Ragda Patties for Blogging Marathon #5

I can't believe that I've wasted all these years of life without making this. I can't stop raving about how lip smackingly and tongue tinglingly good it was. What am I talking about??? Ragda patties, of course. A famous street food from Mumbai, I have eaten this at restaurants (the best being at Kailash Parbat, Chennai), but never knew that it is so easy to make at home. Ever since I read Nupur's post(lo.....ng back), this has been on the back of my mind. I have made absolutely no changes to her recipe and I am glad I didn't because, in Nupur's words, this truly is an explosion of flavours.....and I couldn't have done anything to make it better.

What you need:
For the patties:
Potatoes - 4 medium sized, boiled, peeled and mashed well
Bread - 4 slices
Salt - to taste
(Please resist the temptation to add green chillies/corriander/garam masala to this.)

For the ragda:
White peas - 1 cup, soaked in plenty of water overnight
Onion - 1 medium sized, chopped fine
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Tamarind extract- from a small gooseberry sized pieced soaked in just enough water to cover it.
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Corriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Jaggery - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste

For the garnish:
Onion - 1, chopped fine
Corriander leaves - chopped fine
Sev
Tamarind chutney

To make patties:
Dip the bread in water. Squeeze out all the water and add it to the mashed potatoes. Add salt. Mix well and shape into patties. Shallow fry on a tawa drizzling a little oil over the patties until well browned on both sides.

To make ragda:
Cook peas with plenty of water in a pressure cooker.
Heat some oil in a pan. Add the chopped onions and fry on a low flame till well browned. Add ginger garlic paste and mix well. Stir in all the powders and fry for a minute. Now add cooked peas, 2 cups of water, tamarind extract, salt and jaggery. Cover and let it simmer on a low flame for 15-20 minutes or until the gravy thickens.

Putting it all together:
Arrange two patties on a plate.
Pour a generous helping of ragda over it.
Top with chopped onion, corriander leaves, sev and tamarind chutney.
Dig in!!!

Notes:
The ragda tastes great by itself and can be served as a curry with puri/roti. As it can be made within 30 minutes, this is my first post for Blogging Marathon #5 themed on Curry in a hurry under 30 minutes.
I must give a shout out here for the Fun Foods brand of Imli Sauce (which I bought at Nilgiris). It has just the right balance of tanginess, sweetness and spiciness and kicked up the taste a notch.

Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me  Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Me, Jayasree, Kaveri, Pavani,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,
Seven Days of Regional Specials: Cool Lassi(e), Harini, Vaishali, Suma
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Kamalika, Srivalli