Potatoes in hot red sauce (Lai Batata)
Spicy potato side dish using Kashmiri chillies
Serves: 4 | Suitable for vegetarians Ⓥ
Introduction
This recipe is not for the faint-hearted - it has lots of big flavours from the chillies and the tamarind. You can reduce the amount of chillies used, or deseed them before use if you would like less heat. As usual with spiced recipes, this tastes even better the day after you’ve made it.
Ingredients
Serves 4 |
| 500g new potatoes |
| 1 1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds |
| 1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds |
| 25g Kashmiri chillies (or standard Dried Red Chillies) |
| 4 cloves of garlic |
| 2 tbsp oil |
| 3 tbsp Tamarind Chutney |
| 2 tbsp tomato puree |
| 4 fresh curry leaves |
| 1/4 tsp Asafoetida |
| Salt and sugar to taste |
Instructions
- Boil the potatoes whole (there is no need to peel them).
- Soak dried chillies in enough just-boiled water to cover. Once plump, drain.
- Dry fry the cumin and mustard seeds until fragrant.
- Grind the seeds with the garlic cloves in a pestle and mortar. Add the chillies and the vegetable oil, and grind together to form a paste (you can also use a stick blender). Add the tomato purée, tamarind, curry leaves and hing and mix well.
- Fry the resulting paste until the oil separates.
- Add the boiled potatoes and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Adjust seasoning to taste and serve with chapatis or paratha.
