Ragada Pattice: with Radish, Potato, and Paneer

I think I'm really liking this work scene, where I come home to a special creation by Shankar. Today's menu featured a delicious radish, potato, and homemade paneer tikka in a savory peas and tomato sauce. The tikka's were large enough to be an entire meal on its own, and were just perfect smothered in the sauce with crisp minced red onion, fresh cilantro, and chaat masala powder. The following recipes make enough for 8 large tikkas. The leftover tikkas are going to be used in the switchup: 'radish-potato-paneer burgers' for tomorrow's lunch! We were at my parents place in Toronto over the weekend, indulging in FoodTV when we saw Jaimie Oliver sitting in his garden making beer battered pakodas. So we tried it with these tikkas, but to be honest there wasn't much difference in taste between the battered tikkas and the ones we left plain. The sauce or ragada should be a thin channa, but Shankar just used what we had on hand and substituted peas for chickpeas. You can get the recipe for homemade paneer on Savithri's Spot here.


Radish, Potato, and Paneer Tikka
3 cups of paneer, 2 small potatoes boiled and mashed, 1 cup of shredded daikon/radish, 1 bunch of chopped green onions, 1/2 large green chili minced, 1 handful of cilantro chopped, 1 tbsp of garam masala, 1 tbsp of dhania jeera powder, salt to taste, 1/2 tsp of turmeric

Batter
1/2 cup gram flour, enough beer or water to give it a smooth consistency that is not too watery, 1 tsp dried mint

1. Mix the ingredients for the batter together until no lumps form.
2. Mix the crumbled paneer, mashed potatoes, radish, and all the remaining ingredients in a bowl.
3. Take a 1/4 cup of the mixture at a time, roll into balls and flatten. We found flattening on a oiled board, and cutting out circles worked the best.
4. In a saucepan, heat some oil.
5. Dip the patties into the batter and fry them on both sides.
6. Alternatively you can batter them and bake them in the oven at 350 for about 25 minutes. Flip them and cook the other side for a few minutes. Ensure you have oiled the tray or sprayed it with cooking spray. Spray the battered patties as well.


Sauce - Ragada
1 large beefsteak tomato diced, 1 handful peas, 1/2 red onion diced, 1 tsp of chili powder, 1 tsp of turmeric, 1 tsp of channa masala, 1/2 tbsp garam masala, 1/2 tbsp dhania jeera powder, garlic (optional -- we didn't use it)

1. Saute the onions in oil.
2. Add the tomatoes and fry till the water separates.
3. Add the various powders, and peas and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Season with salt. Adjust the seasoning of the masala powders to your taste.


Verdict: Guaranteed to make anyone drool. Ok, I'm eating a plain tikka as a midnight snack right now. Seriously, you know when you open the fridge and you want something to snack on? Yeah, this is it. Make some, you'll see.



Here is the switchup: The most delicious homemade potato burger. Toasted buns spread with mint chutney and maggie masala chili sauce, layered with slices of onion, chopped cilantro and lettuce. You could add cheese to yours as well. This was SO amazing. I wish you all could be here to try some with me. Now get this, the patties Shankar made for our next day burger were all baked, and he used fat free milk for the paneer. This meal not only tasted good, it was also low fat, and low in calories. I also bought the lighter buns from the store. Can you believe it?!