Potato song

This is probably one of my favourite potato recipes. Soft potatoes cooked with chilies, tamarind, and jaggery come together in a wonderful dish that is simultaneously sour, sweet, and spicy. I wish they would serve this wrapped in dosas as a filling. I can have this dish every day!

This traditional South Indian potato recipe is from Chandra Padmanabhan, one of my favourite cookbook authors. She has published a series of vegetarian cookbooks on the fabulous flavours of the southern states in India, a collection for every Indian cook.

For more recipes from this cookbook, click here.

Ingredients:

1 lb potatoes—I prefer fingerling potatoes—boiled with the skin on until just tender. Cube them into large bite-sized pieces. Save the water for use later.

3 onions, diced fine

2 tablespoons tamarind pulp

1-2 teaspoons chilli powder, or to taste

2 tablespoons jaggery, palm sugar or brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander

1/2 cup water, preferably from boiling the potatoes

1/2 cup cilantro, minced

Salt to taste

To temper:

3 tablespoons coconut oil or any cooking oil

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

10 curry leaves

Heat the coconut oil in a pot and add the tempering ingredients. When the mustard seeds start to pop, add the onions and sauté on medium-high till they turn golden.

Add the potatoes and saute for another 2-3 minutes. Add the tamarind pulp and cook for 3 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the cilantro and the water, and mix all the ingredients well. Cook until the water evaporates. The potatoes will start disintegrating, and you will have a mush that is just delicious. Taste and adjust for salt, sugar, sourness, and chilli.

Serve garnished with the cilantro.