Baby potato curry

Hands down, potatoes are versatile and can be cooked with different spices to match your palette. I normally, do a stir fry with paprika powder and a touch of cumin seeds and it really tastes gorgeous with roti/rice. This time around, I decided to do a stir fry with southern Indian spices and notched up the heat a bit. Result? The baby potatoes just explode into your mouth with the gorgeous spices giving an inherent taste. Highlight of this dish? Black peppercorns! Yes, the subtle heat it generates is just wonderful and works great with the potatoes. Cooking the dish is very easy but the initial preparation is labour intensive- especially, when you have to peel the skin from 500 grams of small potatoes and shallots. Trust me, it’s worth the effort! Go on indulge in this flavorful journey where potatoes are cooked with roasted spice mix and you can vary the spice level according to your choice.

Baby potato fry

Small potatoes cooked with southern Indian spices!

Ingredients

• Baby potatoes- 500 grams (boiled and peeled)
• Whole dry red chilli-4
• Urad dal (split black gram-skinless/lentils) – 1 tbsp
• Black peppercorn- 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds-1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves- about 4-5 leaves (roughly chopped)
• Salt according to taste
• Coriander seeds – 1 tsp
• Asafetida powder- dash of it
• Small onions/shallots- 10-15
• Cooking oil (generous dose)

Instructions

1. Dry roast the red chilies, lentils, black peppercorn & coriander seeds.
2. Allow them to cool & grind them to a fine powder.
3. In a frying pan add oil and once hot add dash of asafetida powder.
4. Add mustard seeds and allow them to crackle.
5. Add curry leaves and shallots, saute them till golden brown.
6. Stir in the potatoes and adjust salt according to taste.
7. Add the spice powder and cook the potatoes on a low flame for 5 minutes.
8. Potatoes get a lovely brown color with the spices- Remove from flame and serve!

Notes

Curry leaves are used extensively in southern Indian cooking and added for seasoning.

Published @ Honest Cooking -http://honestcooking.com/2011/10/26/baby-potato-curry/

Breezy Sunday evening snack- Baked rosemary potatoes!

I recently discovered the herb Rosemary- Never had an opportunity to work with it much and when I did get an opportunity, I fell in love with this gorgeous herb! Rosemary is extremely high in Iron & Calcium- so all the more good reasons for me to get pally with this herb :)  Baby potatoes work great with rosemary and bring in the garlic and shallot twist to make an easy peasy snack!

Ingredients-

500 gms baby potatoes (unpeeled)
5 peeled shallots cut in slices or wedges
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
5-6 crushed garlic cloves
salt & pepper according to taste

How did I make it?

Preheat oven to 200 degree celsius. Throughly wash the baby potatoes and mix them with onions, olive oil, rosemary, vinegar and garlic. Toss well till the vegetables are well coated. Grease a baking pan and place the potatoes in the pan. Bake them for about 30 to 35 minutes till the potatoes are completely cooked. Once cooked, remove them from oven and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Serve hot with chilli sauce!