And you might think I’ve gotten completely carried away with my need to eat and produce healthy food! How can that weird combination even work! But it does. And what I haven’t added in that mighty long title, is that the ragda was made with sprouted white peas. don’t look at me in disdain! try it and decide for yourself. It’s chaat with the same flavours we all love just super healthy and protein heavy!
This dish, as many before was born out of the need for a healthy snack, I find that evening time a little difficult to manage. Just back from work and getting ready for my workout, I need to eat something that is super powered and filling. I’ve often made done with a protein-shake till lactose became difficult to digest. Eggs added to my current acid reflux problem 
But this is one dish that served my purpose.
To bump up the nutritional value, I’ve made tikkis out of boiled sweet potato, boiled pumpkin, spinach, boiled potato, onion and sprouted alfa alfa. It’s super packed with energy. If you don’t like this combination go ahead and experiment with flavours and roots of your choice, there’s little that can go wrong and if at all it does, every chef has a bad day once in a while!
Time taken: 1 hour + 2 days (to sprout the white peas)
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Skill level: Basic
Serves: 6 adults
Equipment needed: Skillet
Ingredients:
For the Tikki
- 2 potatoes, boiled, skinned and mashed (1 cup mash)
- 2 sweet potatoes, boiled, skinned and mashed (2 cups mash)
- 100 grams of pumpkin, boiled, skinned and mashed (1 cup mash)
- 1 bunch of spinach, washed, blanched and chopped (1/2 cup)
- 1 medium-sized onions, chopped fine (1/4 cup)
- Handful of alfa-alfa sprouts
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 1 tablespoon ginger, chilli paste
- 1 teaspoon each Kashmiri red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander and cumin powder
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Salt to taste
For the Ragda
- 500 grams of dried white peas, washed and sprouted
- 3 medium-sized onions, chopped fine
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 1 tablespoon ginger, chilli paste
- 1 teaspoon each Kashmiri red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander and cumin powder
- Salt to taste
- 1 boiled potato, cut into cubes
To garnish:
- Tamarind chutney
- Wasabi peas
- Pomegranate pearls
- Home made cottage cheese (paneer)
- Finely chopped raw onions
Method:
To cook the ragda refer to this recipe
To cook the Tikki:
1. Mix together the mashed pumpkin, potato and sweet potato.
2. In another pan, saute the onion in a little olive oil till it is translucent in colour. Add it to the mash.
3. Add the blanched and chopped spinach and alfa alfa sprouts. Mix the mash together.
4. Season it with salt, lemon juice and the masalas. If it is too soft you could add a slice of bread to bring it to the right consistency.
5. Divide the mash into equal size portions and roll and then flatten them into tikkis. At this stage if you wish you could coat it with cornflour of breadcrumbs. I’ve used breadcrumbs.
6. Shallow fry the tikkis on a skillet in a little oil till they are golden in colour. Set aside till all done.
7. Serve with the sprouted white peas ragda. Garnish with chopped onions, green chutney and tamarind and dates chutney.
To Assemble
1. Place the tikki in a deep bowl, add the ragda, the tamarind chutney, top with finely chopped raw onions, then add the salsa, crumbled cottage cheese, pomegranate pearls and finally the wasabi peas. It’s an explosion of flavours and textures. If cooking for kids, do not serve Wasabi peas! they could be too spicy for children to handle.
