Ragda Pattice Take Two ( A spicy pea soup over potato cakes?)

Ingredients for the Ragda (Serves 4 ):

• 2 cups dried peas vatana (often labelled vatana on the packet)
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 2-3 cloves
• 2-3 dried red chillies
• ½ tsp of whole coriander seeds.
• 2 -3 green chillies finely chopped
• small piece of ginger grated
• 2-3 cloves of garlic grated
• 2 cups of tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon of brown sugar or jaggery
• small bunch of coriander
• 5-6 curry leaves (optional)

• 4 medium potatoes
• 1 finely chopped onion
• 1 cup  fresh peas which should be boiled until soft
• 2 green chillies
• small piece of grated ginger
• small bunch of chopped coriander
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 2-3 tbs of Mash Potato powder
• ½  cup of oil
• When serving:
• 1 Onion chopped finely
• 2-3 green chillies
• small bunch of coriander
• Tamarind sauce
• coriander and green chillies chutney

2. Wash the peas, add a litre and a half of water and boil the dried peas. Using a pressure cooker makes this easier as the peas need to be overcooked.

3. Using a blender, mash up the peas. The mash may look quite thick but that’s fine too as you can add boiling water to the mixture to make it to the consistency you like.

4.   Transfer the mixture to a large saucepan and add the tomatoes to the  mixture.  Add in the salt, turmeric, green chillies, ginger and garlic.   Add the curry leaves, coriander, jaggery and the lemon juice.  Add a cup of water to the mixture if its too thick and allow this mixture to simmer.

18. To serve, take a hot pattis/pattice and top them with the hot and spicy ragda. Top this with the chopped onions, green chillies and coriander. You can also add tamarind or green chutney to the topping if you like. It all depends on how spicy you like your ragda pattis.