Aloo Tikki Chaat
آلو ٹکی چاٹ
Aloo tikki is the street-food cousin of the aloo cutlet. There's no egg coating: the potato mixture is bound with a little cornflour, stuffed with a spoon of spiced chana daal, and fried slowly on a until it has a thick, golden crust. On its own it's a snack with ketchup. Topped with yogurt, chutneys, onion and chaat masala, it becomes aloo tikki chaat, one of the best things you can eat on a winter evening.
- ⏱ Total: 1 hr
- Prep: 30 min
- Cook: 30 min
- Medium
- Serves 4
Method
Tap a step when it is done.
Boil the potatoes in their skins for 15–20 minutes until tender. In a separate small pan, boil the soaked chana daal with a pinch of salt for 15 minutes, until soft but still holding its shape, then drain well.
Peel the potatoes while warm and mash them until smooth with no lumps. Let them cool, then mix in the cornflour, salt, half the chili powder, half the cumin, the green chilies, ginger and half the coriander.
Mix the drained chana daal with the rest of the chili powder, cumin, half the chaat masala and the remaining coriander. This is the stuffing.
Divide the potato into 8 balls. Flatten one in your palm, put a teaspoon of the daal in the middle, close the potato around it and press into a thick patty about 7 cm across. Repeat.
Heat the oil on a or heavy frying pan over medium-low heat. Fry the tikkis for 5–6 minutes on each side without moving them, until a deep golden crust forms. Turn them only once, gently.
For chaat, put two hot tikkis on a plate, press them lightly, and top with the yogurt, imli chutney, green chutney, chopped onion and a sprinkle of chaat masala. Serve at once.
Kitchen notes
Use floury potatoes and mash them while warm. Waxy potatoes make a gluey mixture that won't crisp.
The secret of the crust is patience: medium-low heat, enough oil and no moving the tikkis until the first side is done.
If the tikkis crack or spread, add another tablespoon of cornflour or chill them for 20 minutes before frying.
A street-cart favourite
Aloo tikki carts set up in the evenings in Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi, with a huge flat tawa ringed with tikkis browning slowly at the edges while the vendor builds plates of chaat in the middle. The tikkis are crisp outside and soft inside, and the toppings make each plate a mix of hot and cold, sweet and sour.
The crust
What makes a good tikki is the crust, and it comes from three things:
- Dry, floury potato. Mash the potatoes while warm and let them cool. Steam escapes and the mash dries out.
- A little starch. Cornflour binds the mash without an egg and helps it crisp.
- Slow frying. A heavy tawa, medium-low heat and enough oil to come a quarter of the way up the tikkis. Leave them alone for five or six minutes. Moving them early breaks the crust before it forms.
The stuffing
A spoon of boiled, spiced chana daal in the middle gives each tikki a nutty surprise and a little bite. Some vendors use spiced peas instead; both are traditional.
Making it a chaat
For chaat, top the hot tikkis with cool whisked yogurt, imli chutney, green chutney, chopped onion and . Add a spoon of boiled chickpeas or the Lahori cholay for a heavier version. Eat it straight away, while the tikki is still crisp.
Questions people ask
How is aloo tikki different from aloo cutlets?
Cutlets are dipped in egg and fried until crisp all over. Tikki has no egg, is stuffed with daal, and gets its crust from slow frying on a tawa.
Can I make them ahead?
Yes. Shape the tikkis and keep them covered in the fridge for a day, or freeze them on a tray and then in a bag for a month. Fry from frozen over low heat.
Can I use bread instead of cornflour?
Yes. Soak two slices of bread, squeeze out the water and mix them in. It's a common shortcut.
Nutrition (estimate, per serving)
- Calories
- 310
- Protein
- 9 g
- Fat
- 14 g
- Carbs
- 38 g
