There are two ways for me to remember ragda pattice. One would be the memorable trip to Ahmedabad, which was all about friends, fun and food. The other memory is the walk in our old apartment with a friend of mine who explained this dish to me in detail – that was her dinner for her family that day. By some curious, but lucky, twist in fate – she is now staying close to my old apartment in U.S. We were able to meet once – miles away from where we met last.

Anyway, back to ragda pattice. I know it seems like a lot of work, but it actually isn’t. A little bit of planning ahead will turn make this seemingly overwhelming recipe into something that’s quite manageable. Soak your vatana, cook your potatoes and you are already done with half the work.

This is a chaat item, but it can easily be turned into a dinner itself. Read on for the recipe.

Recipe adapted from : Ribbons to pastas

Serves : 4

Ingredients:

For the ragda:

• 2 cups white/yellow peas
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• pinch hing
• salt
• 2 tsp oil

To grind together as a paste:

• 4 pods garlic or 2 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 1 small bunch coriander leaves
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 tsp each red chili powder, garam masala and chaat masala

Method:

1. Soak the peas (vatana) overnight or at least for 4-5 hours until it doubles up in size.
2. Pressure cook the peas with 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder, a pinch of hing  and enough water to float for 2-3 cms on top of the fully immersed peas.
3. Once the pressure drops, check whether it’s cooked fully and keep aside. Took 5 whistles in my cooker.
4. Grind the garlic pods, coriander leaves, tomato along with the spice powders.
5. Heat oil in a pan and cook this paste until the raw smell goes off.
6. Add the cooked peas, salt and mix well. Add more water if needed to get the consistency of a curry. It shouldn’t be runny, but shouldn’t be thick as well.

For the Pattice 

Ingredients:

• 6 large potatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 tablespoon corn flour
• 1 tsp chili powder (optional)
• salt
• 2-3 tsp oil for shallow frying

Method:

1. Pressure cook the potatoes.
2. Peel skin and mash well with everything once its cool enough to handle.
3. Take a lemon sized ball of mashed potatoes,  shape it into a cutlet like tikki and shallow fry in batches.

Assembling ragda pattice:

• 2 tikkis per person
• 1/3 cup ragda
• 1 tsp tamarind chutney ( per taste )
• 1 tsp yogurt ( per taste )
• 1 tsp mint coriander chutney (I didn’t have any)
• 1 tsp chopped onions
• 1 tsp sev (I had only mixture :D)
• 1 piece lemon wedge

Method:

1. Plate the tikkis on a bowl and pour the ragda on top.
2. Add all the chutneys and onion and sev.
3. Adjust the quantities according to taste and serve with lemon wedges, squeezing the juice per personal preference.