Aloo Tikki Chaat is a delicious Indian street food of crisp potato tikki loaded with curd, chutney, and spices. It is one of my favorite chaat recipes. This is a tried and tested Chaat Wala style potato tikki recipe.
About Aloo Tikki
Over the years, Chaat has become emblematic of Indian Cuisine. The tour of narrow, hustling bustling bylanes of India, especially Delhi, to taste the authentic flavors served by local food carts is not concluded until you dig into a delectable platter of aloo tikki chaat.
The plate full of tikki chaat laced with vivacious condiments, some sweet while others spicy, is one of the must-try Indian street food fares.
Over the years, aloo tikki has become one of the most popular potato snacks across North India.
Serve homemade aloo tikki with sweet curd (dahi), mint chutney, tamarind chutney, crisp papdi, and a dash of spices.
My Delhi Style Aloo Tikki Chaat
On routine visits to Chaat stall, the colossal and spacious pan of Chaat wala always fascinated me. The hot oil was sputtering in that wide pan while he with skilled precision shallow fry so many aloo patties at a time is always a fascinating watch.
As the evening progresses into night, the mob of hungry goblins starts gathering around the Chaat Wala. Each gluttonous pair of eyes staring at the potato tikki swimming in the hot oil, waiting zealously for their plate of decked up aloo tikki chaat.
The surface of his aloo ki tikki is perfectly crisp, crunchy, deep golden, while the inside layer is a mouth-melting mashed potato.
Over the years, admiringly staring at the Chaat vendor’s pan and gulping plates full of aloo tikki chaat helped me understand the nuances of a perfect aloo tikki.
If you are looking for a crispy Delhi style aloo tikki recipe with that golden brown color, crunchy stuffing (yes, my tikki has filling) just like the chaat wala, then this is the recipe worth bookmarking.
Perfect Aloo Tikki – Two Tips
Tip 1) Boil potato a few hours beforehand or the previous day and keep in the fridge. This way, you get the perfect moisture-free boiled potatoes to make tikki. Grate the boiled potatoes rather than mash. This will help to get a smooth texture of the tikki.
Tip 2) Always fry tikki on hot oil over low to medium heat. If you fry tikki on very high heat, they will burn from outside and remain cold/uncooked from inside. Also, do not flip tikki while frying more than once or twice.
Aloo Tikki Recipe Notes
- Boil potato a few hours beforehand or the previous day and keep in the fridge. This way you get the perfect moisture-free boiled potatoes to make patties. This trick works for cutlets as well.
- It is always best to grate the boiled potatoes rather than simply mashing. This will help to get a smooth texture of the tikki.
- To handle the potato mixture while shaping the patties dip your fingers in lukewarm water or grease them with a teaspoon of oil to smoothen the edges and avoid stickiness of the dough.
- Do not overstuff the potato coating with the dal mixture. Else, it will burst open while shallow frying.
- While shallow frying do not flip patties again and again. Once crisp and golden brown from one side, flip and cook from the other side.
- Potato Tikki is always shallow fried on a heavy cast-iron skillet and not deep-fried.
- Patience is the key to get perfectly crisp patties. And never ever fry tikki on high heat, a medium-high flame is good enough to cook the aloo patties.
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Aloo Tikki Chaat Recipe
Ingredients
Ingredients For Aloo Tikki (Potato Patties):
- 3 large – size boiled potato
- ½ Cup dried white peas (safed matar)
- ¼ Cup chana dal (Bengal Gram)
- 1 tablespoon corn flour (corn starch)
- Salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon mango powder (amchur)
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder (jeera powder)
- ¼ teaspoon asafoetida (hing)
- ¼ Cup chopped coriander leaves
- 2 tablespoon cooking oil + for shallow frying
Ingredients To Make Aloo Tikki Chaat:
- 1 Cup curd (dahi)
- ¼ Cup green mint chutney (see recipe here)
- ¼ Cup sweet tamarind chutney
- 1 tablespoon bhujia sev
- a pinch of red chili powder
- a pinch of cumin powder (jeera powder)
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander leaves
Instructions
Prep For Aloo Tikki:
- To prepare the Aloo Tikki Chaat, soak the white peas and chana dal for 5 hours. Next, cook in a pressure cooker along with a teaspoon of salt and 1 cup of water for 3 whistles over low heat. Transfer cooked lentils in a colander to drain excess liquid.
