Spicy Potatoes with garlic

I had a few days away from blogging because I was celebrating Diwali with friends and family. It was lovely to be able to cook and share some traditional dishes with them.

At the weekend, I took the to the local farmer's market.   I love going to the farmer’s market as you can pick up so many varieties of home grown vegetables.  I bought a huge bag of the tiniest new potatoes I have ever seen. In fact, the potatoes were so tiny that I felt that if I peeled them – there would not be much potato left to taste!! At the same time they were covered in a lot of mud. I managed to clean the potatoes by soaking them for a couple of hours. In spite of cleaning them, I didn't have the heart to eat them with the skin on so I decided to steam them first.

Once steamed, I cooled them by pouring cold water on them. This helped to peel the skin too. Once the skin was peeled, it was so much easier to cook them. I decided to make these spicy potatoes which my friends loved.  You can serve these as a starter or  at barbecues with salad too.  We had them with hot hot chappatis and rice.  This is a very easy to make recipe.

Ingredients for 4 servings:

25 small baby potatoes
½ tsp salt
½ tsp turmeric
1 tbs chick pea flour (besan)
1 tbs dhana jeeru (ground mixture of coriander and cumin)
3-4 cloves of minced garlic (you can more if you like garlic)
2-3 green chillies – sliced into two (optional)
Bunch of fresh coriander
6-8 fresh curry leaves (optional)
1 tsp cumin
2 tbs lemon juice
1tbs sugar or sugar substitute
2 tbs sunflower oil

Method

1. Steam the potatoes and peel the skin.

2. Heat the oil and add in the cumin seeds. Once the cumin seeds go brown, turn the heat to medium and add in the potatoes and stir them so that they are coated in the oil.

3. Add the salt, turmeric, chick pea flour and dhana jeeru.

 4.  Add the garlic and sliced green chillies.

5.  Stir the mixture and allow to cook on a medium heat for 5-6 minutes.  Allow the potatoes to brown very slightly and become crisp.

6.  Add the fresh coriander and curry leaves if you have them available.

7. Stir in the coriander as this will give it a lovely lemony fragrance of the coriander and curry leaves.

8.  Add the lemon juice and sugar and cook for a couple minutes more.

 9. The spicy potatoes are ready to be served.

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Chickpea salad with mint and basil

I usually use chick peas to make a curry or falafels  but I thought I would try using them more as a salad and get all the benefits of the proteins in them

Ingredients:

1 cup boiled chick peas
1 tomato

½ red pepper

½ yellow pepper

3-4 radishes

1 onion

2-3 iceberg salad leaves

2-3 sprigs of fresh mint

2 teaspoons of dried basil

2 teaspoon of lo salt (one to use when boiling the chick peas)

1 teaspoon of pepper

2-3 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Method:

1. If using chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans) - soak them overnight in plenty of water. I tend to soak a big batch of 5-6 cups.

2. Wash the chick peas and add plenty of water and some salt and boil the beans until soft. This could take an hour or more and can be made quicker if using a pressure cooker.

3.  Once the chick peas have cooked, allow them to cool. You can save the extra chick peas in small plastic bags in the freezer to use for making curries, falafels or salads. 

(Note: Chick peas are also available ready boiled in cans in most supermarkets)

4. Prepare the salad by washing and chopping the lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, radishes and mix it with the boiled chick peas. (Feel free to add cucumbers if you like them)

5.  Add the salt and pepper, lemon juice, finely chopped mint and dried basil.

6.  Add the olive oil and mix well. 

7. Cover the salad with a plastic wrap and leave in the fridge for a couple of hours to marinate.

8.  When ready to serve, chop the onion finely and add to the salad. At this stage, you can also add feta cheese if you like it.  Taste and add any seasoning if necessary.

9. Serve as a starter with papadums and mango chutney.

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Bateta Vada Recipe (batter coated potato balls)

Bateta vadas are a classic Indian dish which can be served as a starter or as a quick snack. In Mumbai, they are served as Vada pav where Batata vadas are served with chilly sauce or chutney in a roll.  In most  Gujarati homes, they are served as a tea time snack except when they are cooking for an occassion and then they become part of a thali item!!

Ingredients for about 20 Bateta vadas:

8 - 9  medium sized potatoes
1 medium onion chopped finely
2 cups chick pea flour (besan)
2 green chillies – crushed finely
1 teaspoon of grated ginger and garlic
1 teaspoon salt (or as per your taste)
2 teaspoons sugar or sugar substitute
1 tablespoon lemon juice
small bunch of coriander chopped finely
2 teaspoons of a  ground mixture of cinnamon and cloves
1 litre oil for deep frying

For the batter:

A pinch of soda-bi carbonate
A pich of salt
A pinch of turmeric

Method

1.   Boil the potatoes with their skins on until soft.

2.   Peel and mash the potatoes and allow them to cool slightly. I used locally grown new potatoes which had this lovely pale yellow colour.

3.  Add in the crushed green chillies and grated ginger and garlic.

4.  Add in the finely chopped onions, the salt, sugar, lemon juice,  ground cinnamon and cloves mixture coriander leaves.

5.  Mix all the ingredients well and taste the mixture.  It should be nice and spicy as well as slightly sweet with a hint of lemon.

6.  Divide the mixture into 20 Golf ball sized balls.

For the batter:

7.  Add the salt and pinch of turmeric to the chick pea flour.

8.  Add a cup and a half of lukewarm water to the flour and mix to make the batter.

9.  Let the batter remain thick.  Test it with a fork and if it coats the fork, it's the right thickness.

Now make the bateta vada:

10.   Heat the oil.

11.   Add the soda bi carbonate to the batter and mix it well. Dip each potato ball in the batter and deep fry until the bateta vadas are golden brown in colour.

12.    Serve hot with chutney or ketchup.  As I mentioned  before, you can also eat them like a veggie burger between a soft roll if you like.

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Garbonzo beans and potato curry (Alu chole)

Garbanzos peas  are often referred to as Chick peas, chole or chana and are a good source of proteins. They come in two or three varieties. The most popular are the fairly large white chick peas often called Kabuli Chana, the small dark brown variety or a strange almost greeny colour.

Ingredients (serves 4):

2 cups of boiled chick peas
2 small potatoes, washed and chopped quite small.
1 cup  tinned tomatoes
2 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon dry cumin
2 small pieces of cinammon
3 small cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon chilly powder
1 reaspoon crushed garlic
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
A small bunch of coriander

Method:

1. Lightly warm the cumin in a wok or saucepan until you get the lovely cumin fragrance. Add the oil to this, add the cloves and cinnamon and allow the cumin to cook until it looks dark.

2. Add the potatoes and stir until they are  coated with the oil. Now add the spices such as salt, chili powder, turmeric, garlic and allow to cook for 5-7 minutes or until potatoes start to soften.

3. Now add the boiled chick peas to the mixture and cook for a further 5 minutes on a medium heat.

4. Blend the tinned tomatoes, lemon juice and brown sugar and add to the curry and cook for 5 minutes.

 5. Transfer the chick peas and potato curry to a serving dish and garnish it with come coriander. Serve this with naan bread and fresh salad.

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