Spicy Kizhangu/Potato Curry

Usually I and my husband have Roti and subzi for dinner. Roti is not a common food in Kerala. My parents like to have rice for lunch and dinner. But if i offer to make chapathi for dinner they are happy because they will get something different for dinner and they know that I will do everything by myself  ;-)
Anyways, coming to roti and chapathi, chapathi we make at home is actually the thinner version of the north indian paratha. I prefer chapathi to roti. I can eat anything with chapathi from pickle to raitha. But my most favourite is, like many people, is potato curry. When I make potato curry for my husband it's different with garam masala,ginger garlic paste or even some green peas. But if i make for only myself, i prefer a Kerala spicy potato curry which has ground coconut in it. When i say this, I can imagine the frown on the faces of my non-keralite friends with a thought in their mind - Coconut with potato! What a wierd combination!
But dear friends, yes it sounds wierd, but it's not at all bad! In fact, this is my most favourite side dish with chapathi. So here I share this wierd recipe with my friends who want to try it out and feel the difference from usual paneer mutter, aloo gobi etc.
Ingredients :
Potato - 2 medium sized
Onion - 1 medium
Garlic - 1/2 tsp
Coconut grated - 1/2 cup
Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Meat masala - 1 tsp
Salt - as per taste
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 bunch
Dried red chillies - 2
Water - 1/2 cup
Oil - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp

First fry the coconut in 1 tsp oil for 2 minutes and grind it with meat masala and chilly powder by adding 1/4 cup water and keep aside. Peel the potatoes and slice them into thin long pieces. Chop the onion and crush the garlic. Now heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds,curry leaves and dried green chillies. Add onion and garlic and saute well adding little bit salt. Once the onion turns golden brown in colour, add the potato pieces and turmeric. Again fry for 2 minutes. Now add the ground masala and water and cook adding salt as per taste till the potatoes are cooked. Once the gravy is thick, remove from fire and serve hot with chapathi.

Note : For meat masala, we can add ready made powder or a ground mixture of all the spices such as corriander seeds,pepper,nutmeg,fennel seeds,star anise,cardamom,cloves,cinnamon etc. I add ready made meat masala powder available in the market which is equally good.

Aloo Tikki Chat

I am crazy for Chat items, especially Aloo tikki or gol gappa aka pani puri.

This diwali i got 4 days off from work so decided to try out some chat at home to surprise my husband.

Actually making chat is very easy but you need lot of ingredients for that which makes it a bit a difficult task.

I am sharing my recipe for Aloo Tikki here.

What you need

Potatoes - 4 boiled and peeled

Bread slices - 8

Corriander chutney - 1/2 cup

Tamarind Chutney - 1/2 cup

Sev - 1/2 cup

Chopped onions - 1/4 cup

Green peas - 1/2 cup

Jeera powder - 1 tsp

Curd - 1/4 cup

garam masala - 1/2 tsp

Chat masala - 1/2 tsp

black salt - as required

salt - as required

oil - for shallow frying

How to prepare

First boil and peel the potatoes and mash them adding a little bit salt.

 Cook green peas with garam masala and salt so that a dry dish is made without much water and keep aside.

Now cut the sides of the bread slices and wet them with water and mix well with mashed potatoes. Make balls with the potato bread mix and flatten them a little. But don't make them too thin, it should be as thick as cutlets.

Now heat oil on a frying pan or kadai and shallow fry the tikkis till both sides turn brown.

Now the tikkis are ready. Keep them in a bowl or serving dish. Mash them a little and put the green peas masala dish on it's top. Add the curd on top of this. Now sprinkle jeera powder,chat masala and black salt on top of this. Add the corriander chutney and tamarind chutney on top of this. Sprinkle the chopped onions and sev also and your delicious chat is ready!

For tamarind chutney

Mix some tamarind pulp and jaggery in some water and boil, simmer for a few minutes till it becomes thick. Now add jeera powder,dried ginger powder and blacksalt and remove from heat.

For corriander chutney

Grind corriander leaves,green chilly,ginger garlic and tomato(you can add either tamarind or lemon juice instead of tomato) with enough salt to a thick paste.

Aloo Toast

When i got married, my two friends who were my room mates in hostel gifted me an electric toaster. It was a very thoughful and nice gift for a couple like us who were setting up out home.Nowthat i got the toaster i started experimenting different kinds of sandwiches and toasts for breakfast. Among those, i like aloo toast the most.So i thought to share this recipe here.

Ingrediants

Bread slices - 8
Potato - 2 small or 1 medium sized
Green chilly chopped - 1 tsp
ginger chopped - 1 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
meat masala - 1 tsp
salt - as required
mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
oil - 1 tbsp
Butter or ghee(optional) - as required

Boil the potatoes. Heat oil and season mustard seeds. Fry green chilly and ginger and add mashed boiled potatoes. Mix the other powders and salt and fry well.



Now slice the bread to triangular pieces as shown.




Take each pair of bread slices and apply the potato masala on one of the slices and cover with the other piece and press well.



Apply little bit butter or ghee on both side of the sandwich.



Now toast the bread slices with the filling in your toaster. If you don't have a toaster then don't worry. You can make the same tasty aloo toast on heated tawa also. Only thing to take care of is to keep the bread slices in position with the filling and press them well while toasting.



Your tasty aloo toast is ready

Aloo Mutter

This is a recipe which is like a quick fix side dish with roti or paratha. Very easy and tasty.Sometimes when i return from office i feel lazy to cook any special dish for dinner.Roti is a default item so i am always confused what to do about the accompaniments.At this time, aloo mutter is a real life saver...
Aloo is a readily available vegetable in almost every house,if u have some frozen green peas then there you go!



Ingrediants

Aloo(Potato) - 2
Mutter or green peas - 1/2 cup
Onions - 2 thin long slices
Green chillies - 2 slit length wise
Ginger - 1 inch piece
turmeric powder - 1/2 tea spoon
corriander powder - 1 tea spoon
garam masala or meat masala - 2 tea spoon
curry leaves - as required
salt - as required
oil - 2 table spoon

Cube the potatoes,boil and peel them. Mash it and keep aside.
Cut the onions length wises into thin long slices and slit the green chillies. Crush the ginger piece well. Now heat the oil in a frying pan and add onions,ginger and green chillies and fry adding turmeric.Once they are golden brown add mashed potatoes and green peas and fry again.Now add corrainder and masala powders and salt and fry well adding curry leaves. Close the pan and cook for few minutes till the green peas are cooked well.

Note : If you are not using frozen green peas then boil it once and then use.