Vegetarian Frankie (Bombay Version)

I am working on a framed art work since past few weeks, so I haven’t had a chance to blog. Any additional time I get, I utilize it towards completing the art work. An Indian village scene is drawn on a piece of cloth. The cloth is glued to a cardboard, for support. I am using different colored sand, sola wood (very soft wood used for art work) and ceramic clay to make this art piece. I will upload a picture when I am done with it.

Anyways, even though I hadn’t had a chance to blog, I did cook many tasty dishes in past few weeks, which I am sure you will enjoy.

Last week I was missing the food I had in Bombay, when I was there in December, so I decided to make Frankie. Veg. Frankie is a Bambaiya version of veggie wraps. It is made with a very tangy and spicy potato, and peas mixture. I used to enjoy eating veg frankie near my college. The very first thing I at when I reached Bombay was veg frankie:) If you haven’t had Frankie before, try this recipe. Trust me you will want to eat it every single day:)

Here is the recipe for making Frankie

For the Dough:
1 Cup Plain Flour (Maida)
Salt to Taste,
Luke Warm Water as Needed,
Oil to Shallow Fry,

For the Potato Mixture (patties):
2 Medium Potatoes, Boiled
½ Cup Green Peas, Boiled (or Frozen)
1 Teaspoon Red Chili Powder,
1 Teaspoon Chili Ginger Paste,
Salt to Taste,
1 Teaspoon Amchur Powder,
1 Teaspoon Chaat Masala (or to taste if you want to make it less tangy),
½ Cup Bread Crumbs,
Oil to Shallow Fry,
Amul White Cheddar Cheese, Shredded (optional)

For the Tangy Onion Mixture:
1 Small Onion, Finley Chopped,
½ Teaspoon Oil,
½ Teaspoon Chili Powder,
1 Teaspoon Chaat Masala,

For the Spicy and Tangy Water
¼ Cup Water,
½ Teaspoon Chili Powder,
½ Teaspoon Amchur Powder (or chaat masala),
Salt to taste,

Method:

For the Dough:
Combine the flour and salt together. Add a little water at a time to form soft dough. Cover and set aside.

Potato Mixture:
While the dough is resting combine the potatoes and peas and mash well. Add all the ingredients required to make potato patties, except the oil and the bread crumbs. Set aside.

Tangy Onion Mixture:
Combine all ingredients to make the onion mixture and set aside. You can adjust the quantity of chili powder and chat masala to your taste.

Spicy and Tangy Water:
Combine all ingredients and set aside. You can adjust the quantity of chili powder and chat masala to your taste.

Assembling
Make small balls out of the potato mixture. Flatten it by slightly pressing it in between your palms. Now press it from two sides so that it forms oblong shape.. Do the same with the rest of the potato balls.

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add some oil. Spread the breadcrumbs in a flat plate. Coat both sides of the patties with the bread crumbs and shallow fry on the skillet, until both sides are golden brown. The patties should not be very crispy.

Now make small balls out of the dough. Roll them out to a 6-7 inch diameter thin circle. The chaat walas in Bombay actually deep fry these flour tortillas, but I shallow fry them at home:). So if you wish, you can deep fry the flour tortillas and proceed to the assembling process.

If you want to shallow fry the tortillas follow the process below.

Heat a skillet or a not stick pan on medium low heat. Spread a few drops of oil on the skillet. Now place a flour tortilla and cook until the underside just starts to cook (about a minute). Now flip it and apply the tangy water on the top surface.

Now put the Potato patty in the center of the tortilla. If you are adding cheese, add it now.

Sprinkle the onion mixture over the cheese.



Let it cook at medium low heat for ½ a minute then fold the side edges over onto the potato filling. Carefully flip over and cook for another ½ minute. If you wish, you can spread some oil around the edges of the roll.

Take off the heat and serve as is or with Ketchup.

A Variation (Szechuan Frankie….A new Trend in Bombay):

This time when I went to India, I found that they were selling Szechuan Frankie at street corners. This was something new for me. I had always had the regular veggie Frankie.

Szechuan Frankie, as the name suggests, has Szechuan sauce in addition to all the above ingredients.

To make Szechuan sauce, soak 3 dried red chilies in 1/8th cup water for 20 minutes. Then add 1 Teaspoon ginger garlic paste, salt to taste, 2 Teaspoon soy sauce, and ½ Teaspoon Corn Starch. Grind to a fine paste. Heat on medium low heat until the sauce starts to thicken.

While making Frankies, spread this sauce just before spreading the tangy water on the flour tortilla. Serve hot.

My personal preference is to have a regular frankie, but my husband loves szechuan frankie. So try both of them and see which one you like better:)

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