Recipe: Green Tomato Curry with Potatoes and Garlic
Oh. My. Goodness. I am so glad I have a couple of bags of green tomatoes in the freezer, and at the end of this coming growing season, I will be thrilled to have all those green fruits that never ripen.
I found this recipe on Serious Eats to use with green tomatoes and made it for lunch. The pot was licked clean afterwards (partly because I didn't pay attention to the servings but mostly because it was so delicious). I had to threaten Farmer Boy with never eating another thing for the rest of his life to make him taste it, but once he did, he declared he loved it and begged for more. We really enjoy Indian food and miss both our Indian friends in Egypt and having Indian restaurants who would deliver to our home in Maadi. I love to cook Indian food myself, but often I feel like the recipes turn out "Indian-inspired" more than the taste I associate with "the real thing." This recipe, however, tasted totally authentic to this wayfaringwordhack, who, thanks to getting pregnant at just the right moment, had to cancel the leg of her round-the-world trip that would have taken her to India and has, therefore, never set foot in that enticingly beautiful and incredibly diverse country.
I followed the recipe from Serious Eats very closely, but I will put it here with the changes I made.
Green Tomato Curry with Potatoes and Garlic from Raghavan Iyer's 660 Curries
Ingredients for 2 people :
2 tablespoons oil
4 garlic cloves, chopped
3 small potatoes, unpeeled because that's how we roll in this house, and chopped into 1/2-inch cubes
320 grams (8 oz ) green tomatoes sliced into 1-inch segments
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric (I accidentally put in closer to 2 tsp)
2 tablespoons cilantro, finely chopped (I forgot this, but it would have been even more divine with it, I'm sure)
Directions
1. Pour oil into a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook until it is reddish brown, about a minute or so. Stir often. Make sure it doesn't burn. If it does, start over.
2. Add the potatoes, tomatoes, garam masala, salt and turmeric. Turn heat down to medium. Stir occasionally, and cook for about 10 minutes.
3. Pour in a cup of water (I used homemade soup stock). Scrape the pan with a wooden spoon to dislodge any browned bits. When the mixture comes to a boil, cover the skillet, reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the potatoes and tomatoes are tender. Stir every few minutes or so.
4. You want the final sauce to be kind of thick, so mash up a few of the potatoes and tomatoes with the wooden spoon. Turn off the heat, stir in the cilantro, and serve.
Bon appétit (or "bhojan kaa aanand lijiye" as Google tells me is the translation to Hindi)