Chana Dal Tikki (Lentil Patties)

Chana Dal Tikki. These delicious lentil patties are soft on the inside and have a crisp crust. Made with with chana dal (bengal gram lentils), sweet potatoes and fragrantly spiced with cumin, cloves and garam masala, they are a delicious appetizer or snack. Vegan, gluten free & aromatic!!

I served these skillet fried lentil patties with a simple paneer & kale pulao, spinach raita (yogurt) & micro greens to make a colorful indian super food bowl.

In Hindi, Tikki = patties. Chana dal is a variety of split chickpea and is considered a good source of protein in south asian kitchens. Lentils and beans are used hundreds of ways in indian kitchens and these rajma kebabs and vegan lentil patties just go on to showcase how versatile they are.

These chana dal patties have a lot of texture from dal and a mild earthiness from sweet potatoes. Lentils combined with sweet potatoes provide a satisfying snack option, they are not sweet at all.

Chana dal Tikki (Lentil Patties)

• Can be served as a snack or appetizer with your favorite dip like green chutney or yogurt sauce or tahini
• Great For Meal Prep
• Perfect to serve a crowd - from vegetarians to vegans to non vegetarians!
• Can be used to make a ton of meals from wraps to buddha bowls to sandwiches

Ingredients

• Chana Dal - Bengal Gram Lentils. These lentils are easily available in south asian grocery stores or online. Use any yellow split pea lentils,red lentils, brown or green lentils instead.
• Sweet Potato - or regular potato.
• Spices while boiling the lentils - turmeric powder, bay leaf, cloves.
• Spices for the lentil mixture- Red chilli powder, Garam Masala, cumin powder
• Chopped Vegetables- red onion, green chillies, fresh cilantro.
• Other ingredients - lemon juice, raisins (optional), avocado or olive oil for pan frying

How To Make Chana Dal Tikki

Boil the Lentils & Sweet Potato

1. Wrap a sweet potato in a foil and place in a 400F oven for 40-50 minutes or until softened. You could boil the sweet potato as well.
2. Place lentils in a pressure cooker or steel insert of Instant pot with salt, turmeric powder, bay leaf, cardamom and cloves. Add just about enough water to cover the lentils. You can do the same in a dutch oven on stove top.
3. Pressure cook for 3-5 whistles or until the lentils are fully cooked. The dal will hold shape and absorb all the water that we added. On stove top this could take 40-45 minutes.
4. Pick out and discard the bay leaf, clove and cardamom. Let the lentils cool down for a bit, don't let them become cold. We want to make the mix while the lentils are still warm.

Make the Lentil Mixture

5. In a large bowl, combine lentils and cubed sweet potato. Using a potato masher or your hands. Its okay if some grains of lentils remain intact.
6. Mix in the ginger and garlic, onions, green chilies, cilantro raisins, ginger, all the ground spices and salt. Taste and adjust the seasonings as needed.
7. Cover and let the patty mixture rest for 10 minutes for flavors to mingle.

Shape & Pan Fry

8. Oil your hands and divide the patty mixture into 10 or 12 equal portions. 
9. Roll the portions into a balls, flatten the balls slightly and shape them using your palm and fingers into well rounded patties.
10. Make all the patties this way and place on a plate. At this point you can refrigerate them in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Or place them on a single layer on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and freeze them for 6 hours. After they are frozen, plack in a zip lock and store frozen for one month. 
11. Warm up a 12 inch heavy cast iron wide skillet or a frying pan on medium heat. When nicely hot (not too hot) add little oil or ghee and place 3-4 tikkis at a time, don't overcrowd. Let patties crisp up for 5-6 minutes on medium-high heat. Don't add a lot of oil in the begnning else they will start breaking. Once they are crisped on one side, drizzle 1-2 tablespoon of oil or ghee on (uncooked) top and flip to crisp on second side. 
12. Cook patties with patience. Its takes 7-8 minutes to fry a batch on both sides.

Tips

• Adjust seasonings in the patty mixture as you desire. You could add green onions or chopped leafy greens like spinach or methi. 
• When making patties with lentils, the most important thing to keep in mind is the water quantity when you boil the lentils. More water will turn them mushy while less water with leave the lentils dry and chewy. Please refer to the water quantity in the recipe.
• Use a hand held masher or hands to mix.Leave out the blender or processor.
• Since onions and chopped cilantro etc go in the recipe, keep in mind that after sitting for a half and hour or so, the mixture will loosen a bit since the raw vegetables will release their moisture due to salt. So if the mix feels a bit dry in the beginning, don't worry.
• If you feel, that the lentil dough needs some binding, add some roasted chickpea flour or besan (gram flour) or oats flour. 

Serving Suggestions

• Serve as a snack or appetizer with your favorite dip like green chutney or yogurt sauce or tahini sauce. 
• Tuck inside burger buns and make lentil burgers. 
• Serve over a bed of greens or add to buddha bowl. 
• These tikkis are great with parathas & green chutney or pulao & raita.