Easy Potato Roast/ Potato Vadakkal

                                      Cubed Potatoes roasted to a crisp with Indian spices

Who doesn't love potato vadakkal :) ? This is something I long for at least once a month. Curd rice and Potato roast is such a heavenly combination for lunch and is one of my most favourite dish. And I dint mention how quick this was right?,  in and out of the kadai in 20 minutes :).

Ingredients

Serves - 2
Spice Level - Moderate
Prep Time - 5 minutes
Cook time - 20 minutes

Potatoes - 4,medium sized
Oil - 2 Tbsp
Mustard - 1 Tsp
Jeera - 1 Tsp
Hing - a generous pinch
Curry Leaves - 2 Sprigs
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Masala/Curry Powder - 1 Tbsp
Salt - as per need

How do you do it

1. Peel and wash the potatoes well. Chop them into medium sized pieces and keep aside soaked in a bowl of water to prevent them from oxidizing.

2. Heat oil in a kadai and throw in the hing, mustard, jeera and curry leaves and let them roast.

3. Drain the potatoes and throw them in and mix well with the tempering.

4. Add the turmeric, half the amount of salt and the curry powder. Wrap the potatoes well with these.

5. On medium flame, saute them and close with a kadai. Let them cook for about 15-20 minutes. In between you may sprinkle some water and stir with a ladle to prevent from sticking to a kadai. You could taste the seasoning in between and add more salt, curry powder if needed.

6. Remove from flame once they are crispy and cooked and seasoning is just perfect.

Goes really well when served with rasam or curd rice.

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Baby Potato Biryani

I love baby potato and I love biryani, so pairing these two is like a match made in heaven ;). In my initial cooking days, most of my one pot meals used to pretty much taste the same, maybe just a little change in flavor, veggies etc but nothing too drastically. I am very pleased with my variety rice trials off-late as no two of them taste the same.

This baby potato biryani is quite an elaborate procedure, but don't get thrown away by it, because its absolutely worth it for a weekend lunch and would completely put you in good spirits afterwards. So go ahead, do it and let me know how you liked it :).

Ingredients

Recipe Source - Easy Cooking

Serves - 2
Spice Level - High
Prep Time - 45 minutes
Cook time - 15 minutes

For the Rice
Basmati Rice - 1 cup [heaped]
Ghee - 1 Tsp
Tomato - 2 medium , pureed [3/4 cup]
Salt - 2 tsp

Paste 1
Coriander leaves - 1 cup loosely packed
Curd - 1/4 cup

Paste 2
Coriander seeds - 1 tsp
Red chillies - 2
Grated dry coconut -  2 tbsp
Green chillies - 2
Fresh Ginger - 1 inch piece
Oil - 1/2 tsp

Other spices and necessary items
Onion - 2, sliced thinly
Baby Potato - 200 gm [ 13-15 nos.]
Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp
Chopped coriander leaves - for garnish
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Chilli powder - 1/2 Tsp
Turmeric - a pinch
Salt - as per need
Oil - 2 Tbsp + 1 Tbsp

How do you do it

1. Preparing the rice - Soak basmati rice in water for 15 minutes. Drain and cook it in 3/4 cup water and 3/4 cup tomato puree with 2 tsp salt. I use my electric pressure cooker and cooked it for 12 minutes. Once done, you will get a mildly red colored rice, add a tsp of ghee mix well with a spoon and spread on a plate.

2. Preparing Paste 1 - Blend coriander leaves with some water into a smooth puree. Beat the 1/4 cup curd well and mix it with this coriander puree. Keep aside.

3. Preparing Paste 2 - Heat 1/2 tsp oil in a kadai. Add coriander seeds,red chillies and fry until they change their color. Add grated coconut and fry slightly. Cool these ingredients and grind along with green chillies and chopped ginger with some water to a fine paste. Keep aside.

4. Preparing the baby potatoes - Wash and Pressure cook the baby potatoes for 1 whistle or microwave for 5 minutes. Cool and peel them. The baby potatoes should be cooked but firm. It should not get mashed when finally added to rice. Add 2 Tbsp of oil in a pan and add the baby potatoes , 1/2 Tsp salt, 1/2 Tsp chilli powder, a pinch of turmeric and saute/shallow fry them until they form a crispy golden outer layer. Drain on tissue paper and keep aside.

