I get this urge to buy baby potatoes every time I see them. This time when I went to Indian store, I saw very fresh looking baby potatoes which looked so beautiful that, I had to buy them. Soon after coming home, I went through my collection of potato recipes. There were so many good recipes and I was not sure what to pick up. Finally I zeroed on this Tandoori aloo .
The name comes from the special kind of oven, called Tandoor , used to bake these alus (potatoes). But these can be prepared in normal oven or on stove top. This is a super easy dish. I could not make a uniform coating on the potatoes because my blender/mixer does not allow me to grind anything without putting water. But since the potatoes were pricked and marinated well, they tasted absolutely awesome. You can also add a pinch of red color to make them look bright red, but I don’t like to add any artificial color in my food. So I thought of leaving it as it is.
This is my entry to Vaishali’s JFI potatoes .
Ingredients: 7-8 baby potatoes peeled 1/2 cup chopped onion 1/2 tea spn cumin powder 1/2 tea spn coriander powder 2 tbl spn thick curd/yogurt 1-2 tea spns chili powder 1 tea spn ginger-garlic paste 1 tbl spn lemon juice Oil Salt
Method: Prick with a fork or put some deep slit marks with a knife on all the potatoes. Grind onions(preferably without water) to a smooth paste. Add onion paste and all other ingredients, except oil to the potatoes and mix well so that the potatoes get a thick coating of potatoes all over. The yogurt should be very thick so that the mixture remains thick. Leave the potatoes for around 1hr. Heat oil in a non stick pan and add the potatoes with the masala . Close the lid and let it cook on a low flame for around 15mins. Preheat the oven at 350F for around 5mins. Take the potatoes in a greased bake ware and broil at 350F for around 10-15mins(till the coating has turned brownish). Serve hot with lemon juice.
Serves : 2 Preparation time: 30mins
I had posted the potato song with coconut masala long ago. Somehow I never felt like posting this version. This is a must in all Konkani recipe sites/food blogs. I always thought, there is nothing important in this particular recipe which needs a separate post. What would you prepare if you are given onions, potatoes, chili powder, oil, tamarind and salt? Obviously even the person who don’t have a clue of cooking will come up with some similar dish :). Then you might ask, why am I posting it today? My answer would be, just try it yourself even though you have a refrigerator full of different vegetables, just ignore them for a moment and make this one. You will not regret it.
Song (in Konkani) is usually a very very spicy reddish colored dry side dish. One of my reader had left a nice comment when I posted the coconut version . As she says, when we eat this, you start to sing. You start to whistle since it is so spicy. Your eyes, nose, ears start watering :). I normally don’t make this dish so hot, since I can’t tolerate so much heat. But even after so much spice, it is a heavenly experience. You can reduce the amount of chilies to suit your taste. It goes very well with rice and daali thoy .
Traditionally red chilies and tamarind are ground and added to the potato mixture, but I prefer to use chili powder to save time.
See Vee’s batata song , Manjula’s batate song .
Ingredients: 2 large potatoes 3/4 cup chopped onions 1-2 tea spn coconut oil 1/2 tea spn tamarind extract or 3-4 pieces of tamarind 1-2 tea spn chili powder or 6-7 red chilies Salt
All the measurements are approximate, use as much as required. So reduce it if required.
Method: Boil and peel potatoes. Cut them into big pieces If using red chilies, grind them with tamarind to a smooth paste. (If chili powder is used directly, mix it with tamarind juice). Heat oil and fry onion till they are translucent. Add potatoes, salt, chili and tamarind paste. Mix well. Serve hot with rice.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 15mins
