Aloo Tikki Chole or Chole Aloo Tikki is a much-loved chaat dish that can be seen and enjoyed on the streets of North India. The two elements, Aloo Tikki – spiced potato cutlets or patties (sometimes with different fillings) and Chole – the well-known spicy chickpea curry, are quite the match made in heaven. This Aloo Tikki Chole recipe has the addition of yummy chutneys which takes the overall flavor, a notch higher!
Table of Contents
About Aloo Tikki Chole
When it comes to Aloo Tikki Chole or any other chaat for that matter, Delhi and a few other North Indian cities rule the roost. I can say this on the basis of my experience while in Delhi. Each shop has their own stamp of flavor on this much celebrated dish.
On many occasions, I’d try my best to get the recipes out from them, but all in vain. They are very protective about their secret recipes as these are a part of their business lineage of many years, sometime decades and more. Thus, are well-guarded too.
All this led me to create my own Aloo Tikki Chole recipe at home so that I wouldn’t have to wait to go out and enjoy it.
Whenever I am making this dish, I always make some extra. Which is equally enjoyed the next day, also as toast sandwiches. A double dose of deliciousness!
The aloo tikki can be served on its own (without the chole) with some chutney or sauce. They can also be stuffed in burgers, pita breads, rolls or sandwiches.
Since the taste of the tikki is Indianised, make sure to use Indian style chutneys, herbs or spice mixes whenever you are using them in these snacks.
I make this Chole Aloo Tikki with this Amritsari Chole. The leftover chole curry can also be had with steamed rice, jeera rice, paratha or naan.
A chickpea sandwich is also a stunner. You must try it. The chutneys too can be homemade – Mint Chutney and Sweet Chutney.
Why This Recipe Works
Aloo Tikki is a popular snack in North India and Chole or Chana Masala is one of those dishes which describes Punjabi cuisine like none other. Combine both these, top with some tangy, sweet, spicy chutneys, crunchy onions and you get a rockstar dish – a chaat with the best of both the worlds!
This duo of the crisp, golden potato patties and hot chickpea curry when served with coriander-mint chutney, date-tamarind chutney, chopped onions, tomatoes, cucumber and sometimes shredded cabbage, beetroot, etc. results in a winner dish.
This Aloo Tikki Chole recipe does wonders on the palate as it brings in every aspect of chaat, viz sweet, sour, salty, spicy, savory and crunchy, in its flavor profile.
What’s more? It can be customized according to your preferences too. The more you add, the better and crave-worthy it becomes.
How to make Aloo Tikki Chole
1. First, boil or steam 3 to 4 medium size potatoes till they are cooked well. Peel and chop the potatoes on a plate or bowl while still warm. With a potato masher, mash the potatoes.
Opt to cook the potatoes until fork tender, in a pot or pan, in a stovetop pressure cooker, or in the Instant pot adding water as needed.
2. Let the mashed potatoes, cool completely. Then, add the following spices:
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon fennel powder
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon dried mango powder
- ¼ teaspoon teaspoon dried ginger powder
- ½ teaspoon chaat masala powder
- salt as required
3. Next add 2 to 3 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch). You could even add rice flour, arrowroot flour and breadcrumbs.
4. Next, mix the whole mixture well.
5. Take medium size portions from the potato mixture and flatten into round patties.
6. In a shallow frying pan or tava or skillet, heat 2 to 3 tablespoons oil. Spread the oil with a spoon. Place the tikkis in the frying pan.
7. Keep turning the tikkis after intervals and fry them till golden brown and crisp.
8. On a plate or bowl, take the Amritsari Chole or Punjabi Chana Masala or your favorite chickpea curry.
9. Now, place 2 to 3 aloo tikki on the chole curry.
10. Top with some Tamarind Chutney, Mint-Coriander Chutney, chopped onions and chaat masala. Drizzle some lemon juice if you want.
You can also add some red chili powder. Opt to add some beaten curd or yogurt if you like.
11. Garnish with coriander leaves and sev (fried gram flour vermicelli). Serve Aloo Tikki Chole immediately and enjoy.
My tete-a-tete with Aloo Tikki Chole
Though primarily a North Indian street food, the first time I tried Chole Tikki Chaat was at Ghasitaram Halwai‘s shop in Mumbai. Here, they made it with aloo tikkis stuffed with chana dal mixture and fried to a crisp golden. These were then finished with the essential sweet and sour condiments plus onions and chaat masala.
Everything about this plate of Aloo Tikki Chole was perfectly satisfying and filling too. Before this, I was accustomed to the Mumbai style Ragda Patties. But their Aloo Tikki Chole was unbelievable. All the elements and textures resulted in a flavor burst in my mouth.
I was elated as it was so good. Soon, I started loving the Chole Tikki Chaat more than the Ragda Patties and even the Mumbai-based, yet ubiquitous Pani Puri. However, as days passed, they couldn’t hold on to the quality. It was no longer like the trademark Delhi style Aloo Tikki Chole.
