Potatoes, Potatoes

One of my favorite children's picture books is Potatoes, Potatoes by Anita Lobel. It's an anti-war story of two brothers who join opposing armies. Anyway, let's talk about potatoes. What a vegetable! Here's some spicy dishes.

I've learned that on an Indian restaurant menu the dishes named "Aloo" have potatoes.
Shajahanni Aloo (Almond-Spiced Potatoes)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 pound peeled and sliced potatoes
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
2 teaspoons groung red chile ( I like the Hatch, New Mexico hot version)
3 tablespoons almond butter or cashew butter - both are easy to find in the health food section of the supermarket
4 yellow onions, sliced in rings
tablespoon ground cardamon
teaspoon turmeric
1/2 cup water
salt to taste
3 tablespoons heavy cream
Chopped fresh cilantro

Heat half the oil and fry the potatoes in batches until brown. Remove the potatoes. Add the remaining oil and stir in yogurt, chile and nut butter. Cook, stirring often. Add onion and soft until soft. Return the potatoes to the pan along with the cardamon, turmeric, water and salt to taste. Mix well and cook, shaking the pan now and then, for 20 minutes. The oil should be floating on the top.
I think to be authentic you should really use ghee (butter oil), but that's not so easy to find in the supermarket and it's a lot of extra work to make.
Pour the cream over the top and serve garnished with the cilantro.

Nobody ever said Indian food was lowfat.

I love regular tabbouleh made with bulgar wheat, but for a make it with potatoes.
Potato Tabbouleh
5 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
4 medium plum tomatoes, diced
1 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

In a small bowl, stir together dressing ingredients until blended; set aside.
In a stockpot, in water to cover, over high heat, cook the potatoes about 15 minutes, or until fork-tender, but not mushy; drain and transfer potatoes to a large bowl.
Using a wooden spoon, gently toss potatoes with the reserved dressing mixture. Stir in the tomatoes, parsley, scallions and mint until well mixed.

For the dressing
1/4 cup fresh-squeezed limejuice
3 tablespoons prepared pesto
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper


Spicy Coconut Potato Shakuti
This is a red chili paste curry.
Ingredients
For the curry paste
2 tsp vegetable oil
3 cloves
½ cinnamon stick
2 tsp poppy seeds
½ tsp black peppercorns
4 dry red chillies or 1 tsp red chilli flakes
2½ ounces grated coconut
4 garlic cloves
2 medium onions

For the curry
4 tsp vegetable oil
4 medium potatoes, chopped into 1 inch cubes
1 can chopped tomatoes
box frozen small green peas or cup fresh peas
1 tsp salt

1. To make the curry paste, heat the oil in a pan. Fry the cloves, cinnamon, poppy seeds, peppercorns and red chillies for one minute.
2. Dry roast the coconut in a separate pan until it is golden brown.
3. Place the fried spices, coconut, garlic cloves and onions in a blender and grind to paste.
4. To make the curry, heat the oil in a pan and add the diced potatoes. Cover and cook for two minutes.
5. Next add the paste, chopped tomatoes, peas and salt. Stir, cover and simmer for ten minutes until the potatoes are cooked through.

Spicy Sesame Potato Salad

4 cups of diced boiled peeled new potatoes
1 cup of roasted and coarsely crushed roasted peanuts
1/2 cup sesame powder (it's available in Asian groveries, but you can substitute toasted sesame seeds that have been processed in the food processor)
Juice of 2 lemons
4-5 green chilies, deseeded and diced (the kind you choose determines how hot this dish will be)
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 inches fresh gingerroot, grated
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
salt to taste

Melt the butter. To the melted butter add the cumin and when brown remove pan from heat.
To this add the chilli powder first and then all the other ingrediends and toss together- you can adjust the ammount of lemon juice/salt and chillies to your taste.
6 servings

Here's a microwave version of oven fries.
Spicy Potato Wedges

4 large potatoes, cut into wedges
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1. Pierce potato wedges with a fork, and arrange in a single layer on a microwave safe plate. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper, paprika, chili powder, garlic powder and Parmesan.
2 Microwave on high for 10 minutes, or until cooked through.