5. Preparing the crispy onions - In the remaining oil from previous step, add the onions and keep sauteing them in medium heat until they are crispy and brown in color. Remove and keep aside.

6. Assembling the rice - Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a wide kadai. Add the ground paste 2 and saute till the raw smell completely vanishes - about 4-5 minutes.Add the baby potatoes and half of the fried onions and mix well until they are coated well with the masala. Simmer flame, add paste 1, cooked rice , mix well and close the kadai with a lid. Let it cook like this for 5-6 minutes giving a dum to the rice to take in all the flavors. Remove the lid, add garam masala powder and more salt if needed and mix well and switch off the flame.

In the serving bowl, add the prepared biryani, mix in the lemon juice well and top with remaining fried onions and coriander leaves. Serve with onion raitha and your favorite chilled drink. Heaven ! :)

Notes

The red chillies that I got this time around seem to be super spicy, and for me 2 red + 2 green chilli seemed perfect. This recipe leans towards the more spicy side, if you like it to be less hot, use 1 red chilli instead of two.

Make sure you cook the rice perfectly, it should not stick to each other. The ratio that works for basmathi rice is 1 cup rice for 1.5 cups of water. Once the rice is cooked, remove the cooker lid to let the steam out, after a couple of minutes trasnfer the rice on to a plate, spread and mix well. If you leave the rice in the rice cooker vessel , it will clog and will take ages to separate later.



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Nepalese Dum Aloo | Baby Potatoes simmered in garlic-chile sauce | 660 curries

I have never waited so eagerly for a cook-book to arrive, leave alone that this is probably the most expensive book I have ordered by far. Raghavan Iyer 660 curries is a modern take on Indian curries written so elaborately that enhances your understanding of Indian flavours/spices. The recipes just entice you. The book is so full of flavorful spice blends, pastes, and 660 curries not just from all over India but also from Nepal/Pakistan/SriLanka . I have spent only 4-5 days with the book and I have already fallen in love with it. If you love "Indian food" this is one must-have Indian cook-book. I will do a detailed review once I am post the honey-moon period with 660 Curries ;)

I had a bag of baby potatoes and as I was flipping through the potato recipe pages, my eyes flirted with the line "Baby potatoes with garlic-chile sauce", I was sold on the idea immediately. Garlic and chili are my two favorite ingredients and it had to be the first recipe I would try from the book. I was blown away with the end dish, the flavors were bursting in my mouth at every bite and it was nothing similar to what I had eaten/cooked before. The sauce was super-addictive and at the end of the meal I was left wishing I had more sauce to lick away :).

I was extremely pleased with my plating for this dish, thanks to Master chef Australia - I have picked up quite a few things from the show. For once I spent more than my usual time visualizing how i wanted to plate it , the idea of running a slit through the potatoes and pouring the sauce over it and garnishing with some leaves worked very well. And S did a splendid job of capturing what I visualized. After-all we eat first with our eyes and nose! :)

Ingredients

Recipe Source - Raghavan Iyer 660 curries

Serves - 2
Spice Level - Spicy and very flavorful
Prep Time - 20 min
Cook time - 20 min

Baby Potatoes - 300 gm [ do not peel, wash and scrub them well]
5 medium sized garlic cloves
2 green chilli
1 Tbsp oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp nigella seeds
1/2 Tsp bishops weed or 1/4 tsp dried thyme mixed with 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper [I used thyme with pepper]
1 bay leaf
Salt - as needed
1/2 Tsp kashmiri chilli powder
1/4 Tsp turmeric
1 Sprig curry leaves

How do you do it

1. Bring a sauce pan with water to boil and drop the baby potatoes in and let them cook with its lid covered until they are tender but firm looking - 15 minutes

2. While the potatoes are cooking mince the garlic and green chillies together and keep aside.

3. Drain the potatoes, reserve 2 cups of cooking water.

4. Heat oil in a kadai, sprinkle cumin/fennel/thyme-black pepper mix and bay-leaf. Let them roast to give a good aroma - 30 sec. Add the garlic-chile blend and stir fry until garlic is light brown and you get the pungent smell from the chile - 1-2 minutes. Remove the kadai from flame now, add in salt, turmeric powder, kashmiri chilli powder and curry leaves, and mix well. The heat from oil will be enough to cook this.

5. Return the kadai to the flame and add the baby potatoes with the 2 cups reserved water, mix well and bring to boil. Cook in low-medium flame, simmering/stirring now and then until the potatoes are fall-apart tender and the sauce is thickened.

