Spicy Roasted Baby Potatoes!

This one's for hubs. Granted potatoes are very versatile and well liked but he is something else. You could write songs for his love for potatoes. There are only two ways he does not like potatoes, in the raw and in the vodka form. If you are not so much of a potato fan, don't lose heart as these little guys here might just win you over. Coated with spices and slightly crispy from being sauteed and nice and tender and juicy from the inside, they are the perfect snack. Use it when entertaining guests or heck teach him how to make it so he can use it to get some points with you every now and then.

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Jeera Aloo/Cumin Flavored Stir Fried Potatoes

 If you are ever in a rush but still want to eat a tasty, savory home-cooked meal - sounds like most of the time, doesn't it - this dish might just be your perfect answer. Ready in under ten minutes if you have the ingredients and very versatile in what it can go with. Hubs tells me he relates to this dish in a rather strange sort of way. In his single days in India, when he almost always ate out at restaurants, he always saw this dish in most every menu but always ignored it - who goes to a restaurant to eat sauteed potatoes, right? Well right until he got so sick of eating the same paneer and mushroom every single time that he finally ordered it with some plain rice and yellow daal and loved it. That's how he says he remembers this dish. Not a very fun way to remember such a flavorful preparation, I tease him, and we have a good laugh about it.
Indeed, there is something to be said about the versatility of this dish. Eat it as a side with some rice and daal or just with your humble roti and it becomes lunch or dinner, wrap it up with some lettuce and onions in a tortilla and it makes for a great wrap or just stick some toothpicks in them and they are a great starter. What's more is that they are a great picnic food too and can be carried in a lunchbox for a few hours without the need to be refrigerated. This makes them great for short trips as well. Give it a try and it tends to stick with you for those times when you cannot think of anything else or those when you simply crave them.

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Pan Roasted Tandoori Potatoes

y experience with food over the last several years tells me that people love potatoes. Plain and simple, they do. Especially the dry roasted and crispy kind. For one thing, the potato appetizer recipes on US Masala get more hits from people all over the world than all other dishes combined (nutella based recipes being a close second). Serve some crispy baked potatoes in a get-together and I have seen people flock to that tray first. Then of course the ever popular french fry does deserve a mention which however you should avoid for them being soaked in oil and all. I have sung praises of the potato in some of my other popular posts. You can find them here -
Roasted baby potatoes Indian style
Garlic masala baked potato wedges
Samosa
Masala potato cake with ginger walnut cilantro pesto
Hubs is also a big fan of this vegetable. In fact they had a cook off at his office in one of those annual office events where he looked up my recipe on his iPhone and made the roasted baby potatoes. As he tells me, they were a hit and were gone in no time. I believe him.
Here is another potato snack which is a treat to the senses. Being pan roasted with only 2 tbsp of oil, you can enjoy a few. Pick one up with a fork (a toothpick makes it more fun) and enjoy the savory goodness of the creaminess of the baby potatoes soaked with the flavors of an exotic tandoori marinade, made crispy on the outside with a quick pan roast. For this dish, make the reach for your share from the platter because if you snooze you will lose - they will all be gone.

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Masala Potato Cake with Ginger Walnut Cilantro Pesto

oes without saying that good food has always held an important place in our lives. Now maybe its just me but I feel that the hands that make good food have gained the respect and have been given the due credit they deserve only in recent times. Thanks to popular media that stepped up to the plate and made not just food but also cooking fashionable. Even so this has happened only in recent times (you do remember those early 90's cooking shows don't you). Today there are entire television channels dedicated to food and present food in style. 

Credit also goes to some pioneers in this field. Growing up I always fancied cooking shows. I even have my little list of chefs that I have followed and like, some more than others. I have even blogged about several of the recipes from some of my most favorite chefs. One of the more recent additions to the list - and not just anywhere but very close if not the topmost on the list - is chef Vikas Khanna. He is one of those personalities whom I have very recently come to know and deeply admire. He is through and through a total inspiration right from the humility with which he speaks about even his biggest achievements, from the early days of his struggle to the peak of success which he is at right now to the passion with which he uses his ingredients in his food (you should watch him talk about spices, say some rare kind of pepper that he considers extra special, like a woman would about the newly acquired rock on her finger).
So here is a recipe that I adapted from one of his collections. Needless to say we all loved it.
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Potli Samosa/ Samosa bundles

 am back! I hope you all had a healthy, safe, enjoyable and restful holidays and oh yes don't worry about those holiday pounds, you got eleven months to get rid of 'em... lol. It is amazing how I have barely been able to wish family and relatives on the new year and we already are two days into it. That seems to be the trend in recent years, they seem to simply fly away. I sometimes still I like to think we are in 2005... yep that seems more reasonable... but the calendar tells me otherwise.
Shake it off, we've got samosas to fry - and not any ordinary ones, these cuties are still all dressed up for that one last holiday party in their little baggie outfits or 'potlis' made of dough. 'We eat first with our eyes' as they say and a bite into these potli samosa only reinstates that belief. The same yum samosa taste, for no technical reason all of a sudden tastes even better. Of course goes without saying, the compliments you get if you serve them when entertaining, doesn't hurt.
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Pyaz Ke Pakode Wali Kadhi/ Onion fritters in spicy yogurt curry sauce

