Potato Patties with Paneer Cheese
Aloo Tikki With Paneer
Manoj Kumar From Roorkee
Manoj is a young man who first came to my brother and his wife, my younger Sister in-laws home in India, along with his 2 brothers and a sister, awhen he was a young boy. He was taken under her wing by her, along with his siblings. My SIL taught all the brothers, and one sister, to read and write and do various jobs like cooking, professional sewing etc.They have found jobs and stayed with her, and with a few other families close by, ever since, where they have all made good lives for themselves.
When younger, they worked at my brother's home and inhis factory, as office cleaner and tea-boy, to make extra money. One of the brothers started running a 'Chaat' spicy food cart, but has since passed away in a road traffic accident.
Manoj has been the most enterprising amongst all the siblings and has done well in life. Having done different jobs as a youngster, he eventually trained as a driver and now works for an absent landlord next door, looking after his house and living there with his young family, wife and two boys. He is teaching them in a good school, to give them a better future. In his free time, he does driving jobs for other people, helps as a waiter/cook at wedding receptions running a Chaat stall. He has driven me to Delhi airport and other places on several occasions, always a pleasure to have around.
This is his version of Alu Tikki, a popular, north Indian street food. He is quite a proficient cook and often comes to help out when my SIL has has guests or has a party. o
Ingredients
200 gm. Paneer Cheese block. You can buy ready-made paneer from Indian and some other grocers.
1 kg. potatoes
2-3 tbsp. mung dal, washed (skineless)
2-3 green chillies, very finely chopped(adjust amount to taste and heat of chillies)
1-2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely grated/chopped
2 tbsp. chopped coriander leaves
4 slices standard white loaf slices
Salt to taste
1 tsp. coriander powder
1/2 tsp. roast cumin powder**
2 tbsp. besan or gram flour
2-3 tbsp. natural yoghurt or dahi or milk.
Oil for shallow frying
To serve;
2 cups natural yoghurt, lightly beaten, with salt to taste.
1-2 tbsp. chilli powder
1/2tbsp.roasted cumin powder (roast cumin on a griddle and grind roughly)
Instructions
Wash and soak dal in a little water.
Soak bread slices in a little water.
Cube paneer cheese into roughly 1 1/2 cm. squares. Keep aside.
Boil potatoes in their skins until soft. You can boil the in a pan of water, pressure cook tem or microwave steam them.
Cool, peel and mash roughly.
Squeeze water out of bread slices, break them up and add to mashed potatoes, along with the drained dal, chillies, ginger and coriander leaves..
Divide the mash into burger sized portions with wetted or greased hands.
Make each portion into a ball, then make a little depression in its centre.
Place one cube of paneer in its centre and close the potato ball around it. Now flatten it into a burger or tikki shape.
Heat oil in a frying pan.
Shallow fry 4-6 cutlets at a time, turning and cooking on both sides, until nice and crisp on. Flatten a little more with a spatula, half way through the cooking, and let it crisp some more.
Meanwhile, beat the yoghurt lightly with a little salt to taste.
Serve hot tikkies, straight off the pan, with a spoon of yoghurt, Imli Chutney, Green Mango Chutney to taste, a sprinkling of chilli powder and roast cumin.
You can also make vegetable burgers from these, see recipe;
