Spicy Potato Curry

My own fusion Burmese and Indian potato curry with tomatoes and lovely spices. It's my younger daughter's favorite! I hope it will be yours as well.

While I grew up eating curry, having lived in Trinidad as a child, Trinidadian curries tend to use a single curry powder, premixed from a variety of ground spices, so I was unfamiliar with the myriad of spices used in Indian curries.  

In the early days of catalog shopping, I came across a boxed set of Indian spices from Penzeys that came along with a delightful little paperback book called Spice Kitchen by Madhur Jaffrey that not only explained what each spice was (with illustrations!) but included great recipes for all of the author’s childhood favorites. You know I had to order it.  

This was before the days of internet so I faxed my order north and one of my husband’s accommodating rig hands brought it to me in Brazil, where we were living at the time and where Indian spices were never found in the stores. That little book is one of the most used, stained up, well-loved books in my cookbook collection. And I have saved the beautiful spice containers though their spices have long been used up.

One of my personal favorites from that book is Bazaar Potatoes. They are spicy and peppery and delicious and also beautiful to look at with their sprinkling of brown mustard seeds, kalonji, cumin, fennel and fenugreek cooked with bright red ripe tomatoes.  My only regret is that there is hardly any sauce. When it comes to curry, in fact for most dishes, the sauce or gravy is my favorite part. 

So I like to mash up (in the musical sense) two recipes to come out with a potato curry that still has all the color and spice of the original Bazaar Potatoes but also has a wonderful aromatic curry sauce that is perfect for pouring over rice or dipping your naan or chapati in.

Spicy Potato Curry

I usually have Burmese curry paste on hand because my original recipe makes enough for three pots of curry and it keeps beautifully in the freezer.  (Head over there and have a look.  It's not hard with a blender.)  I spoon about two good serving spoons worth and put it aside.  Then I follow Ms. Jaffery’s instructions until it is time to add the potatoes to the spices. And I add in the Burmese curry paste, and then the potatoes and a goodly amount water. The result is a lovely saucy potato curry.  Follow along with me.  

Ingredients

Approximately 4 oz or 100g Burmese curry paste from this recipe here.

6 medium, waxy potatoes (about 1.3 lbs or 600g)

3 tablespoons olive oil

8 fenugreek seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1/4 teaspoon kalonji

1/2 teaspoon brown mustard seeds

1 bay leaf

3 medium-sized tomatoes

1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste

 (The original recipe also called for a small amount of fresh ginger and garlic but I omit these since I am adding both with the Burmese curry paste.  I also leave out the dried chilies since the paste has a generous helping of cayenne.)

Method

Give your potatoes a good scrub but don't peel them.  Then, in a large pot with ample water, put them on to boil.  

With a sharp knife, cut an X into the bottom of your three tomatoes and put them in a narrow heatproof bowl.

Meanwhile, when your potatoes are cooked, drain the boiling water into a heatproof bowl holding your three tomatoes.   Give them a few minutes to loosen the peels and drain the water off the tomatoes too. 

Allow them both to cool enough to hold and peel them.  I use a fork and a sharp knife when mine are still quite hot because I think tomatoes and potatoes are easier to peel when still hot.  Also, this is how my maternal grandmother always peeled potatoes for her famous potato salad with homemade mayonnaise and I like to think about her sitting at her usual place at the kitchen table while I do it.  I miss her.

Break the potatoes into pieces with your hands.  You can cut them but breaking them gives rougher edges to absorb the spices and I think it looks nicer too.   Set aside.

As for the tomatoes, cut them in half and remove their seeds.  Chop the halves further into large pieces.

In a pot that is going to be large enough for your potatoes with room for stirring, heat a little olive oil.   Throw in the rest of the seasoning and the bay leaf.  Let those sizzle for a couple of minutes, then add in the curry paste.  Give it all a good stir.

Now add in the tomatoes and stir. 

Add in the cooled potatoes and season to taste with sea salt.  At this point, I also add enough water to make a goodly amount of sauce, about 2 cups or 500ml. 

Cook over a slow fire for about 10-15 minutes or until the tomato chunks are starting to melt into the sauce.  You do not want them to disappear completely.  

Serve with rice or fresh naan or chapatis. 

Enjoy!

(If you have leftover potato curry, click here!  I used mine to make curry puffs.  So easy and delicious!)

