Rajma tikki – golden and crispy outside, fluffy and savoury inside with earthy chunks of red kidney beans and mashed potatoes. Make these Indian style red kidney bean patties within 30 minutes for a light lunch or side.
They’re so versatile!
Rajma tikkis are a twist on aloo tikki . The idea is pretty similar, except I add in boiled and lightly mashed red kidney beans.
They’re pretty filling when served with tomato shorba , a light green salad (dressed in my Indian salad dressing ) or served with Indian mint sauce .
You can also go festive and assemble the tikkis a bit like a chaat – my favourite way is serving on a bed of cucumber raita , topping with nylon sev, pomegranate and green mint coriander chutney .
Serve them like rajma kebab in pitta with lettuce, tomatoes and sliced onions. Think of it like an Indian falafel sandwich !
Pop them into a burger bun and you’ve got yourself rajma bean burgers! Yum!
If you love this idea, you might like my sundried tomato and chickpea cakes too.
The Recipe Details
Be sure to check out the full recipe and exact ingredient list below in the recipe card.
The base of these rajma tikki is boiled potatoes and boiled red kidney beans.
The flavour is inspired by Punjabi rajma masala . It comes from a quick cooked masala of onions, ginger, garlic, green chillies and basic spice powders.
I add chopped cashew nuts for texture, mint and coriander leaves for fresh flavour.
A little roasted gram flour helps with binding.
I’ve pan fried them here but you can definitely air fry them too!
Storage
Cooked rajma tikki will keep well for 3 days if refrigerated as soon as they cool to room temperature.
You can easily make these tikkis in advance and cook just before serving.
You can also freeze cooked or uncooked tikkis. You’ll need to bake them or air fry from frozen until piping hot all the way through.
As always if you make this recipe, be sure to leave me a comment, rate this recipe and tag me on Instagram @jcookingodyssey or #jcookingodyssey. I love seeing all your photos of my recipe recreations!
Don’t forget to follow me on social media using the buttons below – I can’t wait to see you all there!
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Rajma Tikki
Ingredients
- 2 cup red kidney beans cooked and drained rajma
- 2 potatoes boiled and peeled
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon garlic paste
- 2 tablespoon besan gram flour
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon garam masala
- 1 tablespoon ginger and green chillies crushed
- 1 teaspoon dry mango powder amchoor powder
- 2-3 tablespoon fresh coriander and mint chopped
- 2 tablespoon cashew nuts broken/chopped
- salt to taste
- 3-4 tablespoon oil for shallow fry the tikkis
Instructions
- Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a pan and add cumin seeds, once they sizzle add chopped onion.
- Sauté the onions on medium heat until translucent, then add garlic paste.
- Cook this mixture until raw smell of garlic goes away and onions turn slightly pink in colour.
- Add besan and toast this mixture on low heat until you get a nutty aroma and the besan turns a little darker in colour.
- Then add turmeric, red chilli powder, ground coriander and cumin and garam masala. Mix well and turn off the flame. Allow mixture to cool down naturally.
- In a big wide plate add drained rajma and potatoes, mash it either with your hands or vegetable masher. Make sure there are no lumps of potato.
- Tip in the cooked onion masala, ginger-chilli, coriander, amchoor powder, cashews and salt.
- Combine everything well with your hands and make a smooth dough.
- Take a large lemon size mixture in your hands, roll into a ball and slightly flatten. Rough guide for tikki size – Diameter: 2.5 to 3 inches (6–7.5 cm) Thickness: ½ to ¾ inch (1.2–2 cm).
- Make all the tikkis and set aside.
- Heat griddle or flat bottom frying pan on medium heat, drizzle some oil and spread evenly using a brush or spatula. The pan should be hot but not smoking.
- Gently put the tikkis on the pan, leaving space between them. Do not over crowd the pan, you won’t be able to flip/move them easily. Don’t move them right away, but let them sear.
Cook the first side
- Cook on medium flame for 2-4 minute or until golden brown. Do not turn the flame on high heat, it will burn on the outside.
- Gently flip with flat spatula and drizzle some oil around the edges if needed.
