New Potatoes with Indian Style Spicy Sesame Dressing

Here is a spicy Indian take on potato salad. This wonderful recipe combines the earthiness of sesame with the pungent tastes of lime and mustard oil.

Potato Curry (Aloo Curry)

Aloo puri is a classic, comfort food in Indian homes. There are a zillion different ways of making it – each home has its own version of this dish.

I love these curried potatoes that we make in my mothers kitchen which really go well with hot, light puris.

Chicken and Vegetable Cutlets

These might be the one of the yummiest cutlets I’ve had. It is a great combination of subtlety spiced ground chicken with vegetables. This dish is a meal in itself with the perfect combination of vegetables, carbs and protien. It is a hot favorite with both the kids and adults in our house.

 

QUICK PALDA WITH FRIED ALOO CHIPS (POTATO)

There are a so many different ways to make Palda.

We always make this yogurt-gravy based dish, when serving Pahari food. Palda is one of my brother’s favorite dishes.

In my mother’s kitchen, we have two recipes for Palda – both are made with potato. There is a quick one and a cumbersome one. Both are equally delicious.

Here is the recipe for the quick Palda which uses homemade, thick cut, potato chips. Watch out for those fried potato chips – make sure you make plenty extra because in our home very few of them actually make it into the Palda. They are just too irresistible!

 

Fish, Broccoli and Potato Cutlets

Here is a really easy and healthy fish recipe that the kids love. I add a few spices to this recipe to kick up the flavor a notch. These cutlets freeze really well, so make lots if you want leftovers – as they disappear fast!

FISH, BROCCOLI AND POTATO CUTLETS

Serves 6

Ingredients:

5 fillets of any whitefish, steamed (flounder, cod etc.)

3-4 medium potatoes, boiled and cooled

1 cup of broccoli steamed and chopped fine

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped fine

1 teaspoon curry powder (optional)

1/2 teaspoon garam masala (optional)

Salt to taste

1 cup panko breadcrumbs

METHOD:

• In a large bowl, combine all the above ingredients, except for the breadcrumbs.
  

  

  
  

• Mix it all very well together and mash it with your hands till everything is very well combined.
  

  

  
  

• Take a small amount of the fish mixture and shape it into a patty.
• Coat the patty with panko breadcrumbs.
  

  

  
  

• Make patties using all the fish mixture and set aside.
• Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet.
• Add 4-5 fish cutlets in the skillet and cook for about 2 minutes on each side or until it is browned and has a slightly crisp crust.
  

  

  
  

• Serve warm with ketchup or mint chutney.
  

  

Aloo Pie

Maggi makes the most unbelievable West Indian food. She is from Trinidad and I have to say that her Trini food trumps all!!! A lot of the dishes she makes crosses over with Indian food but with a great twist. Her Aloo Pie (Potato Pie) is one of my favorites . It reminds me of a flattened out samosa. It can be eaten with any chutney – I love it with Kuchela (mango spicy chutney) and hot pepper sauce made with scotch bonnets. You can buy both Kuchela and Pepper Sauce in any West Indian grocery – try the brand Matouks.

Aloo Pie

1 onion chopped finely

8 cloves of garlic chopped finely

2 teaspoons ground cumin powder

1 scotch bonnet ( or any chili pepper – you can even skip this if you dont like spice)

10 small potatoes

Aloo filling

• Heat oil.
• Add onions, garlic and chopped scotch bonnet.
• Cook for a minute.
• Add potatoes.

• Add salt.
• Cover and cook till done.
• Add 2 teaspoons of ground cumin powder.
• Mix well.
• Mash the potatoes.
• Set aside till cool.

Dough (Pie part)

5 1/2 cups of flour

2 tablspoons of butter

2 tablspoons of vegetable shortening (optional)

1 teaspoon salt

1.5 tablespoons of sugar

2 tablespoons of baking powder

3 cups of water ( more if needed)

• Mix the butter, crisco, flour, salt,  sugar and baking powder.
• Mix it really well till the butter and flour make a grainy mixture.
• Begin kneading the dough whilst adding water  bit by bit.
• You can knead the dough by hand or use a food processor with a dough blade.
• Genlty knead the dough till done.
• It should look like the picutre below when done.
• Sprinkle the dough with some flour, cover with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Putting together the Aloo Pie

• Break the dough into several 2 inch dough balls.
• Sprinkle lightly with flour.

• Flatten each dough ball into a 4″ disc of about 1/2 inch thickness.

• Place a little of the aloo mixture in each of the flattened dough.

• Begin to close the disc around the aloo as shown in the picture below.

• Pinch the top closed till it looks like a dumpling.

• Dust with flour and begin to gently flatten it out till it looks as shown below.
• Do this with all the dough balls and set aside.