This was a good combination with pulkas. I am sure it would be go well with a bowl of dal and steamed rice.



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Kumbakonam Kaddapa

Kadappa is very famous kumbakonam side dish for idli/dosai. Its a cross between sambar and kurma and a combination that I normally wouldn't think of putting together.

I was really bored of the usual idli-dosai side dishes and wanted to cook up something entirely different. I googled immediately and this kadappa recipe came up. I quickly searched the ingredients list and saw moong dal, potato and a coconut paste. This combination sounded quite weird. And then i thought- I like moong dal, potato - yum, and coconut paste - mm-mm, so whats not to like right? ;). So decided to give this recipe a shot and I was pleasantly surprised at its different yet yum taste. Sometimes certain combinations don't strike a good chord immediately but this one did :). I was happy at discovering this authentic kumbakonam recipe! For me, from now on kadappa goes into my usual list of dosai accompaniments :-).

Kumbakonam Kadappa

Ingredients

Modified from here

Serves - 3
Spice Level - Moderately spicy
Prep Time - 20 min
Cook time - 15 min

Moong dal - 1/4 cup
Potato - 1 Large
Green chilli - 1, sliced thinly
Onion - 2 , sliced thinly lengthwise
Tomato  - 1 , chopped or juice of 1/2 lemon
Coriander Leaves - 1 Tbsp , to garnish
Turmeric - a pinch
Salt - as needed

To Temper

Oil - 1 Tbsp
Hing - a pinch
Jeera - 1 Tsp
Bay Leaf - 1
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
Mustard - 1 Tsp
Curry Leaves - to sprig

To grind to a paste

Coconut - 1/4 cup
Green chilli - 2
Fennel - 1 Tsp
Jeera/Cumin - 1 Tsp
Poppy seeds [ khas khas ] - 1 Tsp
Garlic cloves - 2
water - few tbsp to grind with

How do you do it

1. Firstly pressure cook the moong dal with a pinch of turmeric and mash and keep aside. Also pressure cook the potatoes and mash roughly and keep aside.

2. Grind the items under " To grind to a paste".

3. Heat oil in a kadai. Add hing,bay leaf, cinnamon and mustard , jeera - let them roast. Add curry leaves and onion, green chilli and saute till onions are translucent. Add in the tomato pieces, little salt and saute till they are soft and mushy. They should let the juice out.

4. Add the mashed dal and potatoes and stir well. Simmer flame now, as you don't want the dal and potato mix to get burnt. Add in 2 cups of water, remaining salt and mix well. Let them come to a slow boil.

5. Maintain low flame. Add in the coconut paste now and mix well and bring to a slow boil. Let it boil on low flame for 2 minutes. Adjust consistency of the curry at this stage.

6. Switch off flame and garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with crispy dosai.

Notes

You can skip the tomato and add juice of half a lemon, but you need to add lemon juice at the end after switching off the flame.

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Aloo Palak/Potatoes in Spinach gravy

After the success of palak paneer, I am more comfortable trying palak based dishes with the confidence that they can actually taste quite nice. Never made aloo palak before, neither have I tasted it elsewhere, I thought it would be a good match - aloo and palak and it was!. It makes a good side dish for roti as well as rice.  Whenever palak dishes become a hit at home, it makes me very happy because healthy delicious dishes are the way to go!  :)

Aloo Palak

Ingredients

Serves - 4
Spice Level - Moderately spicy and falvorful
Prep Time - 20 min
Cook time -  20 min

Potato - 2 large chopped into medium sized pieces
Palak - 1 bunch [ 250 - 300 gm]
Tomato - 2 Large [ chop one tomato into small pieces, cut the other tomato into two halves]
Cashews - 8
Onion - 1 Large finely shopped
Green chilli - 3
Chilli/Masala powder - 1 Tsp + 1 Tbsp
Mustard - 1 Tsp
Jeera - 1 Tsp
Garlic cloves - 4 large , chopped well
Oil - 1 Tbsp + 2 Tbsp + 1 Tbsp
Sugar - 1 Tsp
Salt - as per need

How do you do it

1. Firstly heat 2 Tbsp oil in a kadai , add the chopped potato pieces, a tsp salt and 1 Tbsp chilli/masala powder and saute till it has a slight golden color and is cooked well. Drizzle water in between to make the potatoes cook faster.Keep aside.

