)
- Dried mango (amchur) powder (1 tsp)
- Black pepper powder (1/3 tsp)
- Red chili powder (1/3 tsp)
- Asafetida (hing) powder (a pinch)
Method:
For patties:
- Pressure cook all the vegetables till they are well done, but not mushy and overdone. Keep half a potato aside for the ragda. Mash the remaining vegetables.
- Add spices and salt to the mashed vegetables.
- Add corn flour as a binder and mix well.
- Make balls of whatever size you prefer and flatten them.
- Cook these patties on medium heat using oil or ghee, until the patties turn a golden brown color.
For ragda:
- Soak the dried white peas overnight in sufficient water. They expand considerably on soaking, so ensure that you add enough water.
- Pressure cook the soaked peas in the morning with enough water, salt and turmeric. I pressure cooked them for 3 whistles and 9 minutes on simmer. If you think the peas are still not cooked to your satisfaction, you can cook them some more, after ensuring that there is enough water in the vessel.
- Heat ghee on medium flame. Add cumin seeds, cloves and asafetida when the oil is hot. When seeds crackle, switch off the flame and add the tempering into the cooked ragda.
- Add red chili powder to the cooked ragda.
- Add half a mashed potato (that was saved while making the patties) to the ragda.
- Now adjust the amount of water and bring the ragda to a boil. It should be neither too runny nor too thick in consistency.
For date tamarind chutney:
- In half a cup of hot water, soak the tamarind for 5 minutes or so. Squeeze out the extract and discard the fibrous portions.
- Remove the seeds from the dates and cook them with water on a medium flame. Add enough water so that the dates are just covered while cooking.
- Add tamarind extract to the dates while they are cooking.
- Cook for 5 minutes until the dates are tender.
- Grind the cooked dates and tamarind extract to a fine paste.
- Add the dry seasonings and mix well.
- Store in a air-tight glass container and refrigerate. You may use this for up to a month or so.
For green chutney:
- Wash the leaves well and discard the stems.
- Assemble all the ingredients into a food processor or grinder. Add a little water (3-4 tbsp should be a good start, don’t add too much or the chutney will become too runny) and pulse until a smooth paste-like consistency is achieved.
- Store in an air-tight glass container and refrigerate. You may use this for up to 2-3 days.
For dry powder seasoning:
- Mix all the dry powders well.
- Store in a dry, air-tight glass container. This stores well for up to a few months.
Assembly:
- In a bowl, place the patties.
- Add ragda on top of the patties and cover them fully.
- Chop some tomatoes, onions and coriander leaves. Add these toppings on top of the ragda.
- Add green chutney, date-tamarind chutney and sprinkle the dry powder seasoning/chaat masala on top.
- Optionally, you can also add sev (deep-fried besan/gram flour noodles) as a topping. Your delicious high-fiber ragda patties is ready to dig into!
Tastes (Rasa):
Sweet (white peas, ghee/oil, dates, potatoes, carrots, broccoli), sour (lemon, tamarind), salty (salt), bitter (kale), pungent (chilies, ginger), astringent (turmeric, asafetida).
Doshic Influence:
Traditionally, the patties are made using only potatoes. These with the white peas make for a kapha aggravating meal. To offset this, we added kale, carrots and broccoli and a host of digestive spices, that also add to the fiber content of this snack. White peas need to be soaked and cooked well, otherwise, they may cause flatulence and aggravate vata. Digestive spices like turmeric, asafetida, cumin are added to ghee (which also aids in digestion) to offset these vata aggravating qualities of white peas.
Effects on the Mind (Gunas):
Overall, this is a rajasic dish. Eliminating use of raw onion as a topping, limiting use of chilies and tamarind to a minimal amount are some ways to reduce rajas.