Lyn's Roast Pork and Potato with Feta

Through the news feed of Facebook, I know things on a daily basis that I would never otherwise know about my friends’ lives.  Some of these revelations are amusing, or touching, or informative.  And while I have heard arguments against the constant online chatter, saying that it stops us from interacting personally with people, I would like to make the opposite argument.  It has brought me closer to friends by the ability to share in their normal everyday lives, in a way that only neighbors or close friends would be able to share.  I give you a for instance:  My sister-in-law is a good cook.  Occasionally she posts what she is making for dinner and I get to enjoy that meal vicariously because she posts the ingredients and the family reactions.  Even her next-door neighbors probably don’t know what she is having for dinner as often as her Facebook friends do!  The other night, she mentioned her dinner plan, and, as luck would have it, I had all the main ingredients in my refrigerator so she also shared the recipe.  Aside from the addition of mushrooms and fewer tomatoes, this is her meal, a family favorite, by all accounts.  And we loved it!  Thanks, Lyn!  (And thanks, Facebook.)

1 large onion or 2 shallots

500g or a little more than 1 pound potatoes

Olive oil

4 x 90 g or 3 oz pork loin medallions

100g or 3 1/2 oz cherry tomatoes

200g or 7 oz button mushrooms

Handful fresh thyme leaves, plus sprigs

100ml or a little more than 1/3 cup wine (should be white, but I only had red - didn't matter in the slightest)

100ml or a little more than 1/3 cup stock

100g or 3 1/2 oz feta, crumbled

Grated zest of 1 lemon

Sea salt

Black pepper

Preheat the oven to 220°C or 430°F.

Season the pork with salt and pepper.

Thinly slice your potatoes and onions.  (If you have new potatoes, just give them a scrub and no need to peel.)

Cut smaller mushrooms in half and bigger ones in quarters.

Place the onion and potatoes slices in a roasting tin, pour over some olive oil and lots of salt and pepper, and then toss to coat.

Roast in the hot oven for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a little olive oil in a frying pan over high heat and brown the pork loin chops for a couple of minutes on each side.  Remove the pork to a plate.

Scatter the cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and thyme leaves over the potato and return to the oven for 10 minutes more.

Lay the pork on top and pour over the wine and stock.

Half stock, half wine. 

Roast further until the pork is cooked and the vegetables are tender.

Serve scattered with the feta, lemon zest and another good drizzle of olive oil.

 Enjoy!

Bubble and Squeak Cheesy Tarts

Bubble and Squeak, for those of you unfamiliar, is a dish created to use leftover potatoes, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and the like.  You are supposed to chop them all up and fry the mixture, hash-style, until it gets lots of nice crispy golden bits.  Some people put leftover meat as well.  

In this version, I cook the potato and Brussels sprouts specifically for this dish, because I love them both so much.  Also the addition of a good strong cheese, in this case, a sheep’s milk one from Greece, elevates this Bubble and Squeak to main course instead of just the next day’s afterthought.   If you do happen to have traditional leftovers, feel free to use them instead of my first two ingredients!

 I had never thought to use spring roll skins until I saw a Facebook post from a friend who had used wonton skins in a lovely baked egg concoction.  (Thanks, Belinda!)  The spring roll skins turned out lovely and crispy and didn’t over cook as I feared they might.  You could probably use ready-made puff pastry here too.

Ingredients

5-6 large Brussels sprouts

1 medium potato

1 1/2 oz or 43g sharp cheese

1 thick green onion or a couple of small ones

1 clove garlic

2 eggs

Sea salt

Black pepper

Cayenne

Olive oil

4 spring roll skins

2 oversized muffin tins

Method

Remove your four spring roll skins from the package and put them on your countertop covered with a damp cloth to keep them from drying out.

Slice the Brussels sprouts thinly and chop them a little by rocking your knife back and forth.

Peel and dice your potato.

Finely slice the white part of your green onion and clove of garlic.

Pan-fry the whole lot in a non-stick skillet, drizzled with a little olive oil.  Stir periodically and add a couple more drizzles of olive oil, cooking until there are a few brown crispy bits.  Add a little salt and a sprinkle of the two peppers.   Put the lid on and cook until the potatoes are tender.

Empty the skillet into a mixing bowl and allow to cool. 

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Meanwhile, grate your cheese.

Drizzle a little olive oil on one spring roll skin and spread it to cover the skin with your fingers or a pastry brush.   I must admit that I would have used a pastry brush but one did not come with me in the air shipment and I am still waiting on my sea freight.

Put a second spring roll skin on top of the first, making a eight-pointed star, and drizzle it with more olive oil.   Once again, spread the oil around with your fingers or a brush. 

Fit the two skins into your giant muffin tin.  Repeat with the second two skins and the second muffin cup.

Once your mixture has cooled sufficiently not to cook eggs on contact, add in the two eggs and about 3/4 of the cheese.   Mix well.

Spoon this mixture carefully into the two prepared muffin tins and top them both with the remaining cheese.  

Bake for 30-35 minutes in your preheated oven or until the filling is golden and bubbling.  Although probably not squeaking. 

Enjoy!