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Food talk
Fill up with potato
It combines beautifully with almost all vegetables and can provide a mind-boggling range of snacks, says
Pushpesh Pant
 Potatoes
are indispensable. The price of ‘potatoes and onions’ has long
been the common man’s measure of inflation. True, we lived for
millennia without these starchy roots before the Portuguese (who had
brought them back from the Americas) addicted the rest of the world to
the stuff. From hash to chips and wafers to pies to rosti and
more, the potato plays many roles in the western repast.
Indians did not lose
much time in embracing the alu—it may not have become the
staple like it did in Ireland but comes close; on days of fasting this
is what sustains the Spartan pious folk. Potato remains attractive
after boiling, baking, frying or after it has received a mixed ‘heat
treatment’. It combines beautifully with almost all vegetables—stretches
the more expensive varieties, can provide a mind-boggling range of
snacks—tikki, chaat, samosa, papad and even one or two
sweets—alu ki barfi—and without doubt is the most popular
filling in the North and South, be it parantha or masal dosa.
It can be dazzling when
allowed to appear in a solo stellar role like in its dum
incarnation—Kashmiri, Bengali or Banarasi. It is this surfeit of
riches that complicates our life. How to serve potato to guests
without risking a sense of d`E9j`E0 vu and neglect: intimacy breeding
contempt and all that?
We were absolutely
thrilled when a friend gave us her recipe for dhaniyewale chatpate
alu that can be used as a finger food at a cocktail party or
deployed as an accompaniment—an interesting variation on the kosher hing
jeera theme.
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Chef’s special
Ingredients
Baby potatoes `½
kg
Coriander
powder 1 tsp
Coarsely
pounded coriander seeds 1 tsp
Dried ginger
powder `½tsp
Amchur
powder `½tsp
Cumin seeds `½
tsp
Turmeric powder
`½tsp
Whole red
chillies two
Cloves 2-3
Small bay leaf
one
Rock salt ½
tsp
Dried mint
leaves (crushed) 1tsp
Fresh dhaniya
(chopped) a sprig
Oil 100 ml
Method
Boil the potatoes ensuring that
these are not mushy soft. Cool and peel. Prick with a toothpick
and keep aside. Heat oil in a pan and put in the bay leaf and
the cloves together with the cumin and pounded coriander seeds
along with the chillies. When these begin to change colour, add
the powdered spices dissolved in a tbsp of water to avoid
burning. Now add the potatoes and stir-fry for about a minute,
sprinkling a few drops of water. Lower heat and continue to cook
stirring carefully to ensure that the masala coats the
baby potatoes and they begin to acquire a crust. Garnish with hara
dhaniya. If you are not eschewing onions and garlic on
strict vegetarian principles, you may consider inclusion of 1tsp
each of garlic ginger paste after the whole spices are
stir-fried. Onions we feel are really not required. While it is
coriander that the name celebrates, this should not inhibit you
at all. The beauty of this recipe is that it allows you ample
scope to play around without absolutely any risk. Dried mint can
be substituted with any preferred combination of herbs—home-made
chaat or aromatic graam masala. Similarly the khataas
contributed by amchur can yield place to the sourness of
choice—limejuice or dried anaardana or even a mild imli
sonth. |
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