Name: Aloo Tikki (Stuffed)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 100 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 2 Potato, medium, boiled, cooled, and grated; 1½ tbsp Rice Flour, essential for extreme street-style crunch; ⅛ cup Split Bengal Gram, soaked for 1 hr and boiled until just soft (for stuffing); 1 tbsp Green Peas, boiled and crushed (for stuffing); 1 Green Chili Pepper, finely chopped; ½ tsp Ginger, finely grated; ¼ tsp Ground Cumin, roasted; ¼ tsp Red Chilli Powder; ½ tsp Chaat Masala; ⅛ tsp Garam Masala; ½ tsp Salt, divided; 1 tbsp Coriander Leaves, chopped; 2 tbsp Ghee, or oil, for shallow frying (ghee gives authentic flavor)

1 hr 40 mintotal

40 min hands-on1 hr hands-off

Prep 20 min · Cook 20 min

Serves: 2
Difficulty: Medium
Spice: Medium

Add to your week

Method

Make the stuffing: in a mixing bowl, combine the boiled and well-drained chana dal, crushed green peas, finely chopped green chillies, grated ginger, cumin powder, red chilli powder, garam masala, chaat masala, fresh coriander and a pinch of salt. Mix thoroughly.
Tikki Shell Architecture: In a primary, expansive bowl, deposit the temperature-shocked grated potatoes, rice flour, and salt. Employ an exceptionally light manual touch to coax the ingredients into a soft, yielding dough structure. Strict warning: Over-kneading will activate starches and permanently rubberize the texture.
Divide the potato mixture into equal-sized balls.
Apply a microscopic lipid film to your palms. Isolate a single potato sphere, flatten it into a concave disc, and inject a highly concentrated 1-teaspoon payload of the spiced dal stuffing directly into the geometric center.
Carefully draw the edges of the potato dough up over the filling to seal it in. Press the ball gently between your palms into a thick, sturdy patty.
Elevate a volume of pure ghee (or secondary lipid) to a sustained medium thermal state upon a heavy-gauge, perfectly flat griddle (tawa).
Place the stuffed tikkis on the hot surface. Shallow-fry them undisturbed for 5-6 minutes. The underside needs that time to form a deep golden, crisp crust.
5–6 min
Turn them over carefully with a thin spatula and press down lightly. Fry the second side the same way for another 5-6 minutes until it is equally crisp.
5–6 min
Lift them out and drain them on kitchen paper straight away.
Provide service while the structures emit aggressive thermal steam.

How to tell it's done

A thick, loudly crisp crust from the rice flour and potato starch, giving way to a velvety potato layer and then a well-spiced, grainy lentil filling with real bite.

Getting it right

Tip

Chef's Tip: The chana dal filling has to be bone dry. Any water left in it turns to steam and bursts the tikki open in the pan. Frying in pure ghee rather than oil is what gives the rich, unmistakable Haldiram-style aroma.

What to serve it with

Serve the crisp tikkis whole, with sharp mint chutney and a sweet tamarind reduction. Or crush them, spoon over whipped yogurt and chutneys, and build them into a full tikki chaat.

Chilli Mushroom (Dry)

Chilli mushroom batters mushrooms and tosses them in a dry Indo-Chinese sauce.

30 minvegan

Chilli Paneer (Dry)

Chilli paneer, dry, fries battered paneer and tosses it with peppers and green chilli.

30 minvegetarian

Crispy Corn Palak Tikki

Corn palak tikki binds sweet corn with spinach and potato into patties.

50 minvegetarian

Crispy Corn Salt & Pepper

Crispy corn salt and pepper coats corn kernels in flour and fries them, then tosses them with pepper and spring onion.

25 minvegan

Creamy Afghani Soya Chaap Tikka

Afghani soya chaap tikka marinates soy chaap in cream and yoghurt, pale rather than red.

1 hr 35 minvegetarian

Crispy Idli Chilli 65

Idli chilli 65 fries leftover idli and tosses it in a chilli and curry leaf masala.

2 hr 30 minvegetarian

Ingredients