Potato and Spinach Patties
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These big, spicy burgers are incredibly easy to put together and to cook. They get their heat from cayenne pepper, ground pepper and a hot green chili and warmth from garam masala. These are great served with many different sauces, chutneys or salsas. I made a quick sauce to serve with the burgers by stirring sweet pickle relish into plain yogurt. They are also good with a poached egg and a little green chili salsa on top. They also freeze well. We wrap them up well and freeze before dredging them in bread crumbs and frying. These are adapted from Suvir Saran’s potato patties called palak ki tiki, from his lovely cookbook “Masala Farm.”
MAKES: 10 Servings
PREP/COOK TIME: 2 Hours (includes 1 hour chilling time)
INGREDIENTS:
2 pounds red boiling potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
4 firmly packed cups finely chopped, stemmed, washed spinach (about 3/4 pound leaves)
1 fresh, hot green chili, finely chopped
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon garam masala
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup panko or chickpea flour (you will not use all of it)
2 tablespoons grape seed oil
DIRECTIONS
Steam potatoes over 1 inch of boiling water until tender, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a wide bowl and mash with a fork. Add remaining ingredients except panko or chickpea flour and oil and mix well with your hands, squeezing the ingredients together. There will still be small chunks of potato and potato skin in the mixture. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Scoop out about 1/2 cup of the spinach-potato mixture, roll it with the palm of your hand to make a ball, and coat with panko or chickpea flour. Then press down to flatten to a 3 to 3 1/2-inch cake. Continue with remaining mixture. Chill for at least 1 hour.
When you’re ready to cook, place a rack over a sheet pan. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Swirl pan to coat with the hot oil. Lower heat to medium. Place 4 to 5 patties in the pan (do not crowd), and cook until well browned on one side, about 4 minutes. Turn and brown for about 4 more minutes. Remove to the rack. Heat remaining oil in pan and cook remaining patties. Keep patties in a low oven until ready to serve.
