Haraa aloo (Green potatoes)

I've had this recipe for SOOOOOOOO long in my recipe file that the paper had actually started yellowing when I chanced upon it. I think it's about 6 years old because it's in the file that I filled with printouts of recipes - food that I longed for in those days when I was desperate for authentic Indian food that I didnt have to make (didnt get anywhere much with that attitude, actually). I hadnt got to the point where I'd started actually making the food I craved, I was merely browsing recipes like mad and printing them off!

Anyhow, on to the recipe. I hope y'all know that these potatoes arent green from mould, or green from too much exposure to light, or even green from envy. They're only green because of the masala used to coat them :)

Oh by the way, if you dont like fresh cilantro/coriander leaves, dont even bother making this recipe. It's mainly coriander leaves with a bunch of other stuff thrown in. I actually didnt think it would work, because the recipe calls for just 1 tsp oil and no water. As it turned out, I did add 2-3 tbsp water because I thought it might burn. It might NOT have, but I wasnt trusting enough to risk it!



This is a very simple recipe. Just slice your potatoes - make sure they're salad potatoes that will hold their shape even when cooked, you dont want them reducing to a mush - grind your masala, put the two together and pan-fry-steam-cook till the 'taties are done. That's it. Oh, just one more thing - did I say that this is a slightly adapted Sanjeev Kapoor recipe? No? Well, it's a slightly adapted Sanjeev Kapoor recipe.

Recipe for: Haraa aloo (Green potatoes)



Ingredients:

4-6 salad potatoes, sliced 1/3 cm thick
1 small bunch coriander leaves (about 1 generous cupful)
Fresh geen chillies to taste (I used 5)
1" piece ginger, sliced
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp coconut grated
Tamarind - large marble sized piece, or 1 tsp if using paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp oil
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Make a smooth paste by grinding together everything but the potatoes, salt and oil, using as little water as possible.



2. Mix this paste with the potato slices so that each slice is well coated.





3. Heat the oil in a pan and add the potatoes. Stir well, then cover with a tight-fitting lid.

4. Cook the potatoes over a low flame, adding 2-3 tbsp if you think the masala is going to burn at the bottom of the pan.

5. When the potatoes are cooked, add salt to taste and stir.



6. Let the potatoes cook for a minute longer, then turn off the hob.



7. Serve hot with chapaties and dal.

Gung-ho about gungo peas masala

It couldnt be helped. I had to say it and get it out of my system. The moment I saw the bag of these dried gungo peas in the shop in Birmingham, the title for a post announced itself in my brain and squatted there, rather like an unwanted caller who ignores all your hints aimed at departure. For a long time I tried to think of something else for a title but, as is evident, no such luck. I just couldnt help being gung-ho about these speckled, rather pretty gungo peas.

What are gungo peas? These are.



And when they're soaked overnight in water, they become this lovely warm golden brown.



After a quick google for these peas on the Net, I discovered that gungo peas are also known as pigeon peas. Ugh. Pigeon peas. Difficult to be gung-ho about pigeon anything, believe me, much less peas. Pigeons are merely flying rats - and noisy ones at that - as far as I'm concerned, and naming these prettily speckled peas after a verminous bird hardly seems fair to the legume family in general, with most of whom I have a close, personal, in fact daily relationship.

I'm all for gungo peas. (Also all gung-ho about peace.) And now that I have flogged that particular pun to shreds, allow me to present the actual recipe.

Recipe for: Gungo peas masala



Ingredients:

1/2 cup gungo peas, soaked overnight
3-4 baby potatoes, sliced 1/2-inch thick
1 fresh bay leaf
2 tbsp oil
1 onion - sliced and shallow fried golden brown. Reserve half for the tempering.
1 tomato, chopped
1 tsp pav bhaji masala
½ tsp coriander powder
½ tsp cumin powder
½ tsp dried garlic powder
Salt to taste

To grind to a smooth paste:



1 onion
1 tomato
4-5 fresh green chillies
handful coriander leaves

For tempering:
1 tbsp ghee
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp garam masala
Reserved fried onions

Fresh coriander leaves for garnish

Method:

1. Put the peas in a pressure cooker vessel and add enough water to just cover the peas. Add the potatoes and pressure-cook till done. Reserve about a cupful of the water in which the peas were cooked.



2. In a small frying pan, add 1 tbsp oil and fry the sliced onion till it is golden brown.



Remove half of the fried onions and reserve.

3. Add the remaining tbsp oil to the fried onions in the pan and pour in the ground tomato-onion-chilly paste.



4. Fry till the masala begins to thicken. Then add the chopped tomato to the masala and let it cook down a bit. They should not become totally mushy.



5. Now add the cooked gungo peas and potatoes. Add the coriander powder, cumin powder and garlic powder and stir it all. Add the reserved cupful of water along with salt to taste, and stir again. Let the masala simmer for about 5 minutes on medium-heat.



6. In a small pan, heat 1 tbsp ghee. Fry the cumin seeds (they should splatter and turn brown almost immediately), then add the reserved fried onions and garam masala. Fry for about 30 seconds on high heat.



7. Pour this tempering immediately over the peas masala.



8. Stir it in, sprinkle with chopped coriander and serve hot over plain rice or with chapaties.