2. Wash and chop the palak leaves roughly [ remove stem]. Bring a cup of water to boil, add in palak leaves, cashews , a Tsp of sugar, green chillies and cut one tomato in half and drop it in. Let it boil for 3-5 minutes until the palak leaves are tender and tomato is blanched well. Remove from flame, drain the water but reserve it.Cool it for 10 minutes and blend all of it to form a puree along with reserved water. Keep aside.

3. Heat  1 Tbsp oil in a kadai, add chopped onion , saute till translucent. Add in the chopped tomato pieces and saute well until the tomatoes are soft. Add a tsp of salt and a pinch of turmeric for the tomatoes to cook faster. Add a tsp of chilli/masala powder and let it cook until the raw smell of the powder vanishes.Now add in the palak puree prepared in step 2 , remaining salt and bring to boil. Simmer flame, Add in the potato pieces from step 1 and let it boil slowly. Adjust consistency at this stage - add more water if needed if the gravy is too thick

4. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in another small pan, add mustard, jeera, let them roast. Add in the chopped garlic pieces and let it brown slightly. Pour this tempering on to the boiling palak curry , mix well and switch off flame.

Serve with soft and hot pulkas

Notes

1. Since the tempering in step 4 has garlic in it, the garlic flavour comes out well in the curry. If you prefer the garlic flavor to be very mild, I would suggest you add the garlic in step 3 while sauting along with onions.

2. Instead of sauteing potatoes, you may also just boil the potatoes with little salt and keep aside and later add to gravy in step 3.


3. Once palak is cooked it needs to be removed from the hot water to retain color, and adding 1/2 tsp sugar while cooking palak is also for the same reason.

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Mildly Spiced Potato stir-fry

Great timing for this post, but not so great for me :|. I have not been keeping well the last couple of days , so its been comfort food all the while and not the usual special cooking on weekends. Whenever me or S is down with throat infection/cold/cough we end up making pepper-garlic-jeera rasam with mildly spiced potato stir fry, its a quick lunch that can be made under 30 minutes and it really comforts you when your sick.

I must definitely add this here, S has been very nice and sweet and has taken over all the household chores for the last two days, and all I have been doing is eating and sleeping. And guess who has been helping him with the recipes - foodoverip :).

Mildly spiced Potato stir fry

Ingredients

Serves - 2
Spice level - Mild
Prep Time - 10 min
Cook time - 5 min

Potato - 5  , peeled and chopped into medium sized pieces and boiled correctly , it needs to be on the softer side [I microwaved it for 4 minutes]
Oil - 1 Tbsp
Mustard - 1 Tsp
Jeera - 1 Tsp
Dry Red chilli - 1
Turmeric - a pinch
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Hing - a pinch
Salt - as per need

How do you do it

Heat oil in a kadai. Add hing, add mustard and let it splutter. Add jeera and break the dry red chilli and toss it  in too along with curry leaves. Now add in the potato pieces, a pinch of turmeric and salt and wrap well with the tempering. Saute for a couple of minutes. Switch off flame. That simple!

Serve with hot rasam and rice. 


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Potato Masala - South Indian Style

I don't mind saying it over and over again, potato is my most favorite vegetable. So whenever I spot a different potato recipe I must try it, though this recipe is not a different one :). Potato masala is a very typical South Indian dish made in almost all South Indian homes, and it tastes so yummy when had with rasam rice. Rasam, Rice and Potato masala, most Tamilians long for this combination once in a while.Absolutely easy one to prepare, the above combination can be prepared in 30 minutes to rustle up a scrumptious meal

 Potato Masala

Ingredients

Serves - 4
Spice Level - Moderately Spicy

Potatoes -  5 Large ones, peeled and chopped into medium sized pieces
Tomato - 1 Large, chopped
Onion - 2 Large, chopped finely,
Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 Tspn
Curry leaves - 2 Sprig
Turmeric powder - 1/2 Tspn
Sambar/Kuzhambu powder - 3 Tbspn
Salt - as per taste
Mustard - 1 Tspn
Jeera - 1 Tspn
Oil - 2 Tbspn
Water - 3/4 cup


Method

Heat a pressure cooker with oil. Add mustard,jeera and let it roast. Add curry leaves,onions,ginger-garlic paste and saute well, till onions are done. Add the chopped tomatoes,turmeric and salt.Stir/Saute well until the  tomatoes are cooked and are soft and mashed.Add in sambar powder and saute for 2 more minutes. Now add in the potato pieces and wrap well with the masala.Saute for 2-3 minutes. Add 3/4 cup water at this stage , and close the pressure cooker with its lid and pressure cook for two whistles. I keep the flame at high, once the first whistle is let out I move the flame to low, and wait for 3 more minutes and switch off. Adjust pressure cooking time accordingly such that the potato shouldn't get mashed, but it needs to be cooked to the correct extent.

