One of my favourite chaats and is made by adding potato cutlets in a mildly spicy curry made from white peas.
The plate of Chaat, called Ragda Pattice or plain Ragda is garnished with different chutneys, sev and coriander.
I hate making chapatis but we need them every day for every meal. So when the lockdown happened I was in a panic of my own! Needless to say, I was hunting for escape routes. Chaat happened to be one of them.
Chaat the very word has us drooling. For the uninitiated chaat is spicy, tangy and sweet and delicious Indian Street Food.
Mouthwateringly delicious Ragda Patties is equivalent to Chhole Tikki served in Northern India but milder. Ragda patties or pattice and it is very common Street Food in Maharashtra and Gujarat states of India.
Dehydrated White peas are used a lot in Goa, every Shivrak or vegetarian food day Chana Cho Ras is made. However, I do not use dehydrated peas of any kind.
When the lockdown happened I was not prepared and so I ran out of most groceries. Thankfully I could order online from the setup the Government put up. I just ordered the full kit and in it, there were white peas, masoor, Kabuli chana, moong etc. Looking at the white peas the girls wondered if we could have ragda pattice.
YES!! YES!! Anything as long as I do not have to make chapatti even for 1 meal! Next, it will be Kulcha cholla the Street food from Delhi!
Thanks to Swathi of Foodie Monday Blog Hop I can dwell on my favourite food Chaat! Chaat means to lick and any chaat is brought together in its myriad tastes with different chutneys, onions, raw mangoes if in season, sev! In short nothing less than wanting to lick your fingers. The best part is that a chaat of any kind is customisable.
Swati blogs at Food Trails and if her pictures speak volumes of all her trails! Do check out her simple Tiramisu you will know what I am talking about.
Components of Ragda Pattice…
Ragda Patties has 3 components
- Ragda is made of dehydrated white peas.
- Pattice the star ingredient here is potatoes, and
- the delicious sauces and chutneys, sev and tangy chaat masala as a topping.
So to make this delicious Chaat the ingredients are:
For the Gravy:
- Dry White Peas: Soak these peas overnight or for at least 8 hours.
- Cooking Soda: Also sodium bicarbonate a small pinch helps in cooking the peas nice and soft.
- Ginger and Green Chilli Paste: For the extra zing to the gravy.
- Ragda Masala: Use the Ragda Masala or Goda Masala, Kanda Lasun Masala sparingly.
- Oil: Use any oil that does not have a strong smell. I use rice bran or sunflower oil.
- Mustard and Asafoetida: To make my tempering.
- Salt: to taste
- Tomato: Use a very finely chopped tomato this is optional but recommended.
- Tamarind Pulp: Soak tamarind in the water early in the morning so in about an hour I can get a thick pulp to use in my ragda. The balance goes in making the tamarind chutney.
Ingredients for the Ragda Masala
- Whole spices: You will need peppercorns, coriander seeds, cloves, cinnamon, red chillies and cumin seeds. dry roast these ingredients.
- Oil: I used sunflower oil to fry the red chillies until crisp.
Ingredients for the Patties:
- Potatoes: Use boiled and grated or mashed potatoes. I prefer to grate them as then they tend to be less sticky.
- Bread slices: Generally I use 1-2 slices per potato for making my dough. The number of slices you will need to make a soft dough will vary.
- Turmeric: These patties are yellowish, use a generous pinch of turmeric or haldi.
- Coriander leaves: Now, this is one ingredient I love to use in my patties. This is optional.
- Oil: To shallow fry the patties
- Salt: To taste.
- Poha or Flattened Rice: In case you do not have bread slices or you need your patties extra-crisp add about ½ cup of poha. Rinse the poha set aside for about 5-10 minutes then add to the potato mixture. I prefer not to use poha as the patties become blackish.
How to make the gravy?
- You need some planning to make ragda as the white peas are soaked in water.
- Since we need soft peas, soak them for at least 8 hours overnight soaking is easier as I can cook them in the morning as I go about the rest of my jobs at hand.
- Cook the white peas on the stovetop in a vessel or like me use the pressure cooker. I add a ½ tsp salt and pressure cook it for 3 whistles.
- Me being averse to spending long periods in the kitchen I avoid the stove-top method in an open pan. It takes about 2 hours to cook these peas to the needed soft point. I would rather not waste time or gas.
- I put my potatoes in the cooker in another container and pressure cook them too.
- Once the pressure drops I remove the peas and make a simple tadka of mustard.
- Fry my tomatoes and ragda masala. Add the peas, tamarind pulp, salt. Tada! The gravy or Ragda is done!!
How to make Ragda Masala?
Making the ragda masala is very simple. You can make it as your cooker with the peas gets done. Needs hardly 5 minutes to get the ingredients and roast them. The only time taken is for the ingredients to cool.
