okra and baby potatoes with butter garlic sauce

This okra (bhindi) and baby potatoes with butter garlic kept ringing in my head until I made it at home the very next day after meeting Bridget White Kumar. This Anglo Indian recipe is being served at the J W Marriot Aerocity right now where she has curated a menu around this cuisine, I loved it so much that I had to share it with you all too.

Note that this version of okra in butter garlic is my recreation after tasting it at the festival and not the authentic way Bridget makes it, there might be a minor variation in her original recipe of okra in butter garlic.

ingredients
(2 servings)

300 gm tender okra (bhindi), caps removed and cut in one inch pieces diagonally
300 gm baby potatoes, boiled, peeled and halved
100 gm or a large onion sliced
one large tomato chopped finely
50 gm butter
2 tbsp finely chopped garlic
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup milk (optional) 

preparation

Heat a pan and add the butter and garlic together, let them sizzle while stirring till the garlic gets aromatic.

Add the sliced onions and baby potatoes and toss well to coat evenly. Keep cooking for a couple of minutes.

Add the chopped okra, salt and pepper and toss well to coat. Keep tossing or stirring lightly for 5 minutes, add the tomatoes, mix well and cover to cook for 5-7 minutes on medium heat. The okra should be cooked by now, the onions a nice shade of pink and the tomatoes completely mushy.

Cook a few minutes more if the okra is not cooked well. Add milk, stir and cover to cook for a minute, adjust consistency by adding a little more milk if you wish. Check and adjust seasoning.

Serve hot with soft rotis or bread rolls.

recipe of alu ke gutke, let the simplicity rule

There are some recipes so simple that the experts miss the point. You know how simplicity is always misunderstood, people want to add more value to the things they do to create something good and miss the greatness in the simpler things. In the case of alu ke gutke recipe something similar happened.

I had posted pictures of alu ke gutke on instagram recently and had been getting requests for the recipe after that. I intended to write the recipe here but since the alu ke gutke is quite simple I gave a quick recipe to one of my friends. She went on to google the recipe to make it, not realizing someone can screw up such a simple almost one and a half step recipe, she forwarded me the link and I was aghast to find a recipe with all the spice powders and hing-jeera and what not.

Alu ke gutke needs to be shared here I decided.

So here is the unpretentious recipe of alu ke gutke that is the best representative of the frugal ife in mountains. Alu ke gutke is made in every pahadi home in Garhwal and Kumaon region, potato being the main crop and not much variety of vegetables available to them at higher altitudes.

Writing this, I am reminded of a small trek we did in the hills of Sattal few years ago, we just followed a track that started with a faded signboard with a name of some nondescript temple and after an arduous one hour trek reached a temple surrounded with a well tended garden. We met a baba (a saint) and got to know he is from Banaras who went there several decades ago and has settled down in that temple, we were offered a plate of this alu ke gutke with hot ginger chai, free of cost. One of the most satiating meals I must say.

Alu ke gutke is available in the hills at almost every chai shop, served with a cup of hot chai if you wish and often topped with mooli ka raita. A very unusual combination but works wonderfully when trekking or even driving in the hills.

The frugality of alu ke gutke is such that it uses all dry ingredients, just 6 ingredients including salt, apart from the occasional chopped dhaniya patta when it is in season. It tastes best with the pahadi potatoes, cook it in the plains only with the new potatoes or forget about alu ke gutke, it is not alu ke gutke if the alu is not right.

The second important, non-replaceable ingredient is jakhia that imparts a subtle flavour and a delectable crunch that stays even if the alu ka gutka is cooked hours before you eat.

Jakhia (Cleome viscosa) is a herb that grows in the foothills of Himalayas as well as in the tropics throughout the world, the leaves are used as a vegetable and all parts of this plant as medicinal ingredients, the use of the seeds in a tadka like this is seen only in Uttarakhand.

Jakhia is antipyretic and anti-inflammatory and is used for many minor health issues, the spices in Indian kitchen have been known to be curative and healing, their usage has evolved over several generations if not centuries.

If you don't have jakhia, make jeera alu instead. Alu ke gutke needs good quality potatoes, preferably baby potatoes and jakhia, the other ingredients can vary minimally. Like you can use green chilies instead of red dry ones and dhaniya patta can be a choice, no other changes please.

ingredients
500 gm boiled, peeled and cubed potatoes
2 tbsp mustard oil
3 broken dry red chilies
1 tsp jakhia seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
chopped coriander leaves for garnish

procedure

Heat mustard oil, tip in the red chilies and the jakhia and let them crackle for a couple of seconds.

Add the turmeric powder and immediately dump the potatoes over it, add salt and mix everything nicely. Keep stirring and cooking for 5 minutes, sprinkle chopped coriander leaves and it is done.

Serve hot or cold.

It tastes great as a side dish with meals or as breakfast starch if you want some potatoes, it is better than any fries or hash browns trust me.

Served with tea it has a unique way of satisfying you. The potato lovers would agree but the simplicity of this alu ke gutke does the wonders if you ask me.
 

sookhe alu | a slow cooked potato stir fry with everyday curry powder

Potato is the most underused vegetable in my kitchen even though the husband is very fond of potatoes. In winters the new potatoes make great alu paratha but we don't eat potatoes in summer at all. Some alu parval ki bhujia is made sometimes but apart from that there is no potato on our summer menu.

