First, a word on this dish
Ragda pattice has two halves, and neither one is the dish until they sit in the same bowl. The pattice is a potato patty that holds its shape and turns crisp on both flat faces. The ragda is a soupy, mildly spiced curry of dried white peas, cooked long enough that some of them fall apart and thicken the liquid. Taste the ragda alone and it is a plain, homely stew. Taste the pattice alone and it is close to an aloo tikki. Put them together, add the chutneys, raw onion and sev that finish any chaat, and you get something quite different from either. It also differs from aloo tikki chaat, which leaves out the ragda and puts chutneys and yogurt straight on the patty. Plan ahead for one thing: the dried peas have to soak overnight, and that is the only real advance work here.
The story behind the dish
Ragda pattice is a Mumbai classic from the city's stall culture, part of the chaat and bhel scene that grew through the twentieth century around railway stations, beaches such as Chowpatty and neighbourhood carts, many of them run by Gujarati and Maharashtrian vendors. The patty, a spiced potato cake browned in a pan, is a close relative of the North Indian aloo tikki. Food historians generally read ragda pattice as a Mumbai variation: the familiar patty set beside a pea curry of the kind Maharashtrian and Gujarati households cook, and not an unrelated invention. People tie it to Mumbai itself more than to Maharashtra at large, and outside the city and its nearby towns you seldom find it made the original way, with a soupy ragda and a crisp patty kept in balance.
The method, in order
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Prep
Soak the peas and cook them soft
Soak the dried peas overnight in plenty of water, 8 hours at the minimum, until they have about doubled in size. Drain, add fresh water and the turmeric, and pressure-cook for 5 to 6 whistles. They should be very soft and starting to split. That is longer than most legumes need, but mushy peas are what thicken a ragda.
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Cook
Make the seasoned base
Heat the oil in a pot and add the cumin seeds and asafoetida, which should sizzle within a few seconds. Stir in the ginger-garlic paste and let it cook for about 30 seconds. Slide the pot off the burner for a moment before you add the chilli powder and coriander powder, because spice powders scorch quickly in hot oil and turn bitter. Then put the pot back on the heat.
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Cook
Simmer the ragda
Add the cooked peas along with the liquid they cooked in, then top up with water until the ragda is soupy and pourable. Aim for thinner than dal, since you will be ladling it on generously. Salt it and bring it to a simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. While it bubbles, press a portion of the peas against the side of the pot with your spoon, which thickens the liquid naturally. If it reduces too far, add a little more water. The ragda should stay clearly soupy and never get as thick as a curry.
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Prep
Mix and shape the patties
Mash the boiled potatoes smooth, then fold in the cornflour, green chilli, ginger, roasted cumin and salt. Keep the cornflour even if the mixture seems firm already, because it stops the patties from breaking apart in the pan. Divide the mixture into 8 portions, and flatten each into a disc about 2.5cm thick.
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Cook
Shallow-fry until crusted
Warm the oil in a flat skillet on medium heat. Lay in the patties with space between them, fry 3 to 4 minutes a side, and press once with a spatula. You want a deep golden crust on both faces. Do not flip early. Until the crust sets, the patty sticks to the pan and tears.
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Assemble
Ladle the ragda over and top
Put two warm patties in each bowl and ladle on enough hot ragda to cover them partway, so the tops still show. Spoon over the tamarind and green chutneys, then finish with chopped onion, sev, coriander and a pinch of chaat masala. Add the sev last of all, so it stays crisp for the first few bites.
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Serve
Eat it at once
Take it to the table immediately, with the ragda hot and the sev still crisp. Once assembled, the sev goes soft within minutes and the patty's crust gives in to the liquid, so there is no holding this dish for later.
Ingredient stand-ins
Dried green peas (matar) work in place of white peas and give a slightly greener ragda. For a shortcut, simmer canned white peas or chickpeas in the same spice base, though the gravy will thicken less than it does with long-cooked dried peas. Rice flour binds as well as cornflour does. Besan also works in a pinch, adding a nuttier taste.
Making it milder or fiercer
Most of the spice in this dish arrives at the end, through the chutneys and toppings, because the ragda itself is gentle. Use less chilli powder in the ragda and a mild green chutney if you want a calm bowl, and let the sweetness of the tamarind chutney fill in. To raise the heat, simmer a chopped green chilli in the ragda, or finish with a thin line of hot green chilli-garlic chutney, which some Mumbai stalls keep on the side.
The slip most cooks make
Peas that were not soaked or cooked enough give a thin, watery ragda, since they never break down to thicken it. Soak them overnight and simmer without hurry. Overcorrecting is also a problem: a ragda as thick as dal has lost the soupy contrast with the firm patty, and it should run easily off a ladle. If the patties crumble, you probably left out the binder, as cornflour or rice flour holds them up. And finally, do not assemble early, or the sev gets soggy and the patties soften.
Storing what is left
Fridge or counter: Ragda keeps for 3 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator, and many cooks find it tastes better after a night. It firms up as it sits, so loosen it with a little water when you warm it. Patties you have shaped but not fried can wait, covered, in the refrigerator for a day, or go in the freezer for up to a month. A bowl that has been topped with chutneys, onion and sev should not be kept at all.
Bringing it back to life: Warm the ragda in a saucepan, stirring, and pour in water until it flows again. A microwave heats peas unevenly and can burn the thick bits at the edges, so use the stove if possible. Patties should go back into a dry skillet, 2 to 3 minutes a side, to regain a crust, as the microwave makes them soft. Bring the two together only when you plate.
Handle with care
Make sure the dried white peas are fully soaked and cooked until soft, as undercooked legumes are harder to digest and should be boiled thoroughly, never served al dente. Treat the ragda like any cooked legume dish: refrigerate it within two hours of cooking instead of leaving it on the counter, especially in warm weather, and reheat it until steaming all the way through, not just warm at the edges. The patties are shallow-fried, not deep-fried, so use fresh oil for each batch if you can, and do not reuse oil that has darkened or smells burnt after several rounds of frying.