List of Potato items I consume regularly
:
Potato bhaji,
Sukha bhaji (with variations) ,
Rassa bhaji,
Pav bhaji,Chips,Fries and Burgers, Wedges,
Alu paratha,
Alu raita,Veges cooked with Potato, Samosa,
Chaat items,
Batata WadaPotato sandwich,
Tikkis...............
Have I forgotten anything else,
must've... there are another 100 things that have skipped my mind!
I remember in my childhood, we used to have a 'summer holiday
Bhatukli' (a session where I and my pint size friends would cook a meal). This was the REAL thing... each one of us would bring 1 potato each, half a cup of rice,
daal and
atta (wheat flour) , oil each, some sugar, enthusiastic mother's would sometimes give a bottle of pickle or jam. The menu was standard, rice and plain
daal, potato
subzi and pickle and
puri (
rotis were impossible, nobody wanted to study geography in the holidays!!) The vegetable was fixed too, had to be, age 6- 10 cannot do more!!
It was fun to have these cooking sessions, but unfortunately a HUGE problem for our Mum's!!! We usually held this activity in my home or any of my friend's whose Mother's were working for the obvious reason, no interference!
The world was shocked by the destruction caused by 'Katrina', the expression on their face was one I saw on my Mother's face all
thru my childhood.... unfortunately the only help she got in cleaning up was from Dad, and that took so much time, that we always went out for dinner!
This childhood activity(not the going out for dinner!! :D) was probably what sparked my interest in cooking! Then came a time when I and my friends made patties (we could not make
ragda) but the patties were easy to make. I liked them so much that the very same evening I made some more for my family... well, a lot more, come to think of it! I had no idea of '
andaaz' (sense of proportion) so I mixed everything, and finally the potato mixture was of a quantity that could probably have fed an army!!! My family, neighbors and my parents office friends got the benefit of my culinary (
mis)adventures!
Years later I joined a cookery day-class and learnt a lot more. I still have those recipes and they are amazing! It was there, that I made my first successful Stuff
Paratha!! That is my first contribution to
JFI.
You need:
5 Potatoes1 inch Ginger2-3 green chilies1 Tsp Cilantro1/4 tsp Cumin powder1/4 tsp Corriander powder1/4 tsp Chaat powder1 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour (maida)1 cup Wheat flour1/4 tsp Ajwain (optional)Ghee/oil to shallow fryBoil, peel and mash potatoes.
Grind the ginger, chilly to a fine paste.
Add to mashed potatoes, add cilantro.
Add salt, cumin-
corriander and
chaat powder.
Mix the flours, add oil, salt,
ajwain, water and knead into a dough.
Take a small portion of the dough.
Roll into a
puri, add the stuffing (do not over fill /stuff)
Seal by bringing up the corners and make a ball.
Roll into a
thickish paratha, shallow fry in ghee/oil.
I also made
Aloo Tikkis. These are my absolute
favs for an evening snack when we decide to have a few friends over . This is my 2
nd. '
peshkash'
You need:
1/2 kg Potatoes ( roughly 6 med. size )1 inch Ginger6 flakes Garlic2 Green chillies1/4 cup Bread crumbsSalt to tasteFine Farina/ rawa/ soojiFor the CHUTNEY8-10 Dates1/4 tsp. Cumin1/2 green chilly1 tsp CilantroSaltTamarindPressure cook the potatoes and dates (
separately!).
Take the cooked dates (remove the seed) mix all ingredients listed under Chutney and grind to a paste. If
you are using tamarind concentrate use about 1/4 tsp as it is strong)
Peel and mash the potatoes.
Grind to a paste ginger, garlic and green chillies.
Add the paste, bread crumbs , salt to the mashed potatoes.
Knead it to a firm dough.
Take a portion of this dough and make a ball of it.
Flatten it on the palm and make a well of the potato mix.
Fill with the date chutney. Bring together the edges an seal.
Shape like a patty.
Pat the patty (!!) in the farina and shallow fry.
Serve hot with ketchup
... who by the way is going to have a tough time with the round up!! All the best to you,
I have been to Ostehuset a few times over the years and I like their big menu where they offer sandwiches, salads, small warm dishes, pizza etc. You can check out the menu on http://www.ostehuset.no/ . They have even highlighted the dishes that are healthy :-) When I went there in March 2007 I ordered the pasta with chicken in a creamy tiger sauce...and Nikki when for chili con carne with mashed potatoes. My pasta dish was OK but as before it seems like it is served a bit too lukewarm for my likings...I keep on wondering if they don't heat it enough...or if it is left outside once it is done. There was lots of food in this dish...lots of chicken, pasta and pepper and I got really full.
Nikki took the chili con carne and this is a wonderful dish that we make at home from time to time. But at Ostehuset this dish was a disappointment. This must be the most boring chili con carne that I have ever tasted and we were joking that it should have been called con carne as there was no traces of chili. On top of the dish there was a bunch of ruccola (rocket) and when Nikki had eaten parts of it she found something that didn't belong there. In the salad they had forgotten to remove the rubber band that kept the rocket together and when inspecting it closer it didn't look like the rocket had been washed. We called the waitress and for a second it seemed like she was tempted to just pick it out of Nikki's food with her fingers. But Nikki said she wanted the rocket moved altogether and they took it back to the kitchen to do this.