Cook the second side
- Allow to cook the tikkis on the other side for at least 2-4 minutes or until evenly golden. Press slightly with spatula for an even crust.
- For extra crispiness flip once again and cook further 1 minute on both side.
- Remove and serve hot.
Video
Nutrition
PLEASE NOTE: Nutritional values are estimated by a computer and may vary based on ingredients and portion sizes. For personalised dietary advice, please consult a qualified healthcare professional.
Rajma Tikki
Ingredients
- 2 cup red kidney beans cooked and drained rajma
- 2 potatoes boiled and peeled
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon garlic paste
- 2 tablespoon besan gram flour
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon garam masala
- 1 tablespoon ginger and green chillies crushed
- 1 teaspoon dry mango powder amchoor powder
- 2-3 tablespoon fresh coriander and mint chopped
- 2 tablespoon cashew nuts broken/chopped
- salt to taste
- 3-4 tablespoon oil for shallow fry the tikkis
Instructions
- Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a pan and add cumin seeds, once they sizzle add chopped onion.
- Sauté the onions on medium heat until translucent, then add garlic paste.
- Cook this mixture until raw smell of garlic goes away and onions turn slightly pink in colour.
- Add besan and toast this mixture on low heat until you get a nutty aroma and the besan turns a little darker in colour.
- Then add turmeric, red chilli powder, ground coriander and cumin and garam masala. Mix well and turn off the flame. Allow mixture to cool down naturally.
- In a big wide plate add drained rajma and potatoes, mash it either with your hands or vegetable masher. Make sure there are no lumps of potato.
- Tip in the cooked onion masala, ginger-chilli, coriander, amchoor powder, cashews and salt.
- Combine everything well with your hands and make a smooth dough.
- Take a large lemon size mixture in your hands, roll into a ball and slightly flatten. Rough guide for tikki size - Diameter: 2.5 to 3 inches (6–7.5 cm) Thickness: ½ to ¾ inch (1.2–2 cm).
- Make all the tikkis and set aside.
- Heat griddle or flat bottom frying pan on medium heat, drizzle some oil and spread evenly using a brush or spatula. The pan should be hot but not smoking.
- Gently put the tikkis on the pan, leaving space between them. Do not over crowd the pan, you won’t be able to flip/move them easily. Don’t move them right away, but let them sear.
Cook the first side
- Cook on medium flame for 2-4 minute or until golden brown. Do not turn the flame on high heat, it will burn on the outside.
- Gently flip with flat spatula and drizzle some oil around the edges if needed.
Cook the second side
- Allow to cook the tikkis on the other side for at least 2-4 minutes or until evenly golden. Press slightly with spatula for an even crust.
- For extra crispiness flip once again and cook further 1 minute on both side.
- Remove and serve hot.
Video
Nutrition
PLEASE NOTE: Nutritional values are estimated by a computer and may vary based on ingredients and portion sizes. For personalised dietary advice, please consult a qualified healthcare professional.
Sev Khamani is a delicious Gujarati street food snack made with chana dal and a spicy green chilli tempering. Soft and fluffy khaman is topped with crunchy sev, pomegranate and coconut. It’s bursting with the classic Surti tangy & spicy flavours.
A multi-sensory eating experience that’ll be ready within 30 minutes hands on time!
Note – This recipe has been updated from the archives – first published June 2013. I’ve added new images and helpful content, with recipe changes (highlighted below).
“Surti” means from Surat, a place within the state of Gujarat and if you love Gujarati food, you’ve probably heard of Surti undhiyu too.
Sev khamani is a little bit like dhokla chaat , except here, the dhokla are crumbled.
The base of sev khamani is the crumbled khaman that has been cooked in tempered green chilli water. It’s topped street style with a shower of thin sev, pomegranate, coriander and shredded coconut. I’ve seen variations that also add a sprinkle of chaat masala too.
My Mum first posted this recipe in 2013, and then she made the khaman cake first, whereas I’ve since adapted that recipe to the more traditional method. More on the differences below.
Now this recipe isn’t particularly technical, but good sev khamani should have a soft and fluffy base.
There are two ways to make sev khamani
The ingredients are pretty much the same, but the techniques change. It’s down to preference which method you prefer.
