Overview
Ragda pattice consists of two parts that only work as a dish when combined. The pattice is a potato cake, firm enough to keep its shape and crisp on both flat faces. The ragda is a thin curry of dried white peas, cooked until some of them collapse and thicken the liquid. Alone, the ragda resembles a plain, homely stew and the pattice resembles aloo tikki. Together, ladled and finished with the usual chaat layer of chutneys, raw onion and sev, they form something distinct from either, and distinct also from aloo tikki chaat, in which the patty goes straight under chutneys and yogurt without any pea curry. The one point of true advance planning is the overnight soak that the dried peas require.
Where the Dish Comes From
Ragda pattice is a Mumbai stall classic, bound up with the chaat and bhel culture that formed in the city during the twentieth century around railway stations, beaches such as Chowpatty, and neighbourhood stalls kept largely by vendors of Gujarati and Maharashtrian background. The pattice, a spiced and pan-fried potato cake, plainly relates to aloo tikki, the North Indian potato patty. Food historians generally read ragda pattice as a Mumbai variation that combined the familiar patty with a pea curry closer to Maharashtrian and Gujarati home cooking, not as an unrelated invention. It is still linked to the city of Mumbai in particular, not to Maharashtra at large, and it is rarely found beyond the city and its satellite towns in anything like its original form.
Step-by-Step Method
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Prep
Soak the peas and cook them soft
The dried white peas soak overnight, for a minimum of 8 hours, in plenty of water and roughly double in volume. They are then drained and pressure-cooked with turmeric and fresh water for 5 to 6 whistles, until completely soft and beginning to fall apart. This is a longer, softer cook than most legumes receive, because a slightly mushy pea is what gives the ragda its body.
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Cook
Prepare the spiced base
Oil heats in a pot, and cumin seeds and asafoetida sizzle in it for a few seconds. Ginger-garlic paste cooks for 30 seconds, and then the pot is taken briefly off the heat so that the chilli and coriander powders can be stirred in without scorching, after which it returns to the burner.
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Cook
Simmer the ragda
The cooked peas go in with their liquid, plus extra water to make a loose, pourable soup, thinner than a dal, since it is meant to be ladled generously. Salt is added, and the pot simmers for 15 to 20 minutes while a portion of the peas are pressed against its side to thicken the liquid. Water is added if the pot reduces too far. The ragda should remain clearly soupy, never as thick as a curry.
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Prep
Mix and shape the potato cakes
Boiled potatoes are mashed until smooth and free of large lumps, then combined with cornflour, chopped green chilli, grated ginger, roasted cumin and salt. The cornflour holds the cakes together during frying and is used even when the mixture feels firm enough without it. The mass is divided into 8 portions and shaped into level, even discs roughly 2.5cm thick.
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Cook
Fry the cakes in a shallow layer of oil
Oil heats in a flat skillet over medium heat. The cakes go in with space around them and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, pressed down gently once with a spatula, until a deep golden crust forms on both flat faces. Turning early should be avoided, because the crust needs time to set, and a cake lifted too soon sticks and splits.
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Assemble
Ladle and dress
A deep plate or bowl receives two hot cakes, and a generous ladle of steaming ragda goes around them until they sit half-immersed. Next come streaks of tamarind and green chutney, then the raw onion, a fistful of sev, torn coriander and a last pinch of chaat masala.
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Serve
Eat without delay
The plate is served while the ragda is hot and the sev still crunches. Within minutes of assembly the sev softens and the crust on the cakes gives way to the liquid around them, so the dish is plated and eaten and not kept waiting.
Ingredient Swaps
Dried green peas (matar) can stand in for the white ones with very similar results and a slightly greener ragda. When time is short, canned white peas or canned chickpeas simmered in the same spice base give a fair approximation, although the liquid is less naturally thickened than with properly overcooked dried peas. Rice flour binds the cakes as well as cornflour does. A tablespoon of besan can be used in a pinch, but it adds a nuttier flavour to the patty.
Turning the Heat Up or Down
Because the pea curry is spiced only moderately, the final level of heat is mostly set by what goes on top, and that is the place to make changes. Cutting the chilli powder in the pot and choosing a mild green chutney lets the sweet tamarind take the lead for a softer plate. Turning it up can mean dropping a chopped green chilli into the simmering peas, or laying a thin line of chilli-garlic chutney across the finished dish; a few Mumbai stalls keep exactly that as a third, fiery condiment beside the standard pair.
Frequent Errors
First, peas that are under-soaked or under-cooked leave the ragda thin and watery, with none of the natural thickening that breaking-down peas provide, so the full overnight soak and an unhurried simmer are needed. Second, a ragda that is too thick, closer to a dal than to a soup, loses the contrast with the firm cakes, and it should pour easily from a ladle. Third, leaving out the binder makes the cakes crumble in the pan, as cornflour or rice flour does real structural work. Fourth, assembling the dish too far ahead turns the sev soggy and the cakes soft, so each plate is built to order.
Keeping and Warming Leftovers
To keep: The ragda keeps in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and improves slightly overnight, though it may thicken as it stands and is thinned with a splash of water on reheating. Shaped but unfried cakes can be refrigerated, covered, for up to a day before frying, or frozen uncooked for up to a month. Once the dish is topped with chutneys, onion and sev, it should not be stored.
To warm: A saucepan on medium heat is the best vessel for the ragda, stirred now and then, with water poured in until it flows from a ladle again. Microwaving is less suitable, since uneven heating can catch the thick peas at the rim. The cakes are warmed apart, in a dry skillet at medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes a side, a method that brings back part of the crust that a microwave would leave soft. The two components meet only at the moment of serving.
Safe Handling
Dried white peas must be soaked fully and cooked until soft, because undercooked legumes are harder to digest and should be boiled through, never served firm. The ragda, like any cooked legume dish, is cooled and refrigerated within two hours of cooking and not left on the counter, particularly in warm weather. It is reheated until steaming throughout, not just at the edges. Because the cakes are shallow-fried, fresh oil for each batch is preferable, and oil that has darkened or smells burnt should not be reused across sessions.