- Meanwhile boil the potato, peel and grate them. Keep in the fridge until required.
- Next heat a teaspoon of oil in a saute pan. Add spices, asafoetida followed by cooked peas, and dal. Stir to combine and fry for next few minutes so that all the liquid dries up. Mash the lentil mixture to a smooth consistency. Transfer to a bowl, add chopped coriander leaves and set aside to cool down completely.
- Mix cornflour and salt to taste in the grated potato, mix to combine and try to form a non-sticky dough. Make sure no lumps remain in the potato mixture.
How To Make Aloo Tikki:
- To shape the aloo tikki, take a small portion of mashed potato in between your palms. Roll it and gently flatten it using fingers. If the potato mixture seems sticky, moisten your fingers with a teaspoon of oil.
- Make a well in the center of the potato ball, fill in a teaspoon of lentil stuffing. Close the edges. Gently flatten the tikki once again to get the thickness of an inch or so. Similarly, shape all the patties.
- Heat oil in a frying pan over medium flame.
- Shallow fry the potato tikki in small batches over low-medium heat. While shallow frying keep on gently pressing the tikki to evenly cook from all sides.
- Do not flip tikki again and again. Let it turn crisp from one side, flip and then cook from other side. Once cooked transfer to a metal colander or sieve.
How To Make Aloo Tikki Chaat:
- Whisk curd nicely to a smooth dropping consistency. Add a tablespoon of water or milk if required to get the desired consistency.
- To serve Aloo Tikki Chaat, arrange tikki in a plate, add a spoonful of whisked curd, a teaspoon of each chutney, and sprinkle spices as per your taste.
- Sprinkle bhujia sev, chopped coriander and serve immediately.
Recipe Notes:
- Make sure to grate the potatoes and not mash them. This is to ensure smooth, lump-free potato dough.
- Do not add too much water while boiling the lentils. One or two cups is enough for pressure cooking.
- If you do not have white peas, use ½ cup of chana dal. Soak it for 2 – 3 hours only.
- Do not overstuff the potato casing with the lentil mixture. Otherwise, the outer casing will tear.
- Always fry potato tikki over low-medium heat to get the perfect color and crisp texture.
- You can fry potato tikki in an air-fryer as well. Brush uncooked potato tikki with oil on both sides. Arrange them in the air fryer basket. Do not overcrowd the fryer basket. Cook each side at 190 degrees celsius for 10 minutes. If you need more crisp then cook for 15 minutes each side.
- If you serve aloo tikki without curd or yogurt. It is a vegan snack.
Anisha says
Those Aloo Tikki’s look delicious! I was looking for more ways to use my dhaniya chutney and imli chutney recipes and I think I will have to give this a try! Your photographs are beautiful by the way! =)
Hina Gujral says
Wow, it seems like you are going to have Chaat party 🙂
Kankana saha says
Wow…mind boggling description. What is more attactive is the gallery
Hema Bhakuni says
One of your super hit recipe.
Hina Gujral says
thank you Hema Ji. I am honored you feel that way.
Charu says
It looks like a unique recipe. Will try it on weekend.
Hina Gujral says
Great! Please let us know your feedback
Shruthi says
This is a amazing recipe! we tried it out last weekend 🙂
Hina Gujral says
Great. So happy to hear that 🙂
Shashi says
Hi Hina, I loved your recipe. I’ll be glad to have your feedback on my take on aloo tikki recipe youtu.be/GgP9o3V3khA
Looking forward to it.
BHARAT THAKKAR says
REALLY A UNIQUE RECIPE
Hina Gujral says
thanks a million for your feedback!
Omprakash Prajapat says
Those Aloo Tikki’s look delicious.
I used to make aalu tikki at home.. so here is a tip. you can add bread crumbs as well in mixture of tikki so it gives more crunchy to tikkis.
Kumar Medical Care
Hina Gujral says
You please try this recipe and I am sure you would never go back to adding bread crumbs for crispy texture.