- Soak and grind chana ni dal, steam it like khaman or dhokla to make a “cake”. Let it cool, then crumble the cake, cook in the tempering and add the toppings.
- Cook the chana ni dal mixture directly in a pan until it thickens to become soft and fluffy. Then add the tempering and toppings as usual.
We’ve made this recipe both ways. I’ve found that both yield good fluffy results and the textures are pretty similar. Timing wise, I would say that both are similar too. Steaming the cake is less hands on, but takes longer to cool before crumbling. Cooking the mixture in the pan has more hands on time but you don’t have to wait for cooling.
Recipe details & Ingredients notes
Be sure to check out the full recipe and exact ingredient list below in the recipe card.
The khamani for sev khamani is made with Chana ni dal (split bengal gram) rather than nylon khaman which are made with gram flour.
The chana ni daal needs soaking and then grinding to a medium coarse paste. To it, you add turmeric for colour, sugar for sweetness and eno . The eno helps with the fluffiness. I you don’t have it, use baking soda and citric acid.
The tempering is a pretty standard tempering you find in Gujarati cooking. I start with oil , add mustard seeds, ginger garlic paste, chopped green chillies and sesame seeds .
The toppings I use are nylon sev (I buy mine), finely chopped coriander, pomegranate seeds and shredded coconut . Looking at YouTube videos of sev khamani that is sold on the streets of Surat, these ingredients are pretty accurate.
Serve sev khamani with green coriander chutney , Rajkot ni green chutney or a steaming cup of masala chai .
As always if you make this recipe, be sure to leave me a comment, rate this recipe and tag me on Instagram @jcookingodyssey or #jcookingodyssey. I love seeing all your photos of my recipe recreations!
Don’t forget to follow me on social media using the buttons below – I can’t wait to see you all there!
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Surti Sev Khamani
Ingredients
Batter
- 1 cup chana dal
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ½ teaspoon eno
- salt to taste
- ½ teaspoon hing
- 5 tablespoon oil
- 4 tablespoon sugar
Vaghar (Tempering)
- 3 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 3 green chillies chopped
- 2 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Toppings
- sev
- kothmir coriander leaves
- fresh grated coconut optional
- pomegranate
Instructions
- Clean and wash chana dal in clean running water, then soak in fresh water over night or at least 4-6 hours.
- Drain the water and wash chana dal once gain in clean water.
- Add soaked dal in a grinder jar with 1/4 cup water. Use pulse mode to grind the dal to a coarse paste. Make sure ground batter should be not chunky but not fine either. The batter consistency should be just like pancake batter. Pourable but not runny.
- Transfer in a bowl and cover with a lid and set aside for minimum half an hour.
- Add salt, turmeric, hing and eno to the batter and mix well.
- Heat 5 tablespoon oil in a heavy based pan/kadai, add ground dal mixture and stir well. Keep the heat low and cook, keep stirring continuously to prevent sticking and to avoid lumps.
- You may find that dal sticks to the pan, but not to worry, keep scraping and stirring. This step will take around 20 minutes.
- Once dal mixture comes together, cover the pan with a lid and cook another 5-6 minutes on low heat.
- Then stir the dal mixture again and sprinkle some water (2-3 tablespoon) and again cover the pan with a lid and cook the dal for 3-4 minutes.
- At this stage you will see dal becoming fluffy. For test take a pea size mixture and try to make a ball with it. If it doesn’t stick to your fingers and rolls easily, the mixture is cooked.
- Add sugar and mix well.
- In a small pan heat oil, add mustard seeds and allow to crackle. Then add ginger-garlic paste, green chillies and sesame seeds. Cook for 30-40 seconds then add 1/4 cup water. Bring it to a boil.
- Pour the vaghar on cooked dal/khaman and mix well.
- Sprinkle over fresh coriander leaves, fresh coconut and pomegranate arils and mix. Serve in a bowl and sprinkle sev on top.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
PLEASE NOTE: Nutritional values are estimated by a computer and may vary based on ingredients and portion sizes. For personalised dietary advice, please consult a qualified healthcare professional.