Frying the Aloo Pie

• Heat 4-5 cups of oil in a wok.
• When the oil is hot, gently add two uncooked aloo pies.
• Deep fry.

• Flip it over once or twice and till it reaches a golden brown color.
• Remove from heat and place in a bowl with paper towels.

• Repeat for all uncooked aloo pies.
• Serve hot with kuchela or hot pepper sauce.

Vegetable Cutlets

I love these veggie cutlets. They are so versatile and can be eaten along with so many kinds of foods. You could even use them to make mini vegetable burgers. The recipe to make the vegetable part of this recipe is at this link: Potato, Green Bean and Carrot Subzi

Vegetable Cutlets

4 cups of Potato, Green Bean and Carrot Subzi

1 cup bread crumbs

• Mash the Potato, Green Bean and Carrot Subzi coarsely.
• Shape the subzi into 2 inch patties.

• Coat the vegetable patties with the bread crumbs and set aside.

• Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a pan.
• Pan fry a few cutlets at a time.
• Cover and cook for about 2 minutes.

• Flip over to cook the other side.
• Remove from pan when the cutlets are golden brown on both sides.
• Serve hot with any of your favorite sauces or chutneys.

Potato, Green Bean and Carrot Subzi

Subzi in hindi means vegetable. A basic North Indian meal consists of a dal (lentil), rice or roti (Indian bread) and subzi (some kind of vegetable). This is a really tasty, easy vegetable to make. Once I’ve made this dish – I make yummy vegetable cutlets out of the leftover. The kids love them and its a great anytime food to serve.

Potato, Green Bean & Carrot Subzi

3 potatoes boiled and chopped into small cubes

2 cups of green beans chopped

2 cups carrots boiled and chopped into small cubes

1 medium onion finely chopped

1 bunch cilantro finely chopped

2 teaspoons of curry powder

1 teaspoon of cumin powder (optional)

Chili powder to taste (optional)

1/2 teaspoon of garam masala

Salt to taste

• Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a wok on medium heat.
• Add chopped onions and stir for 5 minutes.
• Add the curry powder, cumin powder, garam-masala and chili powder.

• Stir for 2 minutes till the mixture is fragrant.
• Add the green beans and cover and cook for 5 minutes.
• Add the potatoes and carrots and mix well.
• Cover and cook for about 10 minutes.

• Add chopped cilantro and salt to taste.
• Serve hot with white rice or any kind of bread.

Cheesy Spinach Potato Cutlets

Here is how to make Cheesy Spinach Potatoes cutlets. Please refer to the previous post for the recipe for Cheesy Potatoes.

http://thefoodfairy.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/cheesy-potatoes/

Cheesy Spinach Potatoes Cutlets

Leftover cheesy potatoes

2 eggs lightly beaten

Breadcrumbs (you can add any dry herbs or spices to the breadcrumbs if you like. Here are examples of what I use – paprika, Emeril’s original essence, italian seasonings, garam masala, curry powder etc)

• Shape the cheesy potatoes into small round patties.
  
• Dip the patties in the egg.
• Cover the patties in breadcrumbs and set aside. (you can keep these in the fridge till you are ready to cook them or can even freeze them)
• Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet.
• Add the potato patties.

• Cover and cook for about 2 minutes on each side.
• Serve with any of your favorite sauces.

Cheesy Potato cutlets

Cheesy Potatoes

This is my daughter’s absolute favorite dish! She loves potatoes and she loves cheese – so we put them together and made yummy Cheesy Potatoes! I’ve recently started adding spinach to the dish and she doesn’t seem to mind – so now its “Cheesy Spinach Potatoes”.

Cheesy Spinach Potatoes

7-8 Potatoes boiled and rough chopped

1 packet of chopped frozen spinach (I use Trader Joe’s – you can use any brand you like) OR 2 cups fresh chopped spinach (optional)

1 cup mixed shredded cheese (use any cheese you like – I use a mexican cheese blend or mozzarella)

Salt and pepper to taste

• Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
• Add the frozen chopped spinach.
• Cover cook for 3-4 minutes or till its cooked.
• Add the boiled and chopped potatoes.
• Mix it well and cover and cook for 10 minutes.
• Add the cheese, salt and pepper and remove from fire immediately.
• Mix the potatoes and cheese very well and serve immediately.

Chopped spinach

Mix the potatoes

Adding the cheese

 

 

 

 

 

Spinach Cheesy Potatoes

This dish goes really well with most things. I serve it with the Salmon with Miso, Shrimp Curry etc. I also make Cheesy Potato Cutlets with these potatoes a day or so after ( if there are any leftovers). I’ve posted the recipe for the cutlets too.

http://thefoodfairy.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/cheesy-spinach-potato-cutlets/