More Chaat Recipes To Try
Snacks Recipes
Street Food Recipes
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Street Food Recipes
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Aloo Tikki Chole
Ingredients
For aloo tikki
- 3 or 4 potatoes – medium-sized
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder (ground cumin)
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder (ground coriander)
- 1 teaspoon fennel powder (ground fennel)
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder or cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried mango powder (amchur powder)
- ¼ teaspoon dried ginger powder
- ½ teaspoon chaat masala powder
- 2 to 3 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch) or breadcrumbs or rice flour or arrowroot flour
- 2 to 3 tablespoons oil or as needed for frying the tikkis
- salt as required
Other ingredients
- 1 large bowl of Amritsari Chole or Chana Masala
- ½ cup onions – finely-chopped
- ¼ cup chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)
- ½ cup Mint-Coriander Chutney or Coriander Chutney (Cilantro Chutney)
- ½ cup Tamarind Chutney
- chaat masala as required
- red chili powder as required, optional
- lemon juice or curd (yogurt) as required, optional
Instructions
- First, boil or steam the potatoes till they are cooked and soft.
- You could cook the potatoes until fork tender in a pan or pot, in a stovetop pressure cooker or in the Instant Pot adding water as needed.
- Peel the potatoes when they are still warm and mash them. Let the mashed potatoes cool.
- Add all the ground spice powders listed above including salt.
- Add the cornflour, stir and mix thoroughly.
- Make medium size patties from the potato mixture.
- Heat oil in a frying pan or tawa or skillet. Shallow fry or pan fry patties till crisp and browned.
- Serve immediately with Amritsari Chole topped with mint-coriander chutney and tamarind chutney.
- Also add some chopped onions, chaat masala and sev.
- You can also add some yogurt (curd) if you like.
Notes
- You can make your favorite chickpea curry to pair with the potato patties. Or opt to choose from our favorites – Chana Masala or Amritsari Chole.
- This recipe makes 7 to 8 medium-sized tikkis.
This Aloo Tikki Chole recipe from the archives first published on December 2012 has been republished and updated on December 2022.
Can you tell me what all those little garnishes are on the completed dish? Is that cheese? It sounds wonderful and I will make it for sure.
Carolyn, its onions, sev (deep fried gram flour vermicelli), and coriander leaves. you can also add pomegranates.
I tried this recipe turned out awesome. Good option for Kitty party
agree malikah, this recipe is a good option for small parties. thanks.
hi, aloo tikki fills my eyes… but it should fill our stomach till… i definitely try this..
thanks veena
yummy recipe
It’s good I like so much I want to know how to make mushroom soup
hi khushi, will update the mushroom soup… once the monsoons starts…
Hi Dassana,
great clicks as always. Reminds me of childhood and Sundays back home.
My question- Will the tikki stay intact with this? Maybe mine were bigger than yours- I had to pat it in bread crumbs.
By the 2nd batch the oil would have many crumbs, I had to throw the oil out, get started again, frustrating to say the least
the tikkis i made were intact. as a rule, i always avoid using bread crumbs or semolina while pan or shallow frying unless the recipe asks for it. they get browned or get darkened and spoil the oil. you could have made a bit smaller in size as they are easy to manage. cooking does get frustrating at times. happens with me too.
Hi. This dish looks delicious! I have a question. I’m confused by the instruction: peel and chop the potatoes when they are still warm. But it doesn’t say to bake them or anything. Why are they warm? Are you supposed to bake them first? According to your instructions, it seems like the potatoes are raw when you peel and chop them, but in the photo, they look like they’ve been baked first. Thank you!
thanks kathy. i forgot to mention that the potatoes have to be boiled first. you have to steam or boil the potatoes till they become soft and then mash them. the grating is done to ease the mashing process.
Ok, great! Thank you! I can’t wait to try it out!
It’s like a sign! I just ate this tonight at my favorite (ok actually the only one I know if in my neck of the woods) chaat restaurant. Pinning now to learn how to make, especially because this restaurant is 2 hours from my house!
Oh wow. My mouth is watering terribly at all those drool-worthy pictures of you aloo tikki chole.
I actually came to your blog to thank you for the tea bag idea. 🙂 Ever since I read your amritsari chole recipe, I’ve been cooking all kinds of beans with tea bags. Yesterday I made a double beans stew and I popped the tea bags into the pressure cooker and just like you said, they stayed intact. 🙂
I’m loving the colour and the taste the tea creates. And like you mentioned to someone else in your comments, it really helps to digest the beans well. So thank you! 🙂
hey susmitha… thanks. i mostly cook the chickpea with tea bags. yet have to try other beans with tea bags. both the taste and color with the tea is terrific.
I always land eating tikki with tea. Should definitely make chat with it sometime. Love the first photo with that gorgeous light and beautiful white!
Awesome. I had these in mumbai at some mithai shop and the sweet and tangy and spicy all mixed well along with raita
totally delicious
thank you for posting this…i like the way you describe the method….
Thanks a lot.. And is it necessary to add amchur powder?
thanks anusri. amchur powder add a certain tang and a hint of sourness to the tikkis. if you don’t want to add amchur powder, then just increase the quantity of chaat masala to 1 tsp in the above recipe. you can also add lemon juice. but with lemon juice the sour taste would be much different than with amchur powder.
This was one of my favorite things to order in college canteen. Love it! I m tempted to make it again after seeing your post
Tikki chole is my MIL’s signature dish…I m just drooling over that plate now..just love it a lot..u r posting all my fav foods these days