Stuffed Aloo Tikki ( Stuffed Potato Croquette )

Potatoes are my first love. I had never had Aloo Tikkis stuffed before, so when I saw this recipe in 660 Curries, I knew I had to try it out. I was not disappointed at all. Theses turned out quite delicious and the surprise crunch from the sprouted moong adds a nice texture to the dish.

This dish need for some pre-preparation, two day before you make this dish soak some whole moong dal overnight and then drain the water next morning and leave it covered on your counter top for another 24 hrs. It would have sprouted by then and would be ready for this dish. Alternately, you can also buy some ready-made moong sprouts from your Asian grocery store.

Makes about 11 - 12 patties

Ingredients

For the patties

1 pound white potatoes or roughly 3 large sized potatoes, boiled, peeled and mashed
4 - 5 bread slices ( you can use either white or wheat )
salt, to taste
1 tsp vegetable / cooking oil

For the stuffing

1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 cup sprouted whole moong
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cayenne
salt, to taste
1 tbsp vegetable oil ( or any cooking oil )

oil for deep frying


Method

For the patties

• Make the bread slices wet by thoroughly soaking them in water. Squeeze out as much water as you can and crumble the wet bread over the mashed potatoes. Add some salt to this mixture and knead it all together to form a smooth ' dough'. Coat it in the 1 tsp of oil, cover and set aside.

For the Filling

• Heat oil in a small sauce pan. When hot, add in the chopped onions. Saute them till they turn slightly pink and then add in the sprouted moong, cumin powder, coriander powder, cayenne, cilantro and salt.
• Mix it all well and let it cook on the stove for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Assembly and Finishing

• Divide the dough into 12 section and roll each section into a ball. 11 of these balls will be made into aloo tikkis, the remaining one ball will be sacrificed to be used for repairing any holes on the tikkis. Please do not get confused, read on and you will understand it better as we go along.
• Now take one ball and flatten it using your fingers to form a rough circle of 3 inch diameter. Now place 1-2 heaping tsp of filling in the center. Now bring the sides over to cover the filling. The filling should be fully covered. If there are any ' holes ', fill it up using a little piece of the one ball that we set aside for this purpose.
• Repeat this procedure for all the rest of the tikkis. Any remaining filling can be enjoyed as is.
• Heat some oil in your wok or deep fryer. When it is hot ( a good way to test it is, when you drop a small piece of tikki in, it should bubble up and rise up to the surface, remember it should not be smoking hot.
• Drop the tikkis in and fry till it is a deep golden brown.
• Drain on an absorbent paper. Serve warm with either ketchup and / or mint chutney ( hari chutney ).