I have always loved the little vegetable patties known as tikki. Traditionally the most common ones are aloo tikki (potato patties). My mom is the tikki queen and makes many variations of them including some with paneer and greens.
The other night I had a friend coming over for dinner and less than an hour to cook it. With few ingredients in my fridge, I took a cue from my mother’s tikki experiments and pulled out what veggies I had on hand.
I chopped up a cauliflower, carrots and potatoes tossed them in the steamer for 20 minutes and headed to the shower. I had a nice bunch of cooked vegetables when I got back to my kitchen ready to go.
I have to admit, I wasn’t exactly on time. I was still pan-frying the tikki’s when my friend arrived but at least we didn’t have to wait that long to eat.
Cauliflower Patties (Tikki)
Ingredients
- 3 cups cauliflower cut into florets about 3/4 of a medium sized cauliflower
- 1 carrot sliced into 1 inch circles
- 2 medium potatoes roughly cut to the same size as the carrots
- ¼ cup peas fresh or frozen I used frozen
- ½ tsp garam masala
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- red chili powder to taste
- salt to taste
- 4 to 6 tbsp of oil
For the Chutney
- 1 bunch cilantro rinsed and roughly chopped
- ½ cup peas fresh or frozen I used frozen
- 1 clove garlic roughly chopped
- ½ jalapeno chili roughly chopped less if you don’t like spicy
- 2 to 3 tbsp of water
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Steam or boil the cauliflower, potatoes and carrots until soft, about 20 minutes. If using fresh peas, toss them in the steamer or boiling water towards the end, about 5 minutes before done.
- Squeeze as much water out of the cauliflower as possible. I usually just stick it in a strainer and push but you can also wrap it in cheese cloth and squeeze.
- In a large bowl, mash up all the veggies together.
- Toss in the spices and salt. Mix.
- Make small patties by rolling a handful of the mash into a ball and flattening it with your palm.
- Heat a large skillet with 2 tbsp of oil.
- Pan fry the patties in batches on medium heat. Cook until golden brown on both sides. About 5 minutes each side.
For the Chutney
- Toss all the ingredients into a blender and puree. Try to use as little water as possible to avoid a runny chutney.
Looks great! I have 2 questions, though. I’m assuming you steam the cauliflower, carrot, potatoes, and peas before beginning step 1 of the recipe? Also, are these fresh peas in the chutney? or do you use canned or frozen?
Hi Brittany! Yes, you steam or boil the veggies before. No need to steam the peas beforehand if they’re frozen. You might want to steam them for about 5 minutes or so if you use fresh peas. Thanks for pointing that out. I fixed it on the recipe!
As for the chutney, I used frozen again. And we don’t cook them before we toss them in the blender. Fresh peas can be used without cooking in the chutney too.
Hope this helps!
Hi Puja, These patties are amazing, thankyou! Here in Australia, we call patties ‘rissoles’ — isn’t it funny how people’s vocabulary differs around the world? I was wondering whether I could freeze these patties, either before they are cooked or after? I often freeze daal and other curries to take on holiday as ready-made meals, and these would be great, but I’m not sure how freezing would affect them. Any ideas? Thanks so much for all your beautiful recipes, Cheers, Bethany
Hi Bethany,
Yes! Potatoes freeze pretty well. I would recommend cooking them partially, then wrapping them in parchment paper and storing them in freezer bags. When you’re ready to eat, heat some oil on a pan and cook strait from frozen. Enjoy!