Once the cooker cools, open the lid, heat the cooker, give it a stir, and wait for the potato to form a thick gravy. Add more salt if needed at this stage and stir well. Once a nice thick gravy forms, switch off flame.

Server warm with hot steamed rice and rasam. Yum! :)



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Jeera Aloo / Potatoes flavoured with Cumin

Jeera aloo reminds me of my initial days after wedding , I used to make this dish quite often as it was a very easy simple dish and one of S favorite. Jeera aloo, some variety rice and dal, this was one combination that used to appear on almost every weekend , a couple of years back. Some of my relatives also found out how that was my standard menu when guests visited us too. So if you are new to cooking, and want to impress somebody, this one's for you. ;)

Jeera Aloo

Ingredients

 Serves - 4
 Spice Level - Moderately Spicy

Potato - 5 Large, chopped into medium sized pieces.
Onions - 1 Large , finely chopped
Mustard - 1 Tspn
Jeera - 3 Tbspn
Green chilli - 4 , chopped well
Turmeric powder - 1/2 Tspn
Garam Masala - 1 Tspn
Coriander leaves - a handful, chopped
Oil - 2 Tbspn
Salt - as per taste [ 1 Tbspn or so]


Method

Add the potato pieces in a cooker and 1 cup water.Pressure cook the potato pieces for 5 minutes. Keep the flame on high , after one whistle [ will take 3 minutes for first whistle], move the flame to low and switch off after 2 more minutes. The potatoes need to cooked such that it doesn't get mushy when you make the jeera aloo. Open the lid once the cooker is cooled, drain the remaining water left in the vessel and keep the potatoes aside.

Heat oil in a kadai. Add the mustard, let it splutter, add jeera, and let it roast. Add onions, green chilli and saute till onions are translucent.Add the turmeric powder and garam masala, little salt and cook till the raw smell of masala vanish. Now lower the flame, add in the cooked potato pieces, remaining salt and mix well with the onion-masala mix well. Stir the potatoes well so that they are wrapped well with the masala. Saute the potatoes in kadai for 2-3 more minutes. Add the chopped coriander leaves and mix well. Switch off flame.

This goes very well with pulkas/rotis or as a side dish for rice and dal


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Rosemary Garlic Potato wedges

Did you guys miss me? ;). I am back from an awesome-super-duper trip to the Swiss - so overwhelmingly beautiful that words and pictures cannot do justice to it. I will be dedicating a separate post to that very soon though. :)

Now back to these potato wedges. I looove potatoes, I can eat them any time of the day and in any quantity and in any cooked form.Potatoes really remind me of my childhood, where my mom used to scare me saying, if  I eat too much of these, I would develop cramps and calf/knee pain. :). Even now, whenever I get calf pain, I think "maybe I had too many potatoes" :P. People who know me well
know that I never share pomm frites [some eurooopean touch!!] with anybody :)

Potato wedges are an easy, yummy starter to make.You should definitely try to make them if you haven't yet.Just before my trip last week, I had to finish up some rosemary and potatoes.So got on to making some rosemary-garlic flavored potato wedges which we had along with veg fried rice.

Rosemary-Garlic Potato Wedges

Ingredients


Serves - 2
Spice Level - Not Spicy but flavorful

Potatoes - 5 large, cut into wedges
Fresh Rosemary - 4 stems
Garlic cloves - 4, finely minced
Turmeric powder - 1/2 Tsp
Salt/pepper - as per taste
Olive oil - 5 Tbsp

Method

Wash and cut the potatoes into wedges. In a bowl, add in olive oil,  minced garlic,  rosemary leaves,turmeric powder, salt and pepper and mix well.Toss in the potato wedges inside the bowl and marinate it well with the mixture. Let it stay for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat you oven for 10 minutes at 200 deg C. Line a baking tray with aluminum foil and spray it with non-stick cooking spray. Arrange the potato wedges in rows on top of the foil.

