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Taridar Mattar Allu (Peas and Potato Curry)

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The morning is beginning to heat up. I look out my kitchen window at the small patch of peas I am growing. It needs a weeding. Armed with my garden hat, gloves, and shovel, I head out to see if I can tackle the weeds before it gets too hot. I am pleased to see that there are enough peas I can pick to fix a curry or sabzi (sautéed vegetable of any kind without gravy). A little while later, I return to the kitchen with fresh peas.

I recall walking through the sabzi mandi’s (vegetable markets) in India or stopping by the wayside vegetable vendors’ stalls by the primary market. The vegetables were always farm fresh. You would make your selection. The grocer would weigh these on scales and put them into the ‘thaila’ (cloth bag) you carried with you—before plastic bags hit the scene! Of course, there was always bargaining to be done. It was an essential part of the buying process. I didn’t bargain much, knowing how hard they worked to make a living, so I always caved. I never quite got used to it!

Taridar Mattar Allu is a vegetarian, North Indian dish that is delicious with dals, rice, and rotis!

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Taridar Mattar Allu (Peas and Potato Curry)

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings 4
Taridar Mattar Allu is a vegetarian, North Indian dish that is delicious with dals, rice, and rotis!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup fresh or frozen peas
  • 3 medium potatoes
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 stick cinnamon (1 inch stick)
  • 2 green cardamoms
  • 4 peppercorns
  • 4 cloves
  • 1 medium Serano chili, slit (to taste, or optional )
  • ¾ cup yellow onion (diced finely)
  • 1 tbsp ginger-garlic (paste)
  • ¼ tsp turmeric powder
  • ¼ tsp cayenne pepper (to taste, or optional)
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 2 tsp coriander powder
  • 2 medium tomatoes
  • 3 tbsp cooking oil
  • 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
  • 3 cups water
  • 2 tbsp fresh cilantro (coriander leaves) (chopped finely)

Instructions 

  • Scrub, peel, and quarter the potatoes. Place them in a bowl of water so that they don't brown.
  • Heat your oil in a heavy-bottomed pan on medium heat.
  • Add the bay leaves, cinnamon, cardamom, peppercorns, and cloves. Let splutter for 30 seconds, and then add the finely diced onions.
  • Sauté on medium-high heat until onions turn golden—approximately 7-8 minutes.
  • Add the ginger-garlic paste and sauté for 2 minutes. The ginger tends to stick at the bottom, so be sure to stir it well.
  • Now add the turmeric, cayenne, cumin, and coriander powder. Sauté for a minute, stirring well.
  • Now add the chopped tomatoes. Cook the tomatoes for approximately 4-5 minutes until the oil rises to the surface.
  • Now add your peas and potatoes. Give it a few stirs before adding your water and salt. Stir the pot. Bring the water to a boil.
  • Cover and cook on medium till the potatoes are cooked—approximately 15-20 minutes.
  • Pour into a serving bowl and garnish with the chopped cilantro.
    Serve with boiled rice, pilaf, flat or fried Indian bread, tortillas, or pita bread.

Notes

1. You can omit all the whole spices or only add the ones you like.
2. You may substitute the peppercorns, cloves, and cinnamon by adding ⅛ teaspoon of the powders when adding the tomatoes.
 
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Indian
Keyword: allu, mattar, peas, potatoes
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Dahi Allu (Potatoes in a Creamy Yogurt Gravy)

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I am leafing through Mom’s cookbook. It looks like she picked up some recipes when visiting Dad’s sister in Patiala. Mom was a recipe collector (maybe less of a junkie than I am!). You can almost tell whom she had visited and stayed with by the recipes in her book. I decided to try one of them. This recipe is from her sister-in-law. Auntie Norma was Dad”s elder sister. She helped Dad when he was going through college before joining the army, and he was ever grateful for that.

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Dahi Allu (Potatoes in a Creamy Yogurt Gravy)

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 4
Potatoes in a creamy yogurt gravy mixed with chickpea flour and exotic spices.

