Sweet potato cakes with ginger, fennel and chilli

One of the most common snacks in India is potato fritters, aloo tikki, as they are lovingly called. They are available at every street corner in small carts where they are fried fresh and served with chole or green chutney. In restaurants, they are also a favourite and a must-have on the menu. Here is a fabulous upscaled version of this dish.

This is quite a complex dish to make, but the fritters are excellent. There is a lovely combination of crisp outside and soft inside. The spices are bold, and the earthy sweetness of the sweet potatoes shines through. The textures are beautiful, and this is a dish I want to serve every day.

This is a beautiful cookbook, which I categorise in the fabulous London Indian restaurants I want to eat at. A cookbook filled with some very traditional recipes and some extraordinary contemporary recipes. Each of these is delicious, and it is a cookbook I'll continue to use.

For more delicious recipes from this cookbook, click here.

Ingredients:

For the cakes:

3 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 small carrot, grated

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and grated

1 potato, peeled and grated

Salt, to taste

4 tablespoons cilantro, minced

1/4 cup flour

For the filling:

1 small sweet potato, peeled and cubed

1 small potato, peeled and cubed

8 cups water

1/2 teaspoon salt

Oil, as needed

1 teaspoon ginger paste

3-5 green chillies, minced, or to taste

1 teaspoon fennel seeds, lightly roasted and lightly pounded

Salt, to taste

1/2 teaspoon sugar

To make the cakes, heat the oil in a wide frying pan. Add the cumin and fennel seeds and fry for 30 seconds. Add the carrot, sweet potato, and potato and cook over medium heat until the vegetables are soft, about 10-12 minutes. Do not let the vegetables take on any colour. Cool completely and mix in the cilantro and flour. Set aside.

To make the filling, heat the water in a pot until it boils. Add the salt and potatoes, then simmer gently for 12-15 minutes, or until the cubes are very tender. Drain and set aside to cool.

Once cool, mash the potatoes together coarsely. Add the ginger, chillies, fennel, salt and sugar and mix well. Taste for salt and spice, and adjust to your liking.

When you are ready to serve the dish, take a small ball, about three tablespoons, of the shredded mix. Make a hole in the centre and stuff with 1 1/2 teaspoons of the mashed potato mix. Make a flat aptty stuffed with the mash. Repeat until you have finished all the mashed and shredded potatoes. The patties can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge.

Heat a wide frying pan with about two tablespoons of oil. Add about six patties to the pan and fry on medium heat for 2 minutes. Once the bottom side is browned and crisp, flip and cook the second side for about 1 1/2 minutes more, until well browned. Remove and drain on paper towels.

Serve hot, while the cakes are still crisp on the outside, with a chutney of your choice. I paired it with Peanut chutney.