Now bake these wedges at 200 deg C for 40 minutes in toast mode [both bottom and top rod of oven is heated]. After 25 minutes, turn the potato wedges over so the other side also gets cooked and let it bake/toast for remaining time

Remove the tray out of the oven , serve it warm with tomato ketchup. Very easy and impressive starter. :)

Notes

1. You can para-boil potatoes and then follow the recipe to reduce the baking/toasting time.



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Potato-Peas-cauliflower Kurma

This vegetable kurma is a great side dish for chapathis or Kerala coin parathas. It is a coconut based white gravy flavored with mild spices.Its a quick one if you have grated coconut ready in your pantry.

Aloo-Mattar Kurma

Ingredients

Serves - 4
Spice Level - Moderate

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Badams/Almonds - 6
Jeera - 2 Tspn
Saunf - 1 Tspn
Ginger-Garlic Paste - 1 Tbspn
Green chilli - 4
cloves - 2
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Tomato - 1 Finely chopped
1 cup of chopped mix veggies, - I used potato,peas and cauliflower.
Oil - 2 Tbspn
Jeera - 1 Tspn
Salt -  as per taste
Turmeric - 1/4 Tspn


Method

First grind the first 7 ingredients with 1/2 cup water to a fine paste. Keep aside. Boil the chopped veggies till its half-cooked. Keep aside.

Heat oil in a kadai. Add jeera and let it roast. Add in the chopped onions and saute it till translucent. Add chopped tomatoes salt and turmeric. Cook till the tomatoes are soft and juicy. Now add in the ground paste , and saute for a couple of minutes. Add about 1 cup water and let it simmer in low heat for about five minutes.Now throw in the half-cooked veggies and let them cook through in the gravy. Add more salt if needed. Also add in water if needed to get desired consistency.Switch off flame. Serve with hot chapathis :). Simple NO?



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Authentic ChettinaduTherrakal/Coconut Gravy with brinjal and potato

This is another authentic Chettinadu dish . The coconut based gravy is used as a side dish for dosais and Idlis. It is super yum and this preparation never fails to impress. This curry has been a super hit in all parties that I have hosted until now:).

Therakkal

Ingredients

Brinjal - 2 medium sized, chopped into small pieces
Potato - 1 Medium sized , chopped into small pieces
Tomato - 1 Medium sized, chopped.
Onion - 1 Large , chopped finely
Ginger-garlic paste - 1 Tspn
Curry Leaves - 1 Sprig

To Temper

Mustard - 1 tspn
Jeera - 1 Tbspn

To dry roast and Grind

Mustard - 1 Tbpn
Jeera - 1 Tbpn
Raw Rice - 2 Tbspn
Fenugreek - 1 Tspn
Saunf - 1 Tspn
Khus Khus - 1 Tspn
Dry red chilli - 4
Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup


Method

Heat a pan and dry roast the following - throw in mustard, jeera,raw rice, fenugreek,khus-khus,saunf one after the other. Let them roast for a minute or two.Then add in the grated coconut and dry red chilli. Roast for couple of more minutes and switch off flame. Cool and blend in a mixer with 1/2 cup water to a smooth paste.

Now in the same pan , heat 2 Tbsp of oil. Add mustard and when it splutters, add jeera ,let it roast.Add in the onions,curry leaves and ginger-garlic paste. Saute till onions are translucent.Add the tomatoes and saute till its soft and juicy.Add the brinjal pieces and saute till soft. Now add the ground paste and 1.5 cups of water, and let it boil. When it boils, toss in the potato pieces, and cook till they are half done. Add salt and cook on low flame till the potatoes are fully done and all the flavors in the curry come together. Add more water if you would like to loosen the gravy.

Serve with hot idli, or freshly done dosais. Awesome combination I tell you!.


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Aloo Bhaji/Yellow potato Gravy

This dish is nicknamed as "Manja Kizhangu" [yellow potato] and this is how i refer to it. I usually pair this dish with chapattis.It is somewhat similar to the yellow potato curry you get along with pooris in South Indian restaurants but takes on a more loose gravy form.

