Oh potato! Only a few ignore it, but a majority loves it. For potato lovers the sight of shiny clean ‘new’ potatoes with a thin-skinned isn’t just a sight; it’s directly related to the dishes that can be made with them, some without much effort.
When there’s a dip in the temperature at the beginning of the year, it’s the time to look forward to the arrival of potatoes in most parts of the country. In some regions, ‘new potatoes’ in the market heralds winter. While baby potatoes are now available throughout the season, the seasonal baby potatoes are something else to taste. Besides cooking faster, these potatoes taste better and are fleshier making it the best pick for some specific dishes. “Jacket potatoes are the best. With a little sprinkle of salt or with a dollop of sour cream. A creamy, tasty dip with a little work on presentation will also make them a lot more presentable and easy to serve potatoes on the table,” says chef Inam Khan. His other wonders include grilled potatoes with steak or some roasted potatoes to go with a good piece of marinated chicken.
For frequent flyer Mahesh Kapur, otherwise an ardent non-vegetarian, a standard ‘homecoming’ meal is plain dal and aloo fry. “It just makes me forget all travel travails,” he says.
Traditional foods include a lot of potato usage. In fact the amount of potatoes people from north, east and northeast consume is almost a joke with others.
Mention potatoes to people of the regions and they will reel out names of dishes that include phulkobi-alu, alur dom, aloo bhaja, aloo pitika, matar aloo, kashimir dum aloo, litti and aloo chokka , samosa and what not. But can anything beat the taste of a new potatoes cooked on a bed of coal? “My vegetable vendor knows my love for potatoes, so every year, I get an excited call from him declaring ‘I have new potatoes’,” says Ratna Gupta, who deals with cars and also monitors what’s cooking in her kitchen. This is also the time to ditch the cook books and turn to ideas that are original, tried and tested and blogged about. So, food blogger Sunory Dutt’s blog salttotaste has ideas beyond recipes, she mentions, “I prefer keeping baby potatoes in their jackets, not only for their nutritional content but because they taste great too! A simple snack that everyone loves at home is parboiled baby potatoes in their jackets, lightly sautéed in mustard oil with a seasoning of cumin and mustard seeds and drizzled with coriander, kashmiri chilli and raw mango powder. Another quick and easy dish using these vitamin-rich spuds is potatoes on toast. Boil potatoes, mash, add a bit of chopped onions, coriander leaves, chillies, salt, chaat masala and raw mango powder. Press down on one side of a slice of bread and shallow fry on both sides till it’s a light brown. Garnish with spicy sev and serve with ketchup.”
But that is not all, bloggers aren’t stuck up with their know-it-all attitude, so when they like a dish by someone else they don’t hesitate to share and give credit. Sunory says her other favourite is a recipe by Neela Awasthi Kumar. “All it requires is thick and fresh curd. It should be whisked with a beater and salt and half tsp sugar should be added. To this add two freshly boiled potatoes and break into pieces with hand. Chop one small onion and a handful of finely chopped coriander leaves. Chop two green chillies. Mix all these in the curd. Heat a little olive oil. Add asafoetida, mustard and curry leaves. Mix 3/4 of it in the raita and mix. Pour into a bowl and pour the other reserved oil. Sprinkle roasted cumin powder and red chilli powder. Serve with parathas or theplas.” Her word of advice: Don’t make it with cold potatoes, as doesn’t taste as good.
Potatoes can be paired with anything. For eg chicken curry with potato, mutton curry with potato. That’s not all. “How about aloo jhol and puri . An old school all time favourite of those who have had it earlier. My other favourites include hassle back and twice baked mashed potatoes,” says Swayampurna Mishra Singh a photographer, food blogger, stylist and coffee addict to name a few of the things she loves doing besides attending office and to her kids’ needs. Her blog lapetitchef and her insta page will make you hungry instantly.
