Pantry Aloo Tikki

Who could forget the summer of 1996? Madeline Albright was appointed the first secretary of state, Clinton and Gore won the national election, and Tupac Shakur was shot in Vegas and later succumbed to his injuries. It also marks the year that I first tried Indian food.

My two best friends were Katie Snow and Shruti Bargoti and we did absolutely everything together. To celebrate Shruti’s 12th birthday, we listened to “Gangsta’s Paradise” on repeat, stayed up late to watch “Now and Then” on video fast-forwarding the part where they showed Devon Sawa’s naked butt which was way too scandalous for our group, and ordered a large Papa John’s pizza with extra garlic sauce on the side. Life was good.

However, life was about to get better because after being friends for three years, Shruti’s mom had finally decided it was about time that our ragtag group of friends try Indian food for the first time. I’m not going to lie, I was skeptical (even the ethnic food my dad made at home was too ethnic for me!) but one bite of her spicy fried potato patties and I was hooked! A life long addiction to Indian lunch buffets has followed me ever since.

Only recently did I learn the name of the dish Shruti’s mom served me: aloo tikki. Apparently it is a popular street food dish from Northern India.

I had a big bag of potatoes that were about to sprout so I decided that today would be the day that I would make this beloved dish my bish. This recipe is in NO WAY authentic but my adaption can easily be made with ingredients that can be found in a well-stocked pantry.

Rob was hesitant to try it so I only fried him one patty at first. He ate three more immediately afterwards!

Suburbanette’s Pantry Aloo Tikki

1. Boil seven small or medium well scrubbed organic potatoes with skin on until soft on the inside
2. Remove from water and add handful of frozen peas to water and quickly cook
3. Add peas and potatoes to large bowl and sprinkle liberally with garam masala, curry powder, tumeric, garlic powder, salt, paprika, ginger powder, dried onion…and basically whatever you think will taste good together. Mash until all ingredients are incorporated.
4. Add some panko bread crumbs to bind mixture.
5. Form mixture into patties with hands and roll the outside in bread crumbs.6. Lightly oil a hot skillet
7. Brown patties in skillet until crispy on the outside
8. Eat and enjoy! This would be amazing with a yogurt or mango chutney on top.