Potato in yogurt gravy

Today was one of those super hot spring days... It was 95 degrees. On top of it I was pretty much up and about the whole day. And when I came back home in the evening I didn't want to spend loads of time in front of the hot stove. So I made a refreshing yogurt based gravy for potato and I served it with plain basmati rice. Yum yum super hit dinner ready

Potato curry in yogurt gravy

Ingredients

1.  2 medium potatoes boiled , peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
2.  1 cup plain yogurt beaten
3. 1 tablespoon besan ( chick pea flour)
4. 1 table spoon oil
5. 1/2 tea spoon each of cumin, grated ginger, asafetida, turmeric, chopped green chillies
6. 1 teaspoon salt
7. Few curry leaves and 2 red chillies broken

In a heavy bottomed pan heat the oil ands fry the cumin till they start to splutter. Add curry leaves, red and green chillies and for 30 secs. Add ginger and fry half more minute. Add asafetida and fry for 30 seconds. Add besan and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the rest of the Ingredients along with 3 cups water, stir well to combine and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes, garnish with cilantro and enjoy with plain rice

Boiled Potato Fry and Coconut Chutney

This is one of the most easiest of all the potato curries and yummiest too. This is the curry which is used as the masala in the masala dosa. And it is so versatile, you can just add other things to it and make different variants of the most popular potato curry in South India.

I am making Dosa to serve it with, and if I put this in the middle of the plain dosa it becomes the Masala Dosa. And also I made a different version of another popular dish the Coconut Chutney with Desiccated coconut and it came out equally scrumptious.

Aloo Masala (Simple boiled potato stir fry curry)

Boiled potato curry

Ingredients:

1. 3 medium potatoes boiled, peeled and cubed
2. 1 medium small onion sliced
3. 2 red chillies broken
4. Few curry leaves
5. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal (soaked in water for 10 minutes), turmeric, asafoetida
6. 1/2 tablespoon oil
7. 3/4 teaspoon salt
8. 1 tablespoon fresh peas (optional)
9. 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

In a pan heat the oil and fry the cumin, mustard seeds, urad dal and chana dal , red chillies and curry leaves till they start to splutter. Add Hing or Asafoetoda and fry for 30 seconds. Add onions and fry till they become soft. Add salt and turmeric and fry for another 30 seconds. Add the potatoes and peas if using stir to combine and cover and simmer for 7-8 minutes. Mash a little. garnish with cilantro and serve on the side on inside the Dosa

Coconut Chutney with Dried Coconut

Desiccated Coconut

Desiccated coconut soaked in Water

Coconut Chutney with Desiccated Coconut

Ingredients:

1. 1 cups desiccated coconut
2. 1-11/2 cup juice from a small lemon sized tamarind
3. 1 jalapeno or Serrano chilli chopped
4. 1 teaspoon cumin divided
5. 1/2 teaspoon each of urad dal, chana dal (soaked in water for 10 minutes), mustard seeds, asafoetida, salt
6. 1/2 tablespoon oil
7. 1-2 dried red chillies broken
8. few curry leaves
9. 1 garlic pod chopped

In a microwave safe bowl add 1/2 cup water to the dried coconut and heat it for 1 minute. Set aside for atleast 15 minutes.

In a food processor grind together coconut, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, green chilly and salt with tamarind water into almost a smooth paste. In a pan heat the oil and fry all the remaining things (for tempering) until they start to splutter. Add asafoetida at the end and fry for one more minute. Add this to the top of the coconut chutney. Enjoy with hot fluffy rice or idli or carrot idli or  dosa or Ravva Dosa or Gaarelu 

Dosa, Potato curry and Ridge gourd Peel chutney

In India many indian do not eat rice on Saturday nights. They only eat very light on Saturday...especially the Vegetarians. Breakfast items are supposed to be light (not really!!!) so DOSA is a favoured Saturday night dinner item. Here are the recipes for Dosa and its accompainments (1) Potato curry (2) Beerakaaya chutney

Dosa (Crepe made with peeled black gram and rice)

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup peeled black gram (Urad Dal)
2. 2 cups rice
3. 3/4 teaspoon salt
4. 2-3 cups water
5. oil for frying

Soak the black grams and rice separately in 3 cups of water over night. Grind them to a smooth paste and mix with salt and water to get a thin pancake batter consistency. Heat a griddle and add a laddle of batter in the center and spread the with the back of the laddle with a light hand. Add a teaspoon of oil around the edge of the dosa. Fry for 3-4 minutes until the edges turn golden. Turn it and fry for 1 more minute. Serve immediately with Potato Curry

Potato Curry (Simplest and delicious potato curry )

Aalo curry

Ingredients:

1. 2 large potatos peeled and sliced into quarters 1/8 inch thick
2. 1 medium onion sliced
3. 2 tablespoons oil divided
4. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, salt, turmeric
5. 2dried  red chillies
6. Few curry leaves

In a pressure cooker heat a tablespoon of oil and fry the onions they they become tender. Add the potatoes, salt and turmeric and cover and cook for 2 whistle with a cup of water. Once the steam escapes open the cooker. In a pan heat the remaining oil and fry the cumin and mustard seeds, dried chillies and curry leaves till they begin to splatter. Add the boiled potatoes and simmer for 5 minutes. garnish with cilantro and serve with Dosa

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Beera kaaya is also known as chinese okra or ridge gourd and cooks very quickly and has lots of water content.  There are lots of dishes in India which are made using it. I will be posting some of them here
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Beerakaaya Tokku Chutney (Turai/Ridge gourd cooked and ground)

Ridge Gourd Peel

Ingredients:

1. 1 large ridge gourd
2. lime sized tamarind** soaked in1/3 cup of warm water
3. 1/2 each of  teaspoon salt, turmeric, cumin, mustard seeds
4. 2 dried red chillies
5. few curry leaves
6. 1 big green chilly
7. 2 tablespoons oil divided

Peel only the ridges of the ridge gourd and wash it. Cut it into chunks and fry it in a tablespoon of oil. Cover and cook for 15 minutes along with salt, turmeric and the soaked tamarind (Water and all). Let it cool and grind to a paste. In a pan heat the remaining oil and  fry the cumin and mustard seeds, dried chillies and curry leavesand chopped greeen chilly till they begin to splatter. Add the ground paste and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve

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**If you don't have tamarind or don't know tamarind you can use either citric acid or lemon juice to give a little bit of sourness to the chutney