Being the potato fanatic that I am, I had to give this a try. While I enjoy Indian food when I get it (which is relatively rare), I've never had good luck making an Indian dish. I'm not sure if the recipes I used (pre-blog) were just crap recipes or if I just have bad luck when it comes to making Indian food. I was lucky to have found this recipe while walking around on All Recipes. It was fantastic and gave my confidence a little boost.
Aloo Phujia
1 onion, chopped
1/4 c vegetable oil
1 lb potatoes, peeled and cubed (about 3 average Russets)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp ground cumin
2 tomatoes, chopped
Lightly brown onion in oil in a medium size skillet.
1 lb potatoes, peeled and cubed (about 3 average Russets)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp ground cumin
2 tomatoes, chopped
Lightly brown onion in oil in a medium size skillet.
Stir in salt, cayenne, turmeric and cumin.
Add potatoes and cook 10 minutes stirring occasionally.
Add tomatoes, cover pan and cook until potatoes are soft, about 10-20 minutes. 
When the dish was near completion, I realized I needed some kind of protein to accompany. It was a choice between eggs and tuna. Eggs won. Turns out, eggs were a perfect compliment! It was a match made in heaven. Tender and slightly spicy potatoes sidled next to a couple of gently fried eggs, I could not have planned such a perfect meal.
The dish was pleasantly spiced, not over the top, but just enough to notice. The potatoes were fork-tender, onions softened until they're textured presence was nearly indiscernable, the tomato quantity was just enough for a slight flavor and fortunately I'd cut them small enough so they weren't big blobs of hot tomato. Don't know about you, but that sort of grosses me out. While it seemed the oil quantity was a lot, I can see that it is necessary.
I'll certainly make this again, though I will use a larger skillet. The onions were swimming in the oil and didn't brown. While cutting back on the oil is an option, I think that would goof with the texture of the potatoes. Also, at the end of the recipe where it says to cook until the potatoes are soft, I had to extend that time from 10 minutes to 20. Next time I'll be sure to cut the potatoes into a smaller dice. They were simply much too large to be softened within the originally specified time.
Cost:
- onion: $0.30
- potatoes: $0.60
- tomatoes: $0.40
Total is $1.30, but I'll round up to $2 to include oil and seasonings, making each of four servings $0.50 each. I can't help but notice that with my two eggs, my dinner tonight was less than a dollar.
0 comments:
Post a Comment