Petpujo and Adda: North Indian Vegetarian

Baked Alu Tikki : Healthy , Easy and Tasty ( North Indian street Food)

Alu Tikki reminds me of my Vijaynagar days in Delhi University. The ‘thela walla’ with alu tikki, the smell, banging of the iron spoon on the huge iron tawa in the evening announcing his arrival. Whenever I think of alu tikki, I am always reminded of days when three of us had to share one plate of the alu tikki or momos and would be dreaming about days when we will be rich enough to eat separate plates. We all can buy separate plates now but that fun of eating together and sharing can never be replaced by the joy of individual plates. It reminds of SJ saying ‘Maja aa giya’

Alu tikki brings smell of Delhi to me- the city I love to hate, the city which had taken so much and given so much, the city where I met R. My friends and my life support -S, S, A, P, P,J,J – I met them all in Delhi.

My baked alu tikki does not taste anything like the alu tikki of the ‘thela walla’. Just the way phuchca never taste the same when made at home. And I am happy that it does not. The taste belongs to Delhi and I will like to go back to the city to savour the taste.

But, let me tell you something, it does not taste that bad either. It is not as crunchy and crusty as the deep fried alu tikki (of course not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). It is crispy, crumbly, and soft. The idea is not to replace the fried alu tikki but to have a little healthier version so that we have them guilt free and more often.

Try making them. I can promise that you will not regret.

Note : Using the same ingredients and method of making alu tikki you can deep fry the alu tikki instead of baking them. In that case, you will need oil for deep-frying.

Ingredients:

10-Medium Potatoes

1-Large red onion chopped

1-Green chillies chopped (optional. I did not use it)

½-teaspoon red chilli powder (optional. I did used kashmiri chilli powder for colour)

1/2- Teaspoon chopped ginger (optional. I used in some and most people did not like it. But I liked it)

2-teaspooon chopped coriander leaves.

1- teaspoon chat masala (optional. I used sumac)

1-cup breadcrumb

Little oil to aid browning

Salt as per taste

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C fan oven

2. Line a baking tray with foil

3. Boil the potatoes and clean them when cooled

4. Mash the potatoes properly, but leave a little bit of lump ( very little) for texture

5. Add rest of the ingredients and combine well

6. Make round balls with the mixture and then take each ball and flatten them

7. Add oil in the breadcrumb and combine. The crumb will still remain loose but little oils helps to brown well while baking

8. Roll the flatten balls on the bread crump and then place it on the baking tray

9. Bake for 15/20 mins or little more depending on oven. Basically bake until golden brown on both sides

10. Serve hot with raita or chutney

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at 15:24

Paneer Pasanda- With a twist (cottage cheese cooked in a tomato, cream and spice gravy)

I cooked this Paneer Pasanda with Kumror Bichi ( kaddu Beej/ Pumpkin Seed). I had so much of the pumpkin seed at home that I needed to put them to cook use. I make fish, chicken and sometime fish Paturi (fish cooked in wrapped banana leaf) with pumpkin seed. However I never tried to cook it with paneer specially make paneer Pasanda with it. So I thought, why not?

Paneer Pasanda is a quintessential Mughlai dish very popular in North India especially among Punjabis. Pasanda is a Urdu word which means liking The word is a variation of the Urdu word “pasande,” or “the favorite one”. According to Sanjay Thumma, “Pasanda was originally made with leg of lamb, flattened into strips, marinated, and fried in a dish with multiple seasonings. In the present day, pasanda is also made using chicken and king prawns; in each case, the process and ingredients remain generally the same. And for the vegetarians it’s the paneer pasanda that is popularly prepared”

Although originally the dish is associated with gravy made with cream, almond, and coconut milk and heavily seasoned with spices, I have decided to give this dish a twist by using roasted pumpkin seed, which is healthy, have less fat content then almonds but taste just the same. I also did not use coconut milk as it might contradict with the nutty taste of pumpkin seed. And the result was awesome. Specially R is very fond of paneer Pasanda and only likes them from one restaurant at Pandara Road, Delhi. Nevertheless, he said mine was equally good. That is a huge from him, trust me! This man knows his Paneer Pasanda!