Spicy Sunday - Recipe: Potato Masala

From left to right: Mustard seeds, cinnamon stick, cardamom and black peppercorns

I love Sundays. It's usually the one day of the week I get to spend as much time in the kitchen as I want. And what better way to do that than to spend it whipping up some Indian dishes. I am partial to spicy food, and among the many Indian spices I particularly love the fragrance of cardamom. Though you can get many of these things prepackaged these days, I still take the time to grind my spices fresh, thus I usually need twice or three times the amount of time than would be the case if I were to cook the equivalent Chinese dish. I guess I'm quite old-fashioned in that sense.

My brother only eats five types of vegetables, I kid you not - broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, french beans and potatoes. Thus, it sort of stretches my creativity in creating different dishes with all or some of the five types of veggies in any given week!

Here's a simple recipe for Potato Masala which is really one of the most basic Indian vegetable dishes. It is usually served as part of a tiffin meal but it is sometimes used as a filling for dosas or samosas.

Potato Masala

Ingredients:

5 potatoes, halved (I used Russet)

4 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon mustard seesd

1 dessertspoon urad dhall

2 stalks curry leaves

2 onions, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 green chillies, minced

1 tomato, minced

5-7 cashew nuts, chopped fine

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 -3/4 teaspoon turmeric

3/4 cup frozen peas, thawed

Coriander leaves to garnish (optional)

Peel potatoes and dice into 1 inch cubes. Set in large pot of cold water with a pinch of salt on medium-low heat. You want to maintain the water so that it is barely below boiling. Cook until soft (about 15-20 minutes). Drain well. If you like, mash the potatoes. (I kept most of them in cubes but mashed a few for texture)

Heat oil in large skillet. Add curry leaves, mustard seeds and urad dhall. The mustard seeds will splutter. Then add onions, garlic, chillies and tomatoes and fry till wilted and soft. Add cashew nuts and potatoes. Stir around for three minutes and then pour in water. Add salt and turmeric powder. Add your peas and mix well. Simmer until gravy thickens.

Season to taste. Serve garnished with coriander leaves if desired.