By the way you know something has turned out well when half way into your write up about it you find yourself getting hungry and take a break to eat some more!
Potato Curry or Aalu ki Qatlian Shorbay Wali Serves 3-4 3 cups sliced potatoes – 2 large Vegetable Oil – enough to coat the bottom of the pan 1 small onion diced ½ tsp cumin seeds ¼ tsp mustard seeds ¼ tsp fenugreek seeds ½ tsp kalonji or nigella seeds 1 tsp ginger paste 1 tsp garlic paste 1 tsp red chilli powder 1 tsp coriander powder (optional) ¼ tsp turmeric powder 1 tsp salt 1 medium tomato finely chopped 2 tbsp chopped cilantro for garnish 2 finely sliced green chillies ¼ tsp garam masala powder Lemon Juice (optional) Slice the potatoes nice and thin (see below) and put them aside. Then dice up your onions and tomatoes and set them aside as well. Now let’s get cooking.
Put a medium sized pan – I used my aging wok – on medium high heat and put in just enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. When it gets nice and hot add in the onions and sauté until they turn golden brown. Then add all the seeds and cook for another minute, add ginger and garlic pastes, stir fry those for another minute as well, and then add all the spices. You may need to add a little water to prevent it from sticking. You will end up with an unattractive looking mix, but stick with it my friends, stick with it.
As a quick note the coriander powder was actually not in the original recipe, I put it in because I didn’t realize that, but since it turned out well I kept it in the one above. Feel free to edit as you please. Then add the diced tomatoes and when they are nice and soft then add in the potatoes and cover them with water. Mine took about fifteen minutes to cook through on medium low heat. Check seasoning and add water to adjust the consistency of the curry.
I kept it thick today, but imagine it would be lovely in its original ‘shorba’ or gravy incarnation. Top with the chopped green chillies, cilantro, the garam masala powder and a squeeze of lemon juice. Ambreen recommends eating it with chapati, but today I gave in to unhealthy me and had some lovely sheermal with it. Life is good.
