Farali Pattiesફરાળી પેટીસ
Potato patties stuffed with a sweet-sharp filling of peanuts, coconut and coriander. Made for fasting days, though nobody objects to them on any other day.
Ingredients
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- 4 boiled potatoes, mashed
- 2 tbsp rajgara flour, rock salt
- Filling: ½ cup crushed roasted peanuts, ¼ cup grated coconut
- 2 green chillies, ginger, coriander
- 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp lemon juice
- Oil for shallow frying
Method
- Mix the mashed potato with rajgara flour and salt into a dough.
- Combine the peanuts, coconut, chillies, ginger, coriander, sugar and lemon for the filling.
- Stuff each ball of potato, seal it and flatten gently.
- Shallow fry on a tawa until golden and crisp on both sides.
- Serve hot with curd or a fasting-friendly chutney.
Tips
- Completely cooled potato holds together far better.
- The balance of sugar and lemon in the filling is what makes it.
Storing and reheating
As a fasting dish this is usually made to eat straight away. Shaped uncooked patties keep a day in the fridge, laid out in a single layer rather than stacked. Cooked ones keep two days and should be crisped again on a tawa with a little oil. Microwaving leaves them soft and pasty.
What you can swap
- No rajgara flour? Use singoda (water chestnut) flour or samo flour. On a non-fasting day, two tablespoons of cornflour or ground flattened rice bind just as well.
- If peanuts are a problem, use crushed roasted sesame or cashew instead, and increase the coconut to keep the filling's sweetness.
- With desiccated instead of fresh coconut, toast it for two minutes in half a teaspoon of ghee first. Raw desiccated coconut feels dry and scratchy.
- Plain salt works if you have no rock salt. Which salt is permitted during a fast varies from family to family, so follow what your household does.
What to serve with it
A main evening dish during the fasts of Ekadashi, Janmashtami, Shivratri or Navratri, eaten with sweetened curd, a fasting-friendly green chutney and date-tamarind chutney. Outside a fast it is just as good as an evening snack with tea.
Mistakes to avoid
- Do not overboil the potatoes, and use as little water as possible. If the mash is wet you end up adding more and more flour, and the patties turn hard.
- Do not overfill them. A thin casing splits on the tawa and the peanuts burn on the pan.
- Do not turn them straight away. Give the first side three or four minutes to form a crust, or they stick and tear.
- Keep the heat moderate. High heat browns the outside while the rajgara flour inside stays raw, which tastes gluey.
Questions people ask
My patties break on the tawa. How do I fix it?
There is too much water in the potato. Work in another spoon of rajgara flour, chill the mixture for ten minutes and then shape it. In a hurry, use a little more oil on the tawa and turn each patty only once.
Can they be deep fried?
Yes, but the potato dough must be properly dry or they will burst in the oil. If frying, dust them with a thin coating of rajgara flour and lower them into medium-hot oil.
Can the filling be made in advance?
The filling keeps two or three days in the fridge, but add the lemon juice and coriander only when you are about to use it. Added early, the coriander blackens and the filling goes watery.
