This is probably my favorite 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 everyday!
This traditional South Indian potato recipe is from one of my favorite cookbook authors, Chandra Padmanabhan. 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 skin on till just tender. Cube to large bite sized pieces. Save the water for use later.
3 onions, diced fine
2 tablespoons tamarind pulp
1-2 teaspoons chili 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 together well. Cook till the water evaporates. The potatoes will start disintegrating and you will have a mush that is just delicious. Taste and adjust for salt, sugar, sour and chili.
Serve with the cilantro on top.