Moong Daal Stuffed Aloo Tikki Chaat

Ingredients

Aloo Tikki
• 4 potatoes (550g), unpeeled
• 3/4 cup chiwra/poha (white rice flakes)
• 2 tbsp. sweet rice flour or gf all-purpose flour
• Salt
• black pepper to taste
Filling
• 1 cup mung daal (split and skinned), divided
• A pinch of turmeric
• 50 g paneer, diced small
• 1/4 tsp red chili powder
• 1/2 tsp chaat masala (there is no substitute for this but if you don't have add a bit of cumin and garam masala)
• Lemon juice to taste
• 2 green chilies, finely chopped
• 1 tsp ginger, finely chopped
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbsp. cilantro, chopped
To serve
• Green chutney
• Sweet chutney
• Thinly sliced onion
• Grated radish
• Cilantro to garnish
Sweet chutney
• 40 g tamarind
• 150-175 gm brown sugar or jaggery ( I would not put dates in this one)
• Salt to taste
• 1/4 tsp (+-) red chili powder
• 1/4 tsp (+-) cumin powder
Green chutney
• 35 g tamarind
• 2 heaped cups mint leaves
• 1 heaped cup cilantro leaves
• 2-3 green chilies, roughly chopped
• 1/4 slice green apple, roughly diced
• 4 green onion, (white part and some of the green), chopped
• Salt to taste

Instructions

1. Soak 1/2 cup mung daal for 8 hours or overnight.
2. Start with making green chutney. Break tamarind in smaller pieces and soak in 1/3 cup hot water. When cool to touch give it a good mash with your hand. Squeeze and strain. Grind green chutney ingredients with tamarind pulp. If the chutney is too thick add a splash of water to thin it (or add lemon juice instead if it is not sour enough).
3. The green chutney made with tamarind can be kept in the refrigerator for 3-5 weeks.
4. For sweet chutney, soak tamarind in 1 cup hot water. Leave aside for 15-30 minutes.
5. Mash and strain, pressing the thick tamarind juice through a mesh strainer over a small pot. Discard the solids.
6. Place pot on heat. Add brown sugar.
7. Bring it to a boil. Reduce heat and cook till it reaches sticky consistency.
8. Add salt, red chili powder and cumin powder.
9. Transfer in a bowl. This chutney will stay good in the refrigerator for 2-3 months or may be more.
10. To make aloo tikki, cut potatoes into half, place in a large pot of salted water. Boil until just tender. Rinse under cold water and peel. Let cool slightly.
11. Tip poha flakes into a colander. Rinse under running water, mixing gently with hands to ensure all the flakes are moistened. Let them sit in the strainer to swell up for 10 minutes.
12. Meanwhile, in a small pot parboil the remaining 1/2 cup moong daal with little salt and turmeric.
13. Once done drain the excess water.
14. Heat 1 tbsp. oil in a pan over medium heat, add ginger, green chilies, and parboiled moong and a little salt, mix well and cook for 2 minutes on slow flame.
15. Remove daal from heat, add cubed paneer, lemon juice, chaat masala, salt, red chili powder, green chili and cilantro. Mix everything until combined.
16. Take a small amount of lentil mixture and roll between your palms to form 1 inch balls. Set aside.
17. Grate the potatoes on the large holes of a box grater over a bowl. Add rice flour, salt, black pepper and swelled poha. Mix with your fingers until well combined.
18. Now drain the water from the soaked Daal and spread in a wide plate.
19. Heat oil in a cast iron pan over medium high heat. The level of oil should be about half -3/4 of the thickness of the patty, an easy amount to control, and add more oil as you cook, if needed.
20. To shape aloo tikki, take a requisite size of ball out of potato mixture with damp or oiled hands and roll it like a ball. Keep aside.
21. After you have made all the potato mixture into balls. Take one ball of mashed potato and make a depression in the center, put lentil mixture. Close in the edges to enclose the stuffing.
22. Now roll the ball in daal. Press gently and shape into a tikki. Roll the edges on the counter to smoothen the sides. Repeat the process with remaining Tikkis.
23. Gently place the tikki in preheat oil and fry till golden and began to crisp around the edges. Carefully flip and cook until well golden on the second side. Make sure not to flip them more than 2-3 times.
24. Transfer the tikki on a paper towel or on a wire strainer set over a plate or bowl.
25. Continue to cook tikki in batches of 2-3, allowing the oil to heat up again before adding a new batch each time.
26. Serve as soon as possible as they are best when hot. (you can keep them warm in an oven for 20-30 minutes before serving).
27. To serve Aloo Tikki Chaat, place 1-2 tikki (as per choice) in a plate, add green and sweet chutney. Top it with a spoonful of grated radish, onion and cilantro. You can even add sev and sprinkle extra chaat masala on top.
28. To serve this chaat in a party, lay all the prepared elements in separate serving bowls. Let the guest assemble it themselves to their liking.

Notes