- Please remember the general points when making the masala or rather any masala
- measure all ingredients beforehand,
- use a thick skillet, pan or kadhai/wok to roast the ingredients.
- last and most important keep the flame low.
- Dry roast the pepper, cumin seeds, cloves, cinnamon, coriander seeds. Transfer to a plate.
- In the same pan add oil and fry the red chillies till nice and crisp.
- Cool and grind all the ingredients. Store in an airtight container.
How to make the Pattices
- I use boiled and grated potatoes.
- Add salt, turmeric powder, coriander leaves if using, and bread slices dipped in water and squeezed dry. You can add ginger garlic, green chilli paste too.
- Make small lemon sized balls and flatten them.
- Shallow fry on both sides till golden brown on both sides.
How to serve Ragda Patties
To serve to add the 1-2 patties on the plate, add a ladleful of the ragda. Top up with finely chopped onions, tamarind chutney, green chutney and sev. Garnish with coriander and a dash of red chilli chutney if you wish.
Your Recipe Card:
Delicious Homemade Ragda Chaat
Equipment
- Bowls
- Pressure cooker
- Grater
- Kadhai/wok
- Mixer/Grinder
- Tawa/Skillet/Griddle
- Spoons and Ladles
Ingredients
For the ragda masala:
- ¼ tsp peppercorns
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 4-5 cloves
- 2 cinnamon stick about 1 inch each
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp oil
- 3 red chillies broken in small pieces
For the Ragda:
- 2 cups white peas soaked overnight
- A pinch of Cooking soda or sodium bicarbonate
- 2 tsp ragda masala
- 1 inch ginger peeled
- 3 green chillies
- 2 tbsp oil
- ½ tsp mustard seeds
- ¼ tsp asafoetida/hing
- 2 medium tomatoes chopped fine
- A lemon sized ball of tamarind soaked in 1cup of water
- Salt to taste
For the Patties:
- 4 medium potatoes
- 4 slices bread
- Salt to taste
- A few sprigs of coriander leaves optional
Instructions
- Start your preparations overnight. Wash and rinse the peas and transfer to a big bowl add 8 cups of water.
- In the morning transfer the rinse and transfer the peas to the cooker, add about 3 cups of water, a pinch of cooking soda and ¼ tsp salt. Stir well and pressure cook for 3 whistles. Let the pressure drop naturally.
- Open the cooker and take about 1 cup of peas out. Mash them. Set aside.
Meanwhile let us get the Ragda Masala ready:
- In a thick kadhai/wok put the peppercorns, coriander seeds, cinnamon sticks, cumin seeds and roast till you get a lovely aroma. Transfer to a plate and let it cool.
- In the same pan add the red chillies and a ½ tsp of oil. Roast till the chilles become crisp. Cool and then grind all the ingredients to a fine powder.
- You will need about 2-3 tsp of this masala. The rest, store in an airtight container. You can add it to your other gravies. The aroma of this masala is amazing.
Now let us finally make the ragda:
- Make a paste of the ginger and chillies with a little salt.
- Since I generally roast the masala in the pan in which I plan to make my ragda I heat the same pan. It is a big kadhai/wok.
- Add the 2 tbsp oil splutter mustard, add the asafoetida.
- Add the ginger and chillies paste.
- Add the tomatoes and about 2 tsp of the ragda masala fry until the tomatoes become pulpy. Stir occasionally.
- Add the peas and about 2 tbsp tamarind pulp, salt.
- Let it boil then adjust the seasonings, add more masala if needed.
- Remember the mashed peas add them. They will help thicken the gravy.
- Keep the gravy on a little watery side. As it cools it will thicken and plus when you add on the patties it becomes perfect.
- Use tamarind pulp if you need or else you can use it to make the tamarind chutney needed for the topping.
To make the Patties:
- When pressure cooking the peas in a container add washed potatoes and pressure cook. By the time your ragda is ready your potatoes will have cooled down.
- Peel and grate them or mash them.
- Add salt, turmeric powder, coriander leaves if using.
- Dip the bread in a little water and remove. Squeeze dry.
- Add to the potato mixture and make a soft dough.
- Make small lemon sized balls and flatten on your palm. I got about 20 pieces.
- Arrange on a tava pour the oil and fry both the sides till they are brown. You will need about 5 minutes each side.
To serve Ragda Patties:
- You can either place the patties on the plate and add ragda on top or add the ragda then add the patties like i have done here on my plate.
- Top with tamarind chutney, coriander chutney, dates chutney, chopped onion, sev and coriander leaves. sprinkle chaat masala, kala namak (black salt)on top
- This part you can customize to the liking of the individual. Since I am off proteins and sour stuff i added very little of everything.
