Batate Song (Spicy Potato Curry)

Batate Song is a popular Konkani dish. It is usually very spicy, and it can be prepared in many variations. I prepare it both with coconut and without coconut. This is the recipe to prepare batate song without coconut, hence this is a quick dish which can be prepared with few ingredients.

Ingredients: 

Potatoes - 2 

Onion - 1 large

Red chilly powder - as required

Salt to taste

Tamarind - Little

Oil - 1 tsp

Procedure:

1. Wash and peel the potatoes and cut them into medium pieces.

2. Remove any seeds from tamarind and soak it in warm water for sometime.

3. Chop the onions lengthwise or into large cubes.

4. Heat Oil in an pan and add onions. Fry them till they turn golden brown and the raw smell goes away.

5. Add the potatoes and saute them on medium flame for few minutes.

6. Add red chilly powder and salt to taste. Fry again for few minutes.

7. Now add soaked tamarind and mix well. Add little water and cover the vessel . 

8. Cook on medium flame till the potatoes become soft.

Batate Song is ready !!

Spicy Potato-French Beans Masala Fry

This is a simple stir fry enriched with the flavours of cumin and coriander. I have prepared this using potatoes and french beans. This can be prepared with other veggies as well.

Ingredients:

Baby potatoes - 5
French beans
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Dry red chilly - 1
Cumin powder - 1 tbsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Chilly powder - as required
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Salt to taste
Oil - 1 tbsp

Procedure:

Finely chop the potatoes and french beans. Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and when the mustard splutters add curry leaves and dry red chilly. Now add chilly powder, cumin powder and coriander powder and keep stirring for a minute. Make sure the spices aren't burnt. Now add the chopped potatoes and fry for a minute. Add the beans, salt and little turmeric powder. Cook them on medium heat and sprinkle very little water to avoid the veggies from burning. Keep stirring frequently. Cook till the potatoes become soft.

Garlicky shallow fried potato fingers

This dish brings me back memories of childhood. My maternal aunt used to prepare this and we used to call this as 'Potato finger chips'. But i think the name 'Potato finger chips' doesn't justify this dish.  This is basically Potatoes seasoned with crushed garlic and spices and then shallow fried on medium flame with little oil till the potato sticks become crispy. This is a quick and easy dish having a strong flavor of garlic. It goes well as a side-dish with rice.

Ingredients:

Medium sized Potatoes - 4
Garlic cloves - 10 to 12
Red chilly powder - 3 tsp
Salt to taste
Semolina - 2 tbsp
Oil for shallow frying.

Procedure:

Wash the potatoes well and peel the outer skin. Cut the Potatoes lengthwise into sticks. Do not wash potatoes or soak in water after you cut them. Basically the cut potato sticks should be dry for this dish. Crush garlic cloves and mix it with potato sticks. Add red chilly powder, salt, semolina and mix well.

Heat a frying pan. Grease the pan by adding little oil. When the tawa becomes hot, add the potatoes and shallow fry them on medium flame by covering the lid of the tawa. Switch off the flame when potatoes are cooked completely and become crispy.

Crispy and garlicky shallow fried potatoes ready to serve! Enjoy them as a side-dish with rice.

Green Peas - Potato Masala

Coconut is used in most of the Konkani cuisines. Usually I use coconut based gravy for Green Peas masala. When i had called Mom yesterday, she gave me this recipe. This version of  green-peas masala doesn't use coconut-based gravy.

 I prepared this for the first time today as a side-dish with chapati , and it was absolutely finger licking. 

In addition to Green-Peas and Potatoes, I also added few Mushrooms. You can add any other veggies of your choice. This is a simple recipe which doesn't take much time and effort, yet delicious and healthy.

Ingredients :

Green-Peas - 2  cups (Frozen)
Potato - 2 Medium sized
Mushrooms - 6
Onion - 3 large
Tomatoes - 2 medium
Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup
Green chillies - 2 or 3
Ginger - small piece (around 1/2 inch)
Garlic - 5 or 6 cloves
Oil - 3 tbsp
Salt to taste
Garam masala powder - 1 Tsp (Optional)

Procedure :

1. Finely chop the Onions and Tomatoes. Chop the Mushrooms to 2 or 3 pieces depending on their size. Chop the Potatoes into medium thick slices.

2. Pressure cook the Green-Peas and chopped Potatoes in pressure cooker up to 1 whistle.

3. Heat a Kadai and add 3 tbsp Oil. Add chopped Onions and fry them. When the Onion turns golden brown, add chopped Tomatoes.  Fry the Tomatoes well till they turn mushy. Add a little salt to quicken the process. Preferably use ripen Tomatoes for this dish.

4. Keep aside 2 tbsp fried Onion-Tomato mixture and 2 tbsp boiled Peas, which will be used later for blending.

5. Add the Mushrooms and other boiled veggies to the fried Onion-Tomato mixture.

6. Blend together the Coriander leaves, Green Chillies, Ginger, Garlic, 2 tbsp boiled Green Peas, 2 tbsp fried Onion-Tomato mixture to a smooth paste.

7. Add the blend masala to the cooked veggies. Add the desired amount of salt . You can add 1 tsp Garam masala if required. Boil the mixture well. Don't make the gravy too watery. This dish should be of medium thick consistency.

Green Peas-Potato masala ready to serve !

Serve this hot as a side-dish with Chapati, Roti, Dosa or anything of your choice.

Happy eating :)

Time of Preparation : 10 Minutes
Time to Cook : 30 Min
Note :

1. If you are using dry Green Peas, soak them in water overnight and then pressure cook for 2-3 whistles.  As i have used frozen Peas here, I just cooked it up to 1 whistle in a pressure cooker .