Few years ago, I was in San Diego for a short business trip. That was my first travel outside India. One dish that I clearly remember from that visit is mashed potato that I had tasted at a get together. People would laugh at me for picking this dish, but that is the fact. I have loved potatoes in all its forms, so it is no wonder that I loved this simple dish.Â
After we moved to US, and started watching food network day and night, this is one dish I see on TV again and again. Apparently there are so many versions of it. Since everyone seems to have so many tips for getting it right, I think people really love it. I searched a bit to see if it is a American dish, but wiki says it is pretty popular in many countries. But since this is where I tasted this dish before and it is very popular here, I am going to send this to DK’s AWED American .
Instead of choosing the basic version of mashed potatoes, I chose this “fancy” version that I have seen on TV many times. We both loved it.
Ingredients: 1 lb potatoes (I used red potatoes) 1/2 cup buttermilk (approx) 1 tbl spn butter 1/4 cup frozen green peas 1.2 tea spn crushed pepper Salt
Method: Cook peas for few minutes. (I microwaved them for 2mins). Keep them aside. In a big pot, bring water to boil. Add salt and potatoes (I cut them into 4 pieces to help in cooking faster). Cook till they are fork tender. Drain out water. (I peeled them when they are still hot). Heat butter in a pan. Add potatoes, they should still be hot, and mash them with a potato masher. Slowly pour in buttermilk, salt, peas, pepper. Mix well. Take off heat and serve when they are still hot.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 30mins
It was some 1 year ago, I was chatting with my friend Aruna and as usual we started discussing about food. She asked me if I have tasted the popular Gujarati dish Undhiyu . Though I had heard about this dish and tasted it before, I had not cooked it myself. So Aruna sent me the recipe. But just one week before our discussion, I had bought frozen Undhiyu mix – which comes with all the frozen vegetables and muthiya . So I tried the recipe with the same mix and it was great. I forgot about this recipe after that.
Last week I was watching a cooking show on TV. They were showing Undhiyu and I wanted to try it immediately. This time, instead of buying the frozen pack, I bought all the vegetables separately and made the muthiya etc at home. When it was done, our whole apartment was filled with amazing aroma.
For the most part, I followed Aruna’s recipe. I made few changes which I followed from Sanjeev Kapoor’s site and Nupur’s version . I have seen the usage of green peas in masala only in Sanjeev Kapoor’s version. I did not use coconut at all because I was out of my coconut stock. I wasn’t sure it would come out good. But the final dish was lip-smackingly good.
Vegetables:
4 small purple eggplants 4 small potatoes 4 big pieces of plantain 8 tendli (ivy gourd) 1/4 cup surti papdi (whole tender avrekayi ) 1/4 cup purple yam( ratalu )
For paste: 1/4 cup coriander leaves ( I used along with thick stems ) 4 green chillies 1 tea spn jaggery 1 tbl spn lemon juice 1 tea spn ginger 1 tea spn garlic 1/4 cup fresh peas ( I used 1/2 cup peas ) 1/4 cup coconut ( I did not use this ) 1 tea spn coriander seeds 1 tea spn cumin seeds A pinch turmeric Salt
For Muthiya : 1/4 cup fenugreek leaves 1/8 cup wheat flour 1/8 cup besan 1 tea spn chilli powder A pinch turmeric Salt Oil
Tempering: Oil 1/2 tea spn ajwain A pinch asafoetida
Method: In a bowl, take the muthiya ingredients. Add a little water to make a dough. Make small balls from the dough. Deep fry the balls and keep it aside. ( I used a deep kadayi and used just about 1/4 cup oil and fried the muthiya on a medium flame).
Grind the paste ingredients without adding too much water. Make deep cross into eggplants, plantains and stuff the paste into them. ( I also stuffed potatoes ).
String the surti papdi . If they are too big, cut them into two. Cut tendli into 4. Heat oil ( I used the oil remaining from frying muthiya ) and add ajwain , asafoetida.
Now slowly add all the vegetables and add remaining paste over the vegetables. Add about 1/4 cup water ( Usually oil is used, I used water ).
Cover and cook on a medium flame. Since I used frozen yam, I didn’t add it at this stage, since it becomes paste if cooked for long. When the vegetables are almost done, add muthiya (and yam if it was not added before).
Cook for 2-3 mins and take off the heat. Do not mix too much after adding muthiyas .
Serve hot.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 45mins
