Ragda Patties, my version of a "no onion-no garlic ragda patties/pattice" , a popular street food of India or Chaat; crisp potato patties smothered with a spicy white peas curry and drizzled with savory and spicy green coriander chutney, tangy and sweet tamarind chutney and toppings like crisp sev (deep fried chickpea batter noodles), cilantro etc. Every bite of this quintessential Indian street food is an explosion of flavors in your mouth and you will never miss the onions or garlic!
No experience of Indian food is complete without tasting any of its myriad of street foods like Pani Puri, Masala Puri, Aloo Bonda, Aloo Tikki etc. My first taste of ragda pattice, a favorite of mine was in my days living in Delhi and visiting Lajpat Nagar (a suburban shopping market) where the streets were lined with carts serving spicy Indian street food!
A recipe for the Mumbai version of this street food was shared by a close friend of mine, which is another haven for street food lovers. Her version has onions and garlic which I totally love, but this time, I was having a party at home and my sister-in-law who does not eat any onions or garlic was coming over for dinner.
I love experimenting with food, so I took it as a challenge and tried to emulate my version of the no onion-no garlic version. A slight change in ingredients and I had nailed the "no onion-no garlic" version of ragda patties! It came out so lip-smackingly good and tasty that I wondered why is there any need to add onions or garlic! My sister-in-law was so touched that she could enjoy it with us without compromising on her choice.
I had made pizza too that day, so ended up making a no onion, no garlic pizza sauce too! One taste of the pizza without onions or garlic as well (will share the recipe soon!) as this ragda, made us all wonder, do we really need to use these two in all the dishes? If you fascinated or would love to try dishes without onions or garlic, then you must try:
Gujarati Khatti Meethi Dal Curry
Do try this lip-smacking no onion-no garlic version of ragda patties and I am sure, you will love it too! Got leftover ragda? Just fry up some puris or dunk your rotis or chapattis in them for a quick lunch or dinner!
If you like onions in your chaat, then you can sprinkle some finely chopped red onions along with sev and the chutneys. Either way, you and your family is going to love it!
Step-by-step method to make Ragda Patties:
To make the potato patties:
In a large bowl, to boiled, peeled and mashed potatoes, add chilli powder, chaat masala powder, cornflour and salt to taste. Mix everything together to make a smooth dough.
Take small ping pong sized balls of the dough and flatten them slightly.
Heat a large griddle and drizzle some oil over it.
Place the patties on the hot griddle and shallow fry on both sides, turning over often until crisp and golden brown on both sides, adding more oil as needed.
To make the white peas ragda curry:
Drain the soaked white peas (ragda) and transfer to pressure cooker with enough water to come up to at least 2 inches above the peas.
Add 1 tsp of salt and pressure cook for 4 to 6 whistles, until the peas are cooked, soft but not totally mushy.
Keep aside.
Blend tomatoes, green chillies/jalapenos, ginger and cashew to a fine paste. Keep aside.
Powder coriander seeds, cumin seeds and cloves to a fine powder.
Heat oil in a large kadai or deep saucepan and once the oil is hot, tip in the blended tomato paste and give it a good stir.
Add the spices powders: coriander-cumin mixture, chaat masala powder, Kashmiri chilli powder, hing and turmeric powder.
Stir well and sauté this mixture on medium heat until it is fried well and the oil starts to separate.
At this stage, add the cooked white peas along with the water, add salt to taste and tamarind water or imli water (depending upon how sour or tangy you want the gravy), mix well and bring to a boil.
Adjust the seasonings like salt, sourness etc. and simmer on medium low heat for 10 to 15 minutes until you get the thickness you want, adding more water if needed.
Sprinkle crushed kasoori methi or dried fenugreek leaves and mix well.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
To make sweet tamarind chutney:
Boil tamarind and dates in 2 cups of water and once it comes to a boil, simmer for 10 minutes.
Let the mixture cool down and strain over a sieve into another bowl. Keep adding water to the thick mixture in the sieve and continue to press through the sieve to get a thick pulp in the bowl below and until the strained mixture turns almost clear.
To the strained tamarind dates mixture, add jaggery or sugar and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes or until slightly thick. Add roasted cumin powder and black salt according to your taste and remove from heat and let cool.
This can be stored in the refrigerator in a glass bottle for at least 2 to 3 months.
To make Coriander/Cilantro Chutney:
Blend coriander leaves, mint leaves, green chilies and cumin seeds in a blender to a fine paste; add a squeeze of lemon juice and salt to taste. Keep aside. Add ginger if you want or you can also check out another variation for coriander chutney here.
