Video: Link
Recipe: 4
Week: 0
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| Notice the uncooked-ness :( |
I had never boiled or mashed potatoes before so that was a first for this recipe. 500g of potato, for me, worked out to be two medium sized potatoes. I skinned and then coarsely chopped my potatoes, then added them to a pot of boiling water. I boiled them for twenty minutes and when I poked them with a knife, they were very tender! Smashing them into potato mash was much easier than I had anticipated it to be and only took a few minutes to make a very smooth pot of mashed potatoes. I did not add any butter or salt to them, though, just as an fyi.
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| Mashing was more fun than I thought |
While I had been boiling my potatoes, I cooked my half cup of peas and got all of my other ingredients out and ready in dishes just like Titli does in her videos. I felt very youtube professional. I then got a big bowl and mixed everything together. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised at how wonderfully easy it was to mix mashed potatoes, peas, and all the spices. Maybe it is just me, but I was expecting something a bit more challenging (then again, my arms are stronger after that carrot cake!).
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| Pretty much the last successful step I had |
Now, rolling into balls went smoothly but I ended up with fourteen, which is two more than the recipe predicted and one more than Titli got in her video. I think it is all just fine, though. Flattening them into patties went smoothly enough and I had them all laid out ready to go. I then brought oil in a flat bottom pan to heat (just a few millimeters). I used Canola Oil because that is what I had in my home and I looked up elsewhere (elsewhere = not Titli's website) that that was an okay oil to fry with. Now, Titli warned that if the heat of the oil was not hot enough, the patty would start to break down in the oil. So I did a tester (I did have an extra patty after all) and it broke down before I could even flip it properly. Darn!
So I heated up the stove so that my oil was even hotter and I saw little bubbles at the bottom. Seemed hot to me. I tried with patty number two and right when I added it in, it started to steam much more than in Titli's video and my kitchen was soon filled with oily steam. And you know what! It still broke down into the oil. At this point the top layer of my oil was black from the disintegrated potatoes and it had become an Aloo Tikki horror scene. Time to ditch the oil and get a new batch.
This time I started the heat of the oil hotter and let it sit longer so that it would heat up before I added anything into it. I looked up elsewere that the oil is hot enough when a piece of bread browns within 60 seconds, so I did that test. Passed with flying colors (and the bread crumb was pretty tasty afterwards) so I added a patty in. Lots of steam and it broke down. Argh! I was getting a bit frustrated, to be honest. But I thought, I would give it one last try. So I sacrificed one more poor patty to the heat of the oil and it died like all the others. Actually, it had the worst. Flames start to spark above my oil and the steam increased tenfold. And then my smoke detector went off. After all of that, I decided to call it a day with the Aloo Tikki. So I boxed mine up and stuck them into the fridge.
I really, really did need the Titlibirds to come to the rescue for this one!
Now I am turning to you all for help! I am determined to fry these surviving patties up and make delicious Aloo Tikki! Absolutely determined! But I need tips for frying and you can give them to me in two ways. You can send a quick email to me at cookingwithtitli@ymail.com or (and I would love you for this one) you can sign up to be a follower of this blog and comment. That would be best because this blog is all about learning and then everyone can see your suggestions! I would greatly appreciate it!
I think I will send a message asking Titli for advice, as well, and see what she has to say!
Happy Cooking!
Zielony Pie
http://www.culinary-yours.com/frying_oil.html
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Ayla :)
ReplyDeleteFrom reading your blog I think you over-boiled your potatoes! If you boil potatoes for long enough they turn to mush. You want the mash to be quite dry which means boiling the potatoes until you can just feel with a pointy-tool that they are cooked in the centre. The resulting mash will be much drier and firmer and shouldn't dissolve when you try to fry it!
ReplyDeleteThat would make sense! I will try that next time I make them. For the record, I fried the remaining patties in a smaller amount of oil and for a longer period of time on a much cooler temperature. The result was more like Indian hash browns, but they were delicious and the flavors were great! I am definitely going to be trying this dish again!
ReplyDeleteWhat happened?? You are not cooking anymore? I make potato tikkis quite often and i will give you a few tips. Potatoes do absorb a lot of water when you boil them in a chopped state. so boil them whole with skins on. Wipe them with a cloth, skin them, mash them, add bread crumbs (like i blitz 3 slices of bread in a grinder) and add the rest of the ingredients. Make the tikkis flat and keep them in the fridge to dehydrate them. Fry a few at a time, don't crowd the pan, the oil will cool and your tikkis will go phut! the key is to have dry potato cakes before you fry them!!
ReplyDelete