Introduction
Anyone who has stood at a chaat cart in the old lanes of Delhi will know the sound of the tikki before they see it, because the wide iron tawa is kept slick with oil and the patties sizzle loudly as they are pressed down and turned. The vendor is working toward one particular texture, a rough, deeply browned crust wrapped around a centre that is soft and almost creamy, and the potato is already well spiced before a single topping arrives. Some customers take the tikki plain with a dab of chutney, while others ask for the full plate, which adds cool yogurt, a ladle of thin chickpea gravy, sweet and green chutneys and a handful of sev. For a cook at home the dish is forgiving, because the patties can be shaped a day ahead and kept cold, or even frozen, so that the only live work at serving time is a few minutes at the stove and some quick assembly.
Origin & Cultural Context
The tikki belongs to the wider North Indian plains, and Delhi and the towns of Uttar Pradesh are the places most often named when people talk about it, since griddle-cooked potato cakes have long been sold there on their own, pressed into a soft bun, or used as the foundation of a larger chaat plate. It helps to remember that the potato is a newcomer to the subcontinent, brought by Portuguese traders in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, so the dish sits on a much younger layer of history than the lentil and grain snacks that street vendors had been frying for far longer. Even so, cooks took to the tuber quickly because it grew well in many soils and slotted easily into the griddle and frying methods already in use, which is why aloo tikki now feels as old as the lanes it is sold in. While Delhi leans toward a smooth, well-seasoned patty finished with yogurt and chutneys, other towns in the region add soaked chana dal or green peas to the mixture, and some stalls skip the chickpea gravy altogether in favour of a plainer dressing, so no single version can fairly claim to be the original.
Method
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Prep
Mash the potatoes and mix in the seasoning
Mash the boiled potatoes only after they have cooled all the way through, and keep going until no sizeable lumps remain, because warm potato still gives off steam and moisture and produces a mixture that refuses to hold together. Add the cornstarch, green chilli, ginger, spice powders, fresh coriander and salt, and work everything together until it looks even. When you press a little in your palm it should keep its shape without sticking; if it feels slack, sprinkle in a bit more cornstarch.
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Prep
Form and chill the patties
Split the mixture into 8 equal portions and flatten each into a smooth disc roughly 2.5cm thick, smoothing the rim so there are no cracks, since a split edge is where a tikki usually gives way in the pan. Put the discs in the refrigerator for 15 to 20 minutes before frying, because the cold firms the starch and lets you turn them over without crumbling.
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Cook
Brown the tikkis on the griddle
Warm the oil in a flat griddle or wide pan over medium heat, then lay the patties down with space between them. Leave them alone for 3 to 4 minutes, until the underside has set into a deep golden crust, because lifting too soon tears the surface and is the usual reason a tikki breaks. Turn each one gently and cook the second side in the same way, giving it one light press with the spatula halfway through so the crust browns evenly. A full batch takes roughly 7 to 9 minutes in total.
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Cook
Warm the chickpeas in a light gravy
While the patties are browning, heat a little oil in a small pan and let the cumin seeds sizzle until they smell toasty. Tip in the boiled chickpeas with the turmeric, chilli powder, salt and water, and let it bubble gently for 5 minutes, until the peas are coated and the liquid has thickened to a loose gravy that clings instead of pooling like soup.
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Serve
Build each plate
Set two hot tikkis on every plate and break the top of each lightly with the back of a spoon, which gives the toppings small hollows to settle into. Spoon on some of the chickpea gravy first, then the whisked yogurt, and finish with both chutneys.
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Serve
Add the final scatter and eat at once
Sprinkle sev, chaat masala and chopped onion over the top and carry the plates to the table immediately, while the crust under the toppings is still crisp. A loaded plate left standing will turn the crust soft within a few minutes, so leave the assembly until the moment people are ready to eat.
Substitutions
Either roasted rice flour or plain cornstarch will bind the patties, and many cooks prefer a spoonful of gram flour that has been dry-roasted for a minute, because it adds a faint nutty depth. The chickpea gravy is optional, and a plate of tikkis with only yogurt and the two chutneys is perfectly authentic, since that is closer to how the patties are often sold at stalls when they are not part of a bigger chaat. Part of the potato can be swapped for sweet potato if you want a different flavour, although the patty will come out softer and may need a little more binder. A dairy-free yogurt makes a reasonable stand-in for the dairy topping.
Adjusting the Spice Level
Heat comes into the patties themselves through the green chilli, garam masala and amchur, so it is worth frying one small test patty and tasting it before you shape the whole batch. For a gentler plate, leave the chilli out of the potato mixture and the chilli powder out of the chickpeas, let the chutneys carry any warmth, and lean on the tamarind-date chutney rather than the green one. If you want more fire, add a second green chilli to the mixture and put out extra green chutney, or set a small bowl of garlic chutney on the side so that only those who want it take it.
Common Mistakes
The most frequent cause of patties that collapse in the pan is potato that is still warm or has not drained properly, so boil it early, let it cool completely and make sure no cooking water clings to it before mashing. Skipping the rest in the refrigerator causes similar trouble, because a freshly formed tikki is fragile and tends to split the moment it meets hot oil. Heat that is too high browns the outside long before the centre has warmed through and set, while steady medium heat builds a crust slowly and evenly. Finally, dressing the tikkis too early dulls the crust, so assemble each plate only when it is going straight to the table.
Storage & Reheating
Storage: Uncooked tikkis can be layered between sheets of parchment and kept in the refrigerator for up to two days, or frozen for up to a month, and frozen ones go straight into the pan with a couple of extra minutes on each side. Cooked tikkis without toppings also keep for up to two days in the refrigerator. The chickpea topping lasts up to three days when chilled. The chutneys keep on their usual schedule, about two weeks for tamarind-date and 2 to 3 days for the green one. Never store a plate that has already been topped, and assemble fresh each time.
Reheating: Warm cooked tikkis without toppings in a dry pan over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes per side to bring the crust back, or in a 190°C (375°F) oven for about 8 minutes; the microwave heats them through but leaves the surface soft. Rewarm the chickpea topping slowly on the stove with a splash of water to loosen it. Add the cold items, meaning yogurt, chutneys and sev, only after the patties and chickpeas are hot, and do not reheat them together.
Food Safety
Cool boiled potatoes quickly and refrigerate them instead of leaving them out on the counter, then use them within two days, which applies to the prepared tikki mixture and to any spare boiled potato alike. Keep the yogurt cold until just before serving and do not let it sit out for more than about two hours, particularly in hot weather. Shallow-frying uses less oil than deep-frying, but the oil is heated and cooled repeatedly as each batch goes in, so throw it away once it has darkened noticeably, smokes or smells sharp rather than reusing it again and again. Once cooked, the chickpea topping should be cooled and chilled promptly if it is not served right away, and brought back to a full simmer before it is eaten a second time.
Sources & Further Reading
- Lizzie Collingham, "Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors" (Oxford University Press) — on the introduction of the potato to India by Portuguese traders and its rapid absorption into regional cooking.
- K.T. Achaya, "Indian Food: A Historical Companion" (Oxford University Press) — on the development of North Indian potato-based street snacks.