Baby Potatoes in Spicy Gravy

It was snowing outside and the tongue felt like tasting something spicy,and this month also happens to be as per JFI, Potatoes month,so spicy Potato gravy and chappathis it was going to be. I found this recipe browsing on The Hindu some 10 years ago and dutifully printed it out to be tried. And the few times I have cooked it the results have been tongue pleasing. The reicpe called for also adding mustard seeds for the paste, and I always thought that was an oversight and left it out and used mustard seeds just for the seasoning but after reading Sandeepa's article on Mustard Seeds and how popular they were in Bengali cuisine, this time around I was smart enough to add it while making the paste.





Ingredients
1. 10-15 Baby Potatoes boiled (cut in half if too big)
2. 1/4 red onion chopped fine
3. 2 tbsp lemon juice
4. Curry leaves
5. 1 Cup water
6. 1 tsp turmeric powder

Masala Paste
1. Soak 1 tbsp of poppy seeds and 6-8 cashews in a little bit of water

2. 15 pearl onions and 1/4 red onion chopped roughly
3. 6 garlic cloves
4. 1 inch ginger piece
5. 2 tbsp coconut
Saute 2-4 in a little bit of oil, add coconut last after switching off the heat

Dry Roast
6. 2 tbsp corriander seeds
7. 2 tsp of cumin seeds
8. 1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
9. 3 green chillies

and add
10. 2 tsp red chilli powder
11. 1 tsp curry powder (I added Chicken masala powder)

Combine all the Masala paste ingredients (1-11)and blend to a smooth paste.

The original recipe calls for blending all the ingredients into a paste and then sauteing them beofre adding in the potatoes and a liberal dose of ghee (1/2 cup), I took the shortcut and the heathier route.

Method
1. In a wide mouthed pan (kadai) heat a tsp of oil, saute the onion
2. Add the Curry leaves and
3. add the ground paste, turmeric powder and a cup of water(reduce water according to consistency required)
4. Add salt and the potatoes and let the gravy cook for 6-8 minutes.
5.Add the lemon juice give it a good mix and turn off the heat.

Serve with chappathis, tastes great with rice too.

This will be my entry to JFI Potatoes hosted by Vaishali of Happy Burp.