Experiment: Bombay-ish Potatoes
Another experiment in "what can I make from what's around the house, without going to the store, and ideally is going to use up some of this stuff in the spice cabinet?"
It turned out yum, and there's a serving in the fridge for lunch tomorrow, which will give me an idea of whether this is a "keeps well" or not.
(I have this sneaking feeling that I missed something ...)
~18oz of diced potatoes
2 medium-to-large onions (NOT sweet, mild, or Vidalia-types)
8 dried curry leaves (could use fresh, too)
2 thai hot chili peppers, green or red
WHOLE seed spices, 1/2 teaspoon of each of the following:
* cumin
* fennel
* yellow mustard
GROUND spices:
* cumin (1 teaspoon)
* coriander (1/2 teaspoon)
* yellow mustard (1/2 teaspoon)
* fennel ("Sweet ground Indian fennel") (1/2 teaspoon)
* tumeric (1 1/2 teaspoon)
1/4 teaspoon of ground asofoetida (if you can have/can find it. If not, don't worry)
Half a 14-oz can of diced tomatoes & juice of most of the can
Salt to taste (I did 1 teaspoon in with the ground spices)
Tablespoon or so of neutral oil for saute/fry
Peel and dice the potatoes. Boil them until the 'crunch' goes away but there's still a good bit of resistance. Depending upon your dice-size this could be under 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Measure out 1/2 teaspoon of each of the whole seed spices into a bowl and set aside.
Chop the onion into whatever size you like in these types of dishes.
Seed the hot chili peppers. You could dice them; I left mine sliced in halves for easy identification (and subsequent removal from the dish of the can't-have-it-THAT-hot person). Heat the oil in a cover-able saute pan. Add the peppers and the curry leaves, and stir-fry until the pepper skin is blistered but not burned.
Then add the whole seed mixture, and continue heating and stirring a bit. You want them to start releasing their odor and flavor, but not scorching.
Then add the onions, and stir/saute them around until softened.
Add the diced tomatoes and juice (I just glopped half the can in) and stir/blend.
I added 1/2 cup of water at this point because the mixture was still too dry, and I needed liquid to help blend/disperse the dry ground spices.
A couple of minutes after adding the water, the ground spices went in. Stir to ensure they are evenly dispersed and start to dissolve.
Then add the potatoes, blend the whole gloppy pile well. You may need to add more liquid soon, the potatoes will absorb some.(Actually I did about half the ground spices in this step, and more some 15 minutes after the potatoes because the dish was too bland. The totals given at the top are the final totals)
Cover and let it simmer, stirring every couple of minutes, until the potatoes are as mooshy as you want them.
From what I've seen at the restaurants, this is usually made with big handfuls of chopped cilantro ... as in a cup or more of the stuff. If you like cilantro, go for it. Add it after the tomato would be my guess, since you'd want liquid around for it to not scorch?
There probably wouldn't be much difference if you used the entire can of diced tomatoes. No need to use canned if you've got fresh; I just happened to have a short-dated can to get rid of.
A dollop of sour cream tastes really good on these, especially if you went overboard on the hot peppers.
You don't have to get all fancy with the whole-seed spicing AND the ground spices. But it made for a pretty interesting multi-layered combination of flavors.
Asofoetida is a spice I almost never use outside of cooking like this. It's available at Whole Foods and various cooking-specialty places. Get the absolute smallest size you can, because you'll seldom use it, and when you do, it's usually 1/4 or at most 1/2 teaspoon. A little goes a very long way.
Curry leaves are not necessary, but I had a bunch around. I get them at the international farmer's market, the REAL one that's truly international. It's sorta like an Indian version of the bay leaf and is used in a similar manner, and nothing at all curry-like. If you can get them, I'd highly recommend them in Indian cooking and especially in the water used for rice. Dehydrate the unused fresh ones before they go bad, and they'll keep for months.
It turned out yum, and there's a serving in the fridge for lunch tomorrow, which will give me an idea of whether this is a "keeps well" or not.
(I have this sneaking feeling that I missed something ...)
~18oz of diced potatoes
2 medium-to-large onions (NOT sweet, mild, or Vidalia-types)
8 dried curry leaves (could use fresh, too)
2 thai hot chili peppers, green or red
WHOLE seed spices, 1/2 teaspoon of each of the following:
* cumin
* fennel
* yellow mustard
GROUND spices:
* cumin (1 teaspoon)
* coriander (1/2 teaspoon)
* yellow mustard (1/2 teaspoon)
* fennel ("Sweet ground Indian fennel") (1/2 teaspoon)
* tumeric (1 1/2 teaspoon)
1/4 teaspoon of ground asofoetida (if you can have/can find it. If not, don't worry)
Half a 14-oz can of diced tomatoes & juice of most of the can
Salt to taste (I did 1 teaspoon in with the ground spices)
Tablespoon or so of neutral oil for saute/fry
Peel and dice the potatoes. Boil them until the 'crunch' goes away but there's still a good bit of resistance. Depending upon your dice-size this could be under 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Measure out 1/2 teaspoon of each of the whole seed spices into a bowl and set aside.
Chop the onion into whatever size you like in these types of dishes.
Seed the hot chili peppers. You could dice them; I left mine sliced in halves for easy identification (and subsequent removal from the dish of the can't-have-it-THAT-hot person). Heat the oil in a cover-able saute pan. Add the peppers and the curry leaves, and stir-fry until the pepper skin is blistered but not burned.
Then add the whole seed mixture, and continue heating and stirring a bit. You want them to start releasing their odor and flavor, but not scorching.
Then add the onions, and stir/saute them around until softened.
Add the diced tomatoes and juice (I just glopped half the can in) and stir/blend.
I added 1/2 cup of water at this point because the mixture was still too dry, and I needed liquid to help blend/disperse the dry ground spices.
A couple of minutes after adding the water, the ground spices went in. Stir to ensure they are evenly dispersed and start to dissolve.
Then add the potatoes, blend the whole gloppy pile well. You may need to add more liquid soon, the potatoes will absorb some.(Actually I did about half the ground spices in this step, and more some 15 minutes after the potatoes because the dish was too bland. The totals given at the top are the final totals)
Cover and let it simmer, stirring every couple of minutes, until the potatoes are as mooshy as you want them.
From what I've seen at the restaurants, this is usually made with big handfuls of chopped cilantro ... as in a cup or more of the stuff. If you like cilantro, go for it. Add it after the tomato would be my guess, since you'd want liquid around for it to not scorch?
There probably wouldn't be much difference if you used the entire can of diced tomatoes. No need to use canned if you've got fresh; I just happened to have a short-dated can to get rid of.
A dollop of sour cream tastes really good on these, especially if you went overboard on the hot peppers.
You don't have to get all fancy with the whole-seed spicing AND the ground spices. But it made for a pretty interesting multi-layered combination of flavors.
Asofoetida is a spice I almost never use outside of cooking like this. It's available at Whole Foods and various cooking-specialty places. Get the absolute smallest size you can, because you'll seldom use it, and when you do, it's usually 1/4 or at most 1/2 teaspoon. A little goes a very long way.
Curry leaves are not necessary, but I had a bunch around. I get them at the international farmer's market, the REAL one that's truly international. It's sorta like an Indian version of the bay leaf and is used in a similar manner, and nothing at all curry-like. If you can get them, I'd highly recommend them in Indian cooking and especially in the water used for rice. Dehydrate the unused fresh ones before they go bad, and they'll keep for months.