Ingredients

  • 6 medium potatoes (boiled, peeled, and quartered into bite-size bits )
  • 1 cup plain yogurt (whole or lowfat)
  • ½ cup water
  • 1 tbsp chickpea flour (besan)
  • 1 small green chili (or to your taste)
  • ½ tsp cumin seeds
  • 2 tsp coriander powder
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • ¼ tsp black pepper powder
  • ¼ tsp turmeric powder
  • ½ tsp red chili powder (optional, or to your taste)
  • 1 medium onion (finely chopped - about ½ to ¾ cup)
  • 2 tsp ginger paste
  • 2 tsp garlic paste
  • ½ cup cooking oil (I like canola, peanut, or vegetable for frying)
  • 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
  • 2 tbsp fresh chopped coriander (cilantro)

Instructions 

  • Mix the yogurt with half a cup of water and the chickpea flour. Blend until smooth, and set aside.
  • Add all the spice powders to a small bowl and mix them together. Set aside.
  • In a medium-sized pot, pour in a 1/2 cup of oil. Deep fry the potatoes on high heat. You may have to do it in batches and add more oil, if necessary. Fry until the potatoes start to brown at the edges, about 7-8 minutes. Drain on paper towels and set aside.
  • In the same pot, remove excess oil until about 2-3 tablespoons are left. Heat on medium-high. Add the cumin seeds and let them crackle for 30 seconds.
  • Add the onions and fry until half-brown. About 7-8 minutes.
  • Add the ginger and garlic paste and fry for 1 minute, then add all the dry masala powders. Stir and sauté for another minute or two.
  • Add the yogurt mixture slowly, stirring as you go. Cover and let simmer for about 5 minutes.
  • Add the potatoes, stir carefully, and let simmer for another 5 minutes for the potatoes to absorb some of the gray. If the gravy gets too thick, add about a half cup of hot water to thin it out. Do not make it too watery, as this dish needs a reasonably thick gravy.
  • Turn the heat off. Pour the Dahi Allu into a serving dish and sprinkle with the chopped cilantro.
  • Serve with roti, naan, paratha, boiled rice, or a simple pilaf.  

Notes

If you do not want to fry the potatoes, you can just crumble the boiled potatoes coarsely with your finger and add it to the curry mix.
Course: Main Course, Vegetarian
Cuisine: Indian
Keyword: dahi, potatoes, yogurt
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Allu Poori (Curried Potatoes)

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It is summer. Dad is stationed at Srinagar, Kashmir, and we are taking a road trip in a military transport to join him for our summer vacation. It is a long and arduous trip in the hot, sweltering heat across the northern plains of India. The canvas flaps on the sides of the truck are rolled up slightly to allow for some air.

Finally, we start to climb into the mountains. The air starts to get cooler. We climb higher. Now, it starts to really cool down. The two jawans (soldiers) escorting us on the trip pull down the canvas flaps, and tighten them all around, so the cold breeze is blocked. It is dusk. We reach the highest point of our journey which is a little township (if you can call it that) called Kud, and park outside the Dak bungalow (a government building, a relic from the British Raj used as rest houses).

We pile out of the truck. It is unexpectedly windy and freezing. We had not anticipated the cold and still have our jackets in the suitcases. Kud is a little over 6,000 feet in elevation, but the summer heat of the plains was still in our brain. The two younger siblings, shivering in their short cotton dresses, grab what they can of Mama’s sari palla (scarf portion of the sari), and try and wrap themselves in it. We, older ones, in our salwar and kurta, are slightly better off. A junior officer is waiting and hurries us into the Dak bungalow where a fire is burning in the marble fireplace in the drawing room. Oh, the bliss of thawing out! We are served hot chai and cookies.

Dinner is served within an hour. Allu Poori (or Allu Tak as we call it), accompanied by hot puffed pooris. It is delicious. The memory of it still stays with me.

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Allu Poori (Curried Potatoes)

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Servings 4
Allu poori is boiled potatoes tempered with whole cumin seeds and spices in a tomato sauce that goes with pooris, a deep-fried Indian flatbread.      

Ingredients

  • 6 medium potatoes, boiled, peeled, and diced into bite sized cube
  • ¼ cup yellow onions or shallots chopped fine
  • 1 tsp fresh ginger chopped
  • ¼ tsp chili powder or to taste
  • ¼ tsp turmeric powder
  • 1 tsp cumin powder (or ½ teaspoon cumin seeds)
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste (or 3 fresh tomatoes chopped fine or puréed)
  • 2-3 tbsp cooking oil
  • 1 small or medium green chili (jalapeño), whole or chopped (optional)
  • 3 cups hot water (approximately)
  • 1 tsp salt or to your taste
  • ¼ tsp garam masala (optional)