Tips to make better Chaat:
- To make ragda you need to use white peas. There is absolutely no satisfactory substitute. Sorry!
- Use the Ragda Masala it makes awesome gravy. Use Goda Masala or Kanda Lasun Masala if you want a substitute.
- You can use curry leaves to make your gravy. I do not.
- Add the whole spices in the tempering too, I did do it in the past but now I do not as it is too spicy.
- If you feel your Pattice dough is too loose and you do not have bread use poha or flattened rice, wet it in a sieve after about 5-10 minutes and add to the potato dough and mix. Do Not OverKnead!
- Make the Tamarind Chutney and Dates Chutney a day ahead. Here is the link on how to make them. Strain and pour in a squeeze bottle. Hide It. Seriously there are times when I make ahead and ace an empty squeeze bottle.
- Make the Green Chutney just as you plan to serve Chaat. It changes colour very fast!
- Keep all your sev, coriander leaves, onions ready.
Poonam Bachhav says
Who can resist such super tempting plate of ragda Pattice ? I loved how you have even made tje ragda masala at home. I am sure the chaat must have been very delicious. I wish I could grab that plate right off the screen.
ArchanaPotdar says
😀 Thanks Poonam
Sujata Roy says
I always prefer to make ragda patties in small parties because its everyone’s favourite. Your ragda patties looks so inviting. Loved the use of ragda masala. It must be made your ragda flavorful. Super tempting platter.
ArchanaPotdar says
Thanks, Sujata.
Kalyani says
Left to me, I can urvive on this delcicious chaat for days on end ! lovely presenation ARchana !
ArchanaPotdar says
Thanks, Kalyani.
Renu says
I have never made ragda masala at home and this sounds a wonderful twist to the regular ragda pattice. looks yummy and tempting
ArchanaPotdar says
Thanks, Renu you can use the masala in regular veggies too so it is a definite plus for me.
NARMADHA says
Ragda patties looks so delicious and with homemade ragda masala it must be so flavorful. With little prep work chaat is always easy to put together for busy days.
ArchanaPotdar says
True Narmadha. Thanks.
The Girl Next Door says
Oh wow! Who wouldn’t like to grab this platter of delicious Ragda Pattice? I definitely want some!
Ragda Pattice is an eternal favourite at our place. We often make it our dinner. 🙂 We don’t get Ragda Masala here, though.
ArchanaPotdar says
You can make it Priya! I have detailed the recipe too.
Mayuri Patel says
My father in law use to love ragda patties and not the chole one but the one with dried peas. Such a flavorful and filling chaat. Whenever I make it, I add spices a bit of this and that. Like your ragda spice mixture. Will remember to use that next time I make this delicious chaat.
ArchanaPotdar says
Thanks, Mayuri.
Seema Sriram says
Ragada pattice is such an exciting recipe. I have failed a couple of times not really matching up to my expectations making it. So glad to get this tried and tested recipe from you Archana.
ArchanaPotdar says
You are most welcome. Will be happier if you pass me a plate.
Preethicuisine says
Ragda Patties look absolutely lip smacking . So beautifully explained Archana. Fabulous treat to all Chaat lovers.
ArchanaPotdar says
Thanks, Preethi.
Vasusvegkitchen says
Wow di Ragda patties looks very tempting. Loved your write up, gave clear and full information about recipe. Ragda masala looks spicy surely homemade masala add yummy taste. It is very lip smacking now i am craving to have some of it .
ArchanaPotdar says
Make some Aruna.
Shailender Sharma says
Though the list of ingredients is long, but all of them are always present in every indian kitchen and when it comes to cherishing such a mouthwatering chaat, who is counting the ingredients. Just superb.
ArchanaPotdar says
Thanks.
Swati says
Thank you for sharing Ragda Masala recipe at home.. We miss this Mumbai’s street food here and now have an reliable recipe to make it.. now I know it’s the masala that makes all the difference.. looks so tempting!!
ArchanaPotdar says
Thanks, Swati.
lata lala says
Uff… What a killer post of ragda pattice. I mean I am litterly salivating. With homemade ragda masala it must be so flavourful and delicious.
ArchanaPotdar says
Thanks, Lata.
Chef Mireille says
What a delicious high protein and healthy looking street food. Our street foods here are never this wholesome!
ArchanaPotdar says
😀 true Mir. Next time you come down come with and iron clad stomach will take you for street food.
Jayashree T.Rao says
Ragda Patties, the name itself is enough to make me hungry. Love this one and and a liking for chaats all kind. It looks so delish Archana.
ArchanaPotdar says
thanks.
Vandana says
Mouthwatering! I also bought some dried peas during my lockdown preparation. Now I know what I want to make with it. Thanks for the recipe.
ArchanaPotdar says
Welcome, Vandana.