The Popular Indian Street Food That Makes Potato Patties The Star

Street food is a delicious and special part of many cultures, and the flavor-packed offerings of Indian street food vendors are the perfect example. Located in Maharashtra, Mumbai is famous for its vibrant street food scene, boasting all kinds of chaat — or savory snacks — that are popular at food stalls and roadside stands. Chaat foods usually involve pairings of crunchy and creamy textures, with sweet, tangy, and spicy flavors,and ragda pattice is among the tastiest of snacks.

Ragda pattice is vegetarian and utilizes a bold, complex flavor profile, like many Indian dishes. Beloved in both Mumbai and Gujarat, ragda pattice gets its name from its two main ingredients: white pea curry and fried potato patties. Topped with tamarind, chili, and mint coriander chutneys, spices, and garnish elements for taste and texture, this chaat lives up to the atmosphere of a bustling street lined with food vendors and hungry customers.

Though there's a general outline to follow, ragda pattice is a customizable dish often served one of two different ways: With plated fried potato patties smothered with heaps of warm, thick curry and toppings, or with vibrant chutneys and spud patties laid atop a bed of gravy, preserving the crispness of the fried potato.

Dried white peas and potatoes are the stars of this dish, but ragda pattice features a vivacious lineup of ingredients, including a trifecta of chutneys. Green chutney gets its herbaceous flavor from coriander, green chilies, and mint, whereas red chutney relies on spice from red chilies and garlic, and tamarind chutney brings a tangy sweetness to the trio with tamarind pulp and jaggery. Like the many kinds of chutney, there's also a rainbow of curries with unique cultural origins and flavors, and this curry gets the bulk of its consistency from its dried white pea base. Though the curry itself has a milder flavor, the addition of spices, yogurt, and extra pops of produce, like pomegranate seeds and vegetables, make this dish a sensory celebration.

To make ragda pattice, boiled potatoes are mashed with breadcrumbs and spices and formed into patties and fried. Smashed white peas are then made into a curry to pour over the potatoes or for them to be presented on, followed by a topping of chutneys and yogurt. Ragda pattice, like many other chaats, uses the quintessential Indian spice blend chaat masala to add pungent, tangy flavors to the cuisine. Chaat masala combines dried mango powder, or amchur, black salt, cumin, coriander, fennel, mint, thyme, ginger, and cayenne for a distinctively delicious seasoning, so sprinkle it on with crunchy sev and a cilantro garnish.