This recipe of sookhe alu becomes an exception sometimes and we both enjoy having it with a relaxed weekend brunch. Our weekend brunches are invariably relaxed and simple meals, something  weboth like.

This sookhe alu was made a few weeks ago when I noticed I had not used the potatoes that I had grown in my garden. This recipe became the excuse to eat the home grown potatoes. I remembered my research guide Dr. Maya Goyle a lot when I was cooking it. Her step daughters in Denmark used to love this and call this as brown potatoes because of the brown masala used. The brown masala is nothing else but the everyday curry powder that has prominent notes of coriander, tejpatta and cumin with mild heat of black pepper. With a tart hint of amchoor and aromatic kasoori methi this sookhe alu becomes a treat for the senses. 

Incidentally, I always end up making this sookhe alu whenever I grind thee masala mix of my everyday curry powder. The aroma of this freshly milled spice blend always reminds me of this dry stir fry and I give in to the indomitable pleasure of potatoes.

I think sooke alu made with boiled and cooled potatoes is a genius recipe and I can't take credit at all. It is the recipe I learnt from Dr. Maya Goyle and its taste still connects me with her, now that she is no more in this world.

ingredients 
(2 large servings or 4 regular servings)

400 gm potatoes (boiled with skin and cooled, preferably refrigerated for a day)
handful of kasoori methi
(the best you can find, else skip this. Do not substitute with fresh methi leaves)
2 tbsp everyday curry powder 
1/2 tsp amchoor powder 
1/2 tsp red chilli powder (or to taste)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp mustard oil
1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds 
salt to taste

procedure

Peel and cube the potatoes.

Heat oil in a pan and throw in the cumin seeds, let them splutter and get aromatic.

Tip the cubed potatoes with salt and turmeric powder and stir fry on medium heat till they turn golden brown. The slower this step is the better the potatoes taste. So take your time, make this sookhe alu when you are doing something else too in the kitchen.

Add the curry powder and red chilli powder once the potatoes looks adequately browned and fry some more till the masala becomes aromatic, sprinkle amchoor powder, mix well and it's ready.

Serve with paratha and pickle or eat as a snack. Trust me this sookhe alu mostly becomes the appetizer in my household.

Here you see the sookhe alu with pyaz ka paratha and a Gujrati pickle called Methiya athanu. I will post the recipe of Methiya athanu soon.

The slow cooked potatoes with this spice blend becomes magical if you trust me. There is no onion garlic in this recipe and the flavour is absolutely rustic and robust, kasoori methi giving it a slight bitter whiff. This is far better than any French fry of the world, and you don't even need any tomato ketchup with it.

This sookhe alu tastes great even if stuffed in a grilled sandwich. Actually this was the most common grilled sandwich we used to make with evening tea back home.

jeera aloo ...potatoes to please someone...

Jeera alu was made after repeated threats and requests, I finally gave in to the alu craving of the husband. He feels deprived of potatoes all the time and I have to treat him with an exclusive potato meal sometimes. Yes, a potato dish which can be served and enjoyed on it's own. No side dishes are required with this "king of vegetables".

Potato becomes the king with jeera aloo most definitely.

The cumin infused cubes of potatoes, if I ever dare to translate the flavors...

And don't worry you all. You are not going to have any starch poisoning by watching all these pictures I have uploaded one after the other.

Jeera aloo is not a favorite of millions for nothing. Potatoes are known to take on any kind of seasoning and spicing well and even desserts do so very well with potatoes. Have you heard about aloo ka halwa (a halwa made with potatoes). That is one more reason to rejoice for the halwa lovers.

Not me.

But jeera aloo is somethings that makes me take second helpings even though I cook it rarely.

ingredients

boiled potatoes 4 nos. ..
boil them in the pressure cooker or in a pan. Microwave cooked potatoes work well for the jeera aloo only when the potatoes are new, the winter potatoes.
ghee or butter 1 tbsp (no compromises here)
cumin seeds 2-3 tsp
cumin powder 1/2 tsp
black pepper powder 1/2 tsp
red chilly flakes 1/2 tsp
chopped green chilly 1 tsp
1/4 tsp turmeric powder (optional)
chopped coriander leaves 1 tbsp
salt to taste

The coriander leaves used here are from my garden and this dish was made with the season's last few leaves of coriander, the needle shaped mature leaves of coriander bear the most concentrated flavors  it made the aloo jeera magical this time.

procedure

Once you have boiled, peeled and cubed potatoes, there is not much to do as this is a quick chore.

Quick to be vanished from the table too, quick to bring smiles .... quick reactions...you get the drift.

Heat the ghee or butter in a kadai. I used ghee and butter both, best of the both worlds. Let the ghee and butter melt and then add the jeera, that is cumin seeds and let it splutter softly.

Immediately add the cubed potatoes followed by the powdered spices and salt to taste. Toss to mix and coat everything on the potato cubes. keep tossing and stirring the potatoes to get lightly pink at a few spots. Do not brown the potatoes otherwise it will not inhale the flavors of the exclusive spicing.

Once the potatoes are pinkish at a few spots, add the chopped green chillies and the chopped coriander leaves. Toss well and bring the pan off heat.

Serve immediately.

PS : If you are not using coriander leaves you might like to add a pinch of amchoor powder or a dash of lime juice, and a pinch of coriander powder along with the other powdered spices...
The coriander leaves have a hint of citrus along with an earthy flavor.