JFI: Potato

Being a new blogger, I am slowly getting to know all the blog events. When I visited the blogs of some food bloggers, I used to get confused reading terms like JFI and MBP. Then I got accustomed to these terms. JFI (Jihva for ingredients) is a wonderful monthly event that focuses on a new ingredient every month and people need to cook a dish with the decided ingredient as their main ingredient. There’s so much you can cook with a single ingredient – soups, starters, vegetables, desserts, parathas..your creativity is the limit. When I saw the ingredient for this month’s JFI, I was very excited to participate. I knew that our hostess Vaishali was going to be flooded with recipes:)

Potato, the world’s most famous tuber, with its rich nutritional values is a part of our daily diet. Potatoes contain lots of carbohydrates and starch. They also contain abundant vitamins and minerals. Potatoes are produced in a plethora of varieties including russet, long white, red, and Yukon gold. Potatoes can be cooked in a number of ways – peeled, cut, boiled, and mashed. Stay away from potatoes that have any kind of green spots – these can prove to be toxic.

Potato reminds me of a childhood game called “Batatyachi Sharyat”. It is game of collecting potatoes placed one after the other. It reminds me of snacks like sev batata puri, batata wada, batata bhajji, aloo tikki; of aloo paratha, dum aloo, samosas..It reminds me of a silly song,"Jab tak rahega samose mein aloo, tab tak rahega Bihar mein Laloo"..My teachers often used the expression that a not so intelligent kid's head is filled with potatoes and onions..Potatoes remind me of the street vendors yelling "Kanda Batataaaaaaaaa".There are so many dishes that you can prepare using potatoes. Anyways, I decided to make simple, quick, and easy-to-make vegetable using potatoes. Here’s my entry for JFI - Potatoes.

Batata Rassa

Ingredients

1.4 potatoes
2.1 big onion
3.2 tomatoes
4.2-3 green chillies
5.½ tsp mustard seeds
6.½ tsp cumin seeds
7.Asafoetida
8.¼ tsp turmeric powder
9.¼ tsp ginger paste
10.¼ tsp garlic paste
11.½ tsp red chilli poweder
12.½ tsp garam masala
13.Salt to taste
14.Sugar
15.Oil for frying

Method
1.Boil the potatoes and cut them into big pieces. Finely chop the onion and green chillies. Cut the tomatoes in huge pieces and puree them in the mixer.
2.Heat the oil in a pan. Add the mustard and cumin seeds. When they splutter, add a pinch of asafoetida and turmeric powder.
3.Add green chillies and ginger garlic paste. Fry for some time.
4.Add the chopped onions and fry till the onions turn golden brown.
5.Now, add the tomato puree, red chilli powder, garam masala, salt, and a pinch of sugar.
6.Stir for some time on low flame.
7.Add the boiled potatoes and some water. Boil for some time.
8.Garnish with coriander.

Till then,looking forward for the next JFI!