I think it is pretty obvious by now that I am a die-hard fan of Venkatesh Bhat, the chef at Accord in Chennai. His cooking show ‘Samayal Samayal” is the only show I watch without fail. The best part about his show is that he makes most dishes seem easily achievable and cooking a pleasure rather than a chore it usually becomes. Another amazing aspect is that his recipes work so well. I have tried quite a few of them and had amazing results.

This recipe was shared on his program last year and I had bookmarked it for a very long time. The main ingredient for this tikki is hung curd which was not easily achievable during my Malaysian days. Once I got full fat milk in Bangalore, I was reminded of this dish and got to it at once. I used the curd set from full fat milk (Nandini Gold) and the results were yummy and soft tikkis, almost melt in your mouth. I would urge you to make smaller tikkis than I did because it is quite filling and tough to eat one entire tikki of this size at one go. I made 6 tikkis but I am guessing 8 or 9 would have been more manageable. So here goes –

Makes 8-9 medium sized tikkis

WHAT WE NEED

Hung curd                         250 gms

Paneer                                100 gms

Roasted gram                   150 gms

Ginger garlic paste          1-2 tsp

Green chillies                    1-2

Coriander leaves              small bunch

Almonds                             6-8

Cashew                               5-6

Raisins                                6-8

Salt

Ground pepper

Cornflour for dusting

Ghee for shallow frying

WHAT TO DO

• To get hung curd, take 900 ml or 1 litre full fat curd in a cheesecloth, tie it up and let it hang in a vessel overnight or 6-7 hours in the refrigerator. The entire water content of the curd needs to drip out and the remaining curd in the cheesecloth is the hung curd and should be around 250 gms.
• Use a blender or mixer and reduce the roasted gram to a fine powder
• Grate or crumble the paneer till it has no large or small pieces and can be easily mixed into a dough
• Combine all three of the above ingredients with ginger garlic paste and salt and make it into a fine dough.
• Add freshly ground pepper and mix it again
• Set the mixture aside for 10-15 minutes
• Finely chop green chillies and coriander leaves
• Add the almonds, cashews and raisins to the blender and make them into a coarse mixture
• Mix the dry fruits with the chillies and coriander leaves
• To save time, you can add the chillies and coriander leaves to the blender with the dry fruits and make it to a coarse paste
• Dust your hands with cornflour and divide the curd mixture into 8 or 9 parts
• Dust each part with a little cornflour. Make a small depression in the middle and add some of the dry fruit mixture into it and seal it shut
• Pat it on both sides to make a circular flat tikki
• Repeat the process till you have 8-9 stuffed tikkis ready for frying
• Heat 2-3 tbsp ghee in a pan and then simmer the gas
• Add the tikkis and fry them in batches or all at once depending on the size of your pan
• After a minute or so, use a spatula and lift the tikki off the pan to ensure it does not stick on it
• Turn the tikki over after 3-4 minutes and fry the other side. Take the tikki from the pan once both sides are golden brown in colour
• Serve with some mint chutney
• Enjoy!

This is my entry for the Cooking from Cookbook Challenge hosted by Srivalli.