Potato and chickpea cakes

Are you all enjoying the weather wherever you are? Too hot? Too cold? Too much rain?? or is it just perfect? Too many questions??? :) :)

We have had gorgeous sunny weather for the past few weeks and its been good. Well most of the time that is. I have been out galavanting with friends, attending events and generally being busy which sometimes drains me out in the heat. But I'm not complaining.. Work has taken a back seat for the time being and I'm glad it is so, because I really do need to figure out how to handle the backlog of work that has accumulated over this past few months..yes, you read it right, months. I'm slowly finishing it off and hopefully will learn how to manage time more efficiently. My husband would be very glad I've even declared this in public because he has the biggest issue with me not managing time responsibly and planning well.

Coming to the recipe. No offence to all the vegetarian, but I have the toughest time cooking for them. Its not because there are no recipes available, but because I suck at it. My vegetarian dishes don't really come out nice and paneer, potatoes and spinach are the only options I usually play around with. Its become boring and I've run out of ideas. This combination of potatoes and chickpeas however was a welcome change. The recipe is by Alfred Prasad from Great British Chef's Vegetarian Recipes and a very easy one at that. Few ingredients needed, can be put together in no time and you get a decent vegetarian starter.

I had a bit of trouble with cooking the patties, since there was nothing to really hold them together like egg white or bread crumbs. So after two failed attempts at getting perfect shaped cakes, I decided to try the method mentioned in the recipe (I know, I should have just stuck to it the first time) and then it worked. I happily ate the first two that didn't turn out well without any complaint though. The recipe is apt for kids, but I don't have kids and so chucked in a green chilli which was such a fab idea. Serve it with just ketchup and you have a perfect snack to please your guests

Recipe halved from Great British Chefs

Potatoes- 2 large

Cooked chickpeas- 100 gms (I used canned)

Cumin seeds- 1/2 tbsp

Garam masala- 1/2 tsp

Green chilli- 1, finely chopped

Coriander leaves- 1/2 cup, finely chopped

Salt- to taste

Oil- 1 tbsp

Slice the potatoes into quarters and steam in a dumpling steamer for about 15 minutes or so. I find steaming much easier than boiling. But feel free to boil till tender and a fork goes through easily.

Cool for a while and then peel. Break the potatoes with a fork, but don't mash it completely.

Into a big bowl add all the remaining ingredients except oil and mix well using a masher or even better, your hands.

Again, they need not be completely smooth, a few chunks here and there is fine,

Heat the oil in a frying pan.

While that's heating, shape the potato mix into small discs.

Cook each cake in the pan, making sure you press it down so it gets cooked evenly.

Drain on paper towels and serve hot with ketchup.

Notes: Don't add a lot of oil, the cakes will only fall apart and make life difficult. The 1 tbsp oil was enough for all the potato cakes, but if you feel you need more oil, add bit by bit and fry.

The recipe calls for refrigerating the cakes after shaping them, which i didn't. I'm thinking this would sort the falling-apart issue.