Sounds exotic, doesn’t it? Commonly found in the “Starters” section on Indian restaurant menus, Aloo Tikki Chaat is a fried potato cake, flavoured with spices and fresh herbs. I like to add some toasted nuts (similar to a “batata vada”) to give a more interesting texture. The spicing here is simply a guide, adjust according to your own taste.
I like to serve these with some poppadoms, spicy mango chutney and some lime pickle. Oh, and a large frosty Cobra beer. 
Ingredients
- 800g potatoes (approx 4 large potatoes)
- 1 green chilli, finely chopped
- handful of cashew nuts (or skinned peanuts), toasted in a dry pan and roughly chopped
- butter & oil
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp turmeric
- ½ tsp chilli powder
- ½ tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp black mustard seeds
- 1 tsp black onion (nigella) seeds
- fresh coriander
Method
- Peel the potatoes and cut into quarters. Boil in salted water until tender, then mash. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. That’s your base done.
- Heat a large knob of butter (add a little oil to stop it burning) in a small pan and add your spices. Mix the garlic and spices into the butter and cook until the mustard seeds start popping. Remove from the heat.
- Add the spicy butter to the mashed potato along with the nuts, green chilli and a handful of finely chopped fresh coriander. Mix well.
- Flour your hands and shape the potato into cakes, dusting both sides with flour as you go. You should get about 8 decent sized cakes out of this mixture. (I use a scone cutter to get a nice uniform shape to the cakes.)
- To cook, heat some oil in a pan and get it quite hot. Place the cakes in the pan and reduce the heat. Fry on both sides until golden brown.
Makes 8 cakes approx.
