Spicy Baby Potato Roast

I started planning a hurried Saturday lunch menu and decided on the pulka-dal-jeera aloo [Indian Flat Bread/Lentils/Cumin flavoured potato] combo. Why hurried? you may ask but that's usually how my Saturday lunches happen. I have been insisting on minimizing having food outside and the weekends are a big hindrance to this mission. If we end up having lunch at home on Saturdays, we pretty much spend the day at home - that just happens. We start the day waking up quite late and I hurry to get something done before lunch and by the time we finish our lunch its well past noon and then its time for the afternoon slumber which can happen only on the weekends again, so you see how the story of my lazy Saturday goes? :-). So hopefully we can settle into a more active Saturday soon and also have lunch at home.

Now that I have rambled on like i always do, I shall get into the baby potato relevant talk now! So what started out as jeera aloo moved to jeera baby aloo and then I wanted some color for the potato, to be more precise, red color and hence came the spicy masala coated jeera baby potatoes :). The only time consuming activity is peeling the potatoes here, but after that its a breeze! Marinate the boiled baby potatoes in spicy mix and saute them in oil for a few minutes and we have a very spicy and moist flavorful potatoes ready to play with your taste buds.

Ingredients

Serves - 2
Spice Level - Moderate
Prep Time - 15 min + 30 min marination time
Cook time - 3-5 min

Baby Potatoes - 15
Tomato paste - 1 Tbsp or puree one medium sized tomato
Turmeric - 1/4 Tsp
Red Chilli Powder - 2 tsp
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 Tsp
Lemon juice - 1/2 Tbsp
Salt - as per taste
Oil - 1 Tbsp + 1 tbsp
Mustard - 1 Tsp
Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1 Tbsp
Hing/Asafoetida - 1 generous pinch
Coriander Leaves to garnish - 1 Tbsp

How do you do it

1. Boil and peel the baby potatoes until they are tender but firm. Do not overcook them, they will loose shape while you saute them later. So take care to boil them properly without it loosing its shape and collapsing. Its OK to under-cook it a little. With a fork poke a few holes into the baby potatoes gently. Keep aside.

2. Mix tomato paste [or tomato puree] with all the spices powders, salt and 1 Tbsp water. Pour this over the baby potatoes along with 1 Tbsp oil and wrap well so they are coated well. Let these rest for 30 minutes.

3.Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a pan. Add hing and mustard, when they pop add the jeera/cumin and let them roast giving an aroma. Add the marinated potatoes now and saute well in low/medium flame until the paste sticking to the potatoes cook well and all the flavors come together.

4. Check for seasoning , add more salt or spice powders if need. Adjust according to taste.

5.Switch of flame, add lemon juice and coriander leaves and mix well.

Serve with steamed rice or Rotis/Naan for a filling lunch!