Instructions 

  • Heat oil in a deep skillet or wok. Toss in cumin seeds, stir for 30 seconds.
  • Add the green chili and ginger, stir for 30 seconds.
  • Add the onions and sauté for 3-5 minutes until they start to turn slightly brown.
  • Add turmeric, chili, and cumin powders.
  • Stir the powders for less than 30 seconds, and then add the tomato paste.
  • Cook for about 2-3 minutes to get the raw taste of tomatoes out. If using fresh tomatoes, cook until they turn pulpy, approximately 10-15 mins.
  • Now add the potatoes into the onion-tomato spice mixture and add approximately 3 cups of water.
  • Add salt. Give the mixture a nice stir, then cover, and bring to a boil.
  • Simmer for 10 minutes.
  • Uncover and with the back of your spoon mash some of the potatoes up against the sides of the pan to get a thickish gravy.  
  • Monitor the water you add. The gravy has to be a thick gravy and not watery. If it gets too thick you can add more water, if too thin, uncover and cook until it thickens
  • Turn off heat and let sit 5 -10 minutes.
  • Pour into a serving dish and garnish with chopped cilantro and sprinkle with garam masala
  • Serve with pooris, pita bread, tortillas or parathas. This dish goes well with any kind of flat bread.

Notes

Garnish: 1/4 cup fresh green cilantro {coriander} washed and chopped fine. Use more of the leaves and discard most of the stalks (or save the stalks for dals or soups).

Srinagar Photo by SOURAV BHADRA on Unsplash

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Palak Allu Sabzi (Sautéed Spinach and Potatoes)

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Indians don’t generally eat spinach as a salad. It is almost always cooked into a sabzi, the most famous being Palak Paneer. It is also used in dal, parathas, or pakoras. Since I love potatoes, it usually gets incorporated into many of my sabzis. Adding potatoes to greens like spinach and fenugreek also helps in stretching the dish to feed unexpected, drop-in guests. Indians always welcome company, any time of the day.

I use fresh spinach when available, and, personally, I find that very little difference in taste when I use frozen spinach. The plus side to frozen spinach is that there is no tedious cleaning or chopping of the vegetable. Just defrost and go!

If you do go the fresh route, before you wash the spinach, keep the bundle intact, heads together and stalks together. Then chop off the extra long stalk and discard. Immerse the spinach in a deep bowl of water, then dip and immerse several times to get all the grit out. I change the water once. Now rinse it in a colander, moving it back and forth, or use your faucet spray if you have one. Drain and chop moderately fine.

If you’re using pre-washed spinach in a salad bag, just rinse it before you chop and cook it. I suggest this as I’ve found dirt in “pre-washed” leaves too many times!

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Palak Allu Sabzi (Sautéed Spinach and Potatoes)

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 4
Sautéed spinach and potatoes are enhanced with spices to create a healthy, vegan dish.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb frozen chopped spinach (or fresh spinach, washed and chopped)
  • 2 medium potatoes (peeled and quartered)
  • ½ medium yellow onion (or 1 shallot, peeled and diced)
  • 1 whole red chili pepper (optional, more or less to taste)
  • ½ tsp tumeric powder
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • salt (to taste)
  • 2 tbsp cooking oil
  • 4 tbsp water (½ cup of water if you are using fresh spinach)
  • 2 tsp desi ghee (clarified butter, optional)
  • ¼ tsp garam masala (optional)

Instructions 

  • On medium heat, heat the oil in wok or skillet. Add the red chili (if you want a spicy taste) and chopped onion. Sauté till ¾ brown. Approximately 5-7 mins.
  • Add the turmeric and cumin powder. Stir a few times, and then add the potatoes. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring gently to coat the potatoes with masala.
  • Add the spinach and salt, and then add just enough water to cook the potatoes. Turn the heat down, cover the pan, and cook on low for 5 minutes.
  • Remove the lid and cook for another 7-8 minutes until the potatoes are cooked and the moisture has almost evaporated. Do not let it dry out.
  • Once the potatoes are done, remove the skillet from the heat and sprinkle garam masala over the sabzi. Cover and let rest at least 5 minutes for the dish to absorb all the flavors.
  • Serve with tortillas, rotis, or rice and as an accompaniment to any dal or curry.    

Notes

If you are using frozen spinach, it might have enough moisture to cook the potatoes. For fresh spinach, you may have to add about 1/2 cup of water initially. So keep that in mind when you are adding water. You don't want the potatoes to get mashed in with the spinach! I don't mind eating it with the potatoes mashed in the spinach, but the presentation of the dish won't be as appetizing!
Variations:
You can also substitute baby red potatoes, scrubbed and halved or quartered, with skin on.
A half cup of cooked Garbanzo beans (kabli channa) are very tasty mixed into the spinach, too.
Omit the potatoes to fix a plain spinach sabzi.
 
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Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Indian
Keyword: aloo, palak, potatoes, spinach

 

 

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