To assemble the Ragda Patties:
Place 2 to 3 potato patties on a serving plate and pour a few tablespoons of hot ragda over it.
Drizzle a few teaspoons of tamarind chutney and cilantro chutney (according to your taste) and sprinkle toppings like sev, cilantro etc.
Enjoy!!
If you love chaats or street foods from India, then check out:
Ingredients
- 2 cups white peas (soaked in water overnight)
- 3 large tomatoes
- 1 green chilli
- 1 inch ginger
- 7 to 9 cashew
- 3 tbp coriander
- 1 tbsp jeera
- 3 cloves
- ½ tsp hing
- 1 tsp kashrimir chilli powder
- ½ tsp haldi
- 2 tsp chaat masala
- 2 tbsp imli water (soak small marble-sized tamarind in water and squeeze out the iml water, discarding the pulp)/1 tsp tamarind paste (optional)
- Salt and sugar to taste
- Crushed dry fenugreek leaves or kasoori methi
- Chopped cilantro or coriander leaves for garnishing
- 4 large potatoes, boiled, peeled and mashed
- 1 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 to 1 ½ tsp chaat masala powder
- 3 to 4 tbsp or as needed cornflour
- Salt to taste
- Oil for shallow frying
- 2 to 3 tablespoons of tamarind paste (depending upon how sour your tamarind paste is) or ½ cup of tamarind
- 10 to 12 dates, deseeded
- ½ cup to 1 cup jaggery (unrefined sugar)
- 1 teaspoon roasted cumin or jeera powder
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon or to taste kala namak or black salt
- Coriander Chutney
- ½ cup fine sev
- ¼ cup finely chopped cilantro
Instructions
- In a large bowl, to the mashed potatoes, add the chilli powder, chaat masala powder, cornflour and salt to taste. Mix everything together to make a smooth dough.
- Take small ping pong sized balls of the dough and flatten them slightly.
- Heat a large griddle and drizzle some oil over it.
- Place the patties on the hot griddle and shallow fry on both sides, turning over often until crisp and golden brown on both sides.
- Drain the white peas (ragda) and transfer to pressure cooker with enough water to come upto at least 2 inches above the peas.
- Add 1 tsp of salt and pressure cook for 4 to 6 whistles, until the peas are cooked, soft but not mushy.
- Keep aside.
- Blend tomatoes, green chillies, ginger and cashew to a fine paste. Keep aside.
- Powder coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cloves to a fine powder.
- Heat oil in a large kadai or saucepan and once the oil is hot, tip in the blended tomato paste and give it a good stir.
- Add the spices powders: coriander-cumin mixture, chaat masala powder, Kashmiri chilli powder, hing and turmeric powder.
- Stir well and sauté this mixture on medium heat until it is fried well and the oil starts to separate.
- At this stage, add the cooked white peas along with the water, add salt to taste and tamarind water or imli water (depending upon how sour or tangy you want the gravy), mix well and bring to a boil.
- Adjust the seasonings like salt, sourness etc. and simmer on medium low heat for 10 to 15 minutes until you get the thickness you want, adding more water if needed.
- Sprinkle crushed kasoori methi or dried fenugreek leaves and mix well.
- Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
- Boil tamarind and dates in 2 cups of water and once it comes to a boil, simmer for 10 minutes.
- Let the mixture cool down and strain over a sieve into another bowl. Keep adding water to the thick mixture in the sieve and continue to press through the sieve to get a thick pulp in the bowl below and until the strained mixture turns almost clear.
- To the strained tamarind dates mixture, add jaggery or sugar and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes or until slightly thick. Add roasted cumin powder and black salt according to your taste and remove from heat and let cool.
- This can be stored in the refrigerator in a glass bottle for at least 2 to 3 months.
- Place 2 to 3 potato patties on a serving plate and pour a few tablespoons of hot ragda over it.
- Drizzle a few teaspoons of tamarind chutney and cilantro chutney (according to your taste) and sprinkle toppings like sev, cilantro etc.
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As my mother in law follows Brahma Kumaris don't eat onion and garlic. So, such recipes are very helpful .thank you for sharing.
Thanks so much Sujatha 🙂 I am so glad your mother in law can now enjoy these chatpata and spicy dishes which normally have onions and garlic! Many in my family prefer dishes without them, so I try to make sure I can recreate all the Indian favorites without onions or garlic so that they can enjoy them too 🙂 🙂
Very nice recipe my mom's place they don't eat onion and garlic so this is the best recipe for Ragada patis
Thanks so much Anjali 🙂 It is nice to hear my no onion-no garlic recipes are useful to many! Thanks so much for stopping by 🙂 I feel so happy when friends like you give such encouraging feedback!