Tikki Choley Chaat potato patties covered with a delicious, piquant, spicy chickpea curry, topped with cilantro-mint green sauce, a small onion salad + savory crunchies. This fingerlicking, flavorsome chaat recipe is from the streets of North India, specifically Delhi, known for its diverse street food culture and this recipe is one its most popular dishes as an evening snack or satisfying lunch. There are three main component to this recipe: the chickpea curry(Choley, ch-O-lay, the O sounds like the alphabet O), slightly different from the famous chana masala, second the potato patties(Aloo tikki), the third is the popular green cilantro mint chutney and the optional crunchies and a small onion salad. Together it comes under the umbrella of street food called Chaat or snack.
There is also Meetha chutney a sweet-tart sauce made with dates and tamarind, however, it’s not featured here, date-tamarind chutney/sauce is sweet-tart, and beautifully compliments the flavors in this recipe. I’ll blog the recipe later.
Potato Patties
Boiled, peeled potatoes are mashed along with a few ground spices to make flavorsome patties. You can sub part of the potatoes with sweet potatoes and/or peas to boost the nutritional values. Once mashed, formed together they’re chilled for a few minutes to hold shape, then pan fried in a little oil to crisp on the outside and cook through on the inside.
Choley~ Chickpea Curry
A slightly spicy and piquant chickpea curry with a lighter texture. This recipe is a little different from the chana masala that is hugely popular everywhere.
Cilantro Mint Chutney
The recipe for the mint cilantro chutney is here. This chutney/sauce adds a fresh herbecous flavor and texture and compliments the other components.
Choley Tikki Chaat
Equipment
- Pressure cooker or Instapot
- frying pan
- saute pan
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried chickpeas soaked 8 hrs to overnight
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 medium tomatoes, pureed
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp minced or chopped ginger
- 1 tbsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp garam masala ground
- 1 tsp chaat masala or ground dried mango called amchur
- ½-1 tsp fresh cracked black pepper use less if you prefer milder
- 1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder or mild paprika
- ¾ tsp sea salt
Potato Patties
- 1½ lbs potatoes, red or yukon boiled, peeled and mashed well
- 1-2 green chillies finely chopped
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- kosher salt as needed
- 1-3 tbsp cornstarch use as needed
- 3-4 tbsp breadcrumbs for extra crispiness, optional
Garnishes
- ¼ cup Sev** see notes for sub optional
- 1 medium red onion chopped
- 2-3 tbsp cilantro chopped
- 1-2 green chillies for extra heat optional
- lime wedges
- Green Mint Cilantro Chutney
Instructions
Chickpea curry
- Rinse and soak the chickpeas in plenty of water for about 8 to 10 hours or overnight. Cook the chickpeas with ½ tsp salt. Cook until a chickpea easily gets smashed between your index finger and thumb. Cooking times varies depending on the method used. I used a traditional pressure cooker. Once cooked set aside.
- Heat oil in a large heavy-bottomed pan. Add the cumin seeds, ginger and bay leaves and stir-fry for a few seconds until aromatic. Stir in the tomato puree, the ground coriander, turmeric, black pepper and saute until the spices start to darken without burning.
- Add the chaat masala, garam masala. Once browned, add in the cooked chickpeas into the masala and stir well so the chickpeas are coated with the spices. Check the salt and flavors, adjust if you need more spices to suit your taste.
- Cover the pan, turn the heat to low and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes until the chickpeas are coated with the masala. Give the chickpeas another taste. Set aside.
Potato Patties
- In a large mixing bowl, mash the boiled and peeled potatoes. Add the spices, chopped green chillies if using, cilantro, if using salt to taste and a tablespoon of cornstarch.
- Mix all the ingredients well, if your mash is still wet and can't hold a firm shape add another tablespoon of cornstarch. Chill in the fridge for 10 minutes. Then roll and flatten into a patty about 11/2-2 inch diameter)
- Dredge the patty in breadcrumbs if you like it crispier. Heat a frying pan on medium heat and swirl a tablespoon of oil, once warm place the patties without crowding on the pan and fry on medium heat for 3-4 minutes on each side. The patties should be firm and golden on both side. Transfer on to a plate and keep warm.
- To serve: place 2-4 potato tikki/patties on a plate or a shallow bowl. Add some hot choley(chickpea curry) on top of the hot tikkis. Sprinkle some finely chopped onions, spoonful of green mint chutney and sev if you have, and other garnishes. Enjoy!!!
Notes
- You can find Sev in any well stocked Indian grocery store. Trader Joes carries a similar snack which is a good alternative called Bhujia. If not skip it, its delicious even without it. Its added as a garnish!!!
- You could use 2 (14 oz) cans if you don’t want cooking chickpeas from scratch, in that case I recommend draining the can liquid and cooking the chickpeas in fresh water until the chickpeas are really soft
Made the tikki with sweet potatoes it was good but the Star was the choley, the recipe was so good, and different to the Chana masala recipe, we absolutely loved it.
Adam, So happy the recipe worked for you and you enjoyed it. Thanks for taking the time to make it.