Gujarati-Style Spicy Potatoes

This Gujarati-style potatoes recipe will tease your taste buds in a roller-coaster ride. Why I said that? You’ll get all sort of tangy-spicy-aromatic punch in this dish. It’s interesting and wonderful. For me that is. 😉 This is yet another recipe from the cookbook ‘Cooking with Asian Roots’.

Note: Gujarat is a state in Western India and its populations is mostly vegetarian. Source from cookbook.

Yummeh oh yummeh!

Let’s cook!

First, boil potatoes until cooked. Once potatoes is cooked, peel the skin and cube the potatoes into bite size.

Meanwhile mix tamarind pulp with water. Let it sit for awhile, then mix well and strained. Place tamarind pulp juice aside. I followed the recipe and put all 100g tamarind pulp which has been made into juice into the cooking. As a result the dish became too tangy. So I would advise use half of it (50g).

Chop onion, garlic, ginger and chilies.

Spices: cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, cloves and fennel seeds.

Heat oil in wok and fry whole spices until aromatic.

Next add onion, garlic, ginger and chilies and stir-fry until onion turns light brown.

Add remaining ingredients (cubed potatoes, ground turmeric, chili powder and tamarind pulp juice) and cook over medium heat. Stir occasionally until potatoes have absorbed all the liquid. I added more chili powder because I like spicy food.

Add salt if you find it necessary. I didn’t add any salt in my dish. Plate it and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

I love this tangy-spicy potatoes dish. Especially delicious when eaten with rice or bread. A great and yet simple vegetarian dish.

Gujarati-Style Spicy Potatoes
Adapted from Cooking with Asian Roots
Serves 5-6

2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 large onions, peeled and finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2cm knob ginger, peeled and minced
2 green/red chilies, sliced
50g tamarind pulp, mixed with 250ml water and strained (actual recipe require 100g but I find it too tangy)
600g potatoes, boiled until cooked, then peeled and cubed
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder (I added additional 1 1/2 teaspoons for added spiciness)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt (I omitted the salt when I cook mine)
few stalks of coriander leaves, coarsely chopped

Whole spices
2 cinnamon sticks
5 cardamom pods
5 cloves
1 teaspoon fennel seeds

Method:
1. In a heated wok/pan, add oil and fry whole spices until aromatic. Then add onion, garlic, ginger and chilies. Cook until onion is light brown.

2. Add all the remaining ingredients (minus salt) and cook while stirring occasionally until potatoes have absorbed the liquid.

3. Add salt to taste, if necessary. Plate it and add coriander leaves.

Enjoy!