Aloo Bhaji/Yellow Potato curry

Ingredients

Serves - 4
Spice Level -  Spicy

Potato - 5 Large ones, peeled, pressure cooked and mashed
Onion - 1 large , finely chopped
Garlic cloves - 4 chopped
Green chilli - 3 slit lengthwise, and cut into half
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Tomato - 1 large , chopped
Mustard - 1 Tspn
Jeera - 1 Tspn
Salt - as per taste
Turmeric powder - 1 Tspn
Oil - 3 Tbspn

Method

Heat oil in a kadai.Add mustard and when it splutters add jeera, curry leaves. Let it roast. Now throw in the onions, green chilli and garlic cloves. Saute till onions becomes translucent.Now add in the tomato , some salt and turmeric powder. Saute well and close the pan with a lid. It will take a few minutes for the tomato to get cooked well and become soft and gets mashed. After this,toss in the mashed potato and mix well with the onion-tomato mix. Add 2 cups of water, sir well, add more salt and the let the curry boil for 5-10 minutes. Switch off flame. Serve hot with chapattis.

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Kathirkai Kosmali/Brinjal-Potato stew

Kathirkai kosumali is a very authentic chettinadu dish which best goes as a side dish for idli/idiyappam or dosai's. Its a regular in the breakfast served in our weddings. This is one of my favourite and somehow i dont make it as often as i would like to. I always make this when i have brinjals in excess and need to finish them off.

The dish doesnt look very appealing due to brinjal's color. But looks are definitely deceptive in this case. :)

Kathirkai Kosmali/Brinjal-Potato stew

Ingredients

Serves - 4
Spice Level - Medium

Brinjals - 4 medium sized , each cut into half
Potato - 2 medium sized, peeled and each cut into half
Onion - 1 large , chopped finely
Tomato - 1 medium sized , chopped
Green chilli - 3 slit lengthwise
Garlic cloves - 3 chopped
Thin Tamarind extract - 4-5 Tbspn

Mustard - 1 tspn
Urad dal - 1 tspn
Jeera - 1 tspn
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Hing - a pinch
Oil - 2 Tspn
Salt - as per taste

water - 3 cups


Method

First , pressure cook the brinjals and potatoes together well with 1-1.5 cup water. Now pick the brinjals and potatoes from the cooker and transfer them to a plate. You should be able to easily peel the outer layer of the brinjals. Thow away the peel/outer layer. Mash the brinjals and potatoes with a ladle.No need to mash the potatoes completely, its good to leave a few potato pieces here and there unmashed [Like in the picture above]. Keep this aside.Save the water remaining in the pressure cooker to add into the curry.

Heat oil in a kadai. Add hing, add mustard , let it crackle, add urad dal, jeera,let them roast, add curry leaves. Now throw in the onions, green chillis and garlic coves. Saute till onions are translucent. Now throw in the tomatoes and add little salt. Stir well , close the kadai with the lid. Stir ocassionally,and saute tomatoes till they are soft and let out the juice.Now add in the mashed brinjal-potato mixture mix well, add 2 cups of water,along with the water in which the brinjals and potatoes were cooked. Add more salt and let it boil for a minute or so. Now add the tamrind extract.Let the stew boil in low flame for 5 minutes. switch off stove.

Serve hot with idli/idayappam/dosai. :)

Notes

1. Add more water if you prefer loose curry

2. While adding tamrind extract tbspn by tbspn, make sure to taste in between, so that it doesnt get too tangy. The way i prepare tamrind extract is more diluted than how it is generally prepared. So adjust the quantity of tamarind extract as per your taste.

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Aloo mattar Masala Fry

This is very simple masala stir fry which goes very well with rotis/pulkas/chapthis and the likes. It can also be served as a masala stuffing for dosai and best goes with rasam and rice. :). It is a very quick and easy recipe when you really dont want to spend time for making lunch.

Aloo -mattar Masala Fry

Ingredients

Potato - 3  large ones cubed  [boiled]
Peas - 1/2 cup [boiled]
Onion - 1 large chopped finely
Mutard seeds - 1 tspn
Jeera - 1 tspn
Hing - 1 tspn
Oil - 2 tbspn
Salt - to taste
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tspn
Curry/Chilli powder - 2 Tbspn

Method

Heat oil in a pan. Add hing ,then mustard seeds and when they crackle, add the jeera -let them roast. Throw in the onions, saute till translucent. Now add salt, turmeric and curry powder. Saute till the raw smell of masala leaves and until the onion shines with the oil and masala. Now throw in the boiled peas and potato and wrap well with masalas. Saute it for 3-4 more minutes and switch off flame.

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