ou can cross the seven seas and eat the food served by the best chefs from the most celebrated lands but I believe my foodie friends will agree that there is nothing like a bowl of that most loved comfort food that you can snuggle up in the comfort of your home and feed your soul with.
You may think the above is too strong a sentiment for a bowl of kadhi, but that is how I feel about it. Comfort food doesn't have to be complex or even exotic, you cannot explain it. Just the aroma of a hot bowl of simmering kadhi gives me a strange sense of comfort. It always elevates my mood, pulls me out of the clutches of a bad day and reminds me of home, mom and good times spent with family. Give me a choice between the bestest dessert in the world and a bowl of hot kadhi trust me I will always choose the latter. That is how much I like it, you get the idea. Kadhi is classically paired with plain rice or 'chawal' and is especially pure bliss on a cold rainy day.

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Blackeye Pea & Potato Curry/Lobia Aloo

hildhood memories are always fun and sometimes they have a thing or two to teach us too. You probably wonder why I say this for a humble curry. Growing up, my mom always made this curry. It was not my favorite but I did like it. However every time mom made it, I would give her a hard time. I would pick another dish that I liked better and asked her to make that instead saying I did not like lobia very much. More often than not, she did. Now I actually crave for it sometimes. I sit back and think about all those times with mom and get up and make it for myself. Watching hubby and my little princess eat this and enjoy always brings a smile to my face.

The exotic combination of spices and other ingredients gives the humble lobia a grand makeover. You can enjoy it with roti, paratha or simple steamed white rice. It is a great way for vegetarians to get their fix of protein too.

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Beetroot cutlets

utlets is a famous street food that is found almost all over India, with minor differences in ingredients here and there. It is often overshadowed by its close and notoriously famous cousin, the Samosa. I personally have always preferred these over the samosas. Whenever I think of them, I go back to my college days and to my college canteen, they served the meanest cutlets.. they were to die for.. yum! Hubby also remembers it as his favorite street food from his home town. An absolute favorite with everyone, they are very versatile too; serve them with some ketchup or chutney as an appetizer or for a change, stuff them inside a bun and it morphs into an amazing veg burger and a quick fix meal. You can also serve them as chaat with some chhole and chutney and enjoy the compliments. They can be made using different vegetables or whatever you have in your refrigerator (except I think the beets are a must, its a beet cutlet after all ;) Perfect for a rainy day they are addictive.

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Aloo Bhaji/bhunjiya and Ajwain Paratha

After a dash of the exotic, its time to have something that is closer to home and to the heart... and when you talk about close to home you often think of simple things that mom made that you enjoyed growing up.

You may find this a little unusual but the thought of this dish puts me on a train with my family... the train speeding through the country and I find myself sitting on the lower berth (after of course having fought with my brother for the window seat) with my gaze fixed outside staring at the lush green crop fields that race past us and the warm yet cool breeze rushing in as we wait for the train to take us to our destination... then you are suddenly pulled out of the trance by the loud sound of your name... thats mom demanding we get together as it was lunch time... and there it is... she opens her tote bag and pulls out a couple of boxes. Wrapped in tinfoil in those boxes are these wonderful flat breads and the awesome dry potato curry. The already beautiful breeze is now filled with the wonderful aroma of the roasted fennel and carom seeds from the bread and the potatoes.

Mom almost always made these as lunch and as dinner when we traveled. She claimed they stayed nice and fresh even after being packed for several hours... and fresh they were... gone in minutes. Of course I didn't think much of it those days... after all that was mom and this is what she always made, right? ... aah... the things we take for granted...

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Palak/Spinach chaat

I vividly remember my first time going back to my mom's place or my "mayeka" from my in-laws place a few days after we were married (funny I started thinking of it as my mom's place as only a few days back I always referred to it as 'my place'). Being the first and the only son-in-law, hubby was being pampered big time with all the best dishes that mom knew that hubby liked. There was festivity, food, people coming to meet us and family sitting together and chatting away till the wee hours of the morning. It was an overload of good food and tons of fun. Among all that, hubby and I always found time to sneak out of the house to go walk around the city streets with the 'newly-married' tag painted all over our faces, shopping, talking about our favorite places and mostly stocking up on street food we knew we were gonna miss so much in a few days. 
The speed with which the local 'chaat walas' prepared their delicious goodies is just amazing. Apart from the regular favorites, there was always something new they had to offer. Spinach chaat was one of them. We both loved it.
Coming to the US, I was excited to see that the Indian restaurants also offered the basic chaat on their menu. Tried it at a few places but was rather disappointed as it did not come even close to the real deal. That is when I decided to do my own. I have posted the more common form of chaat before, the Aloo Tikki Chaat. This past weekend I got reminded of the spinach chaat and hence this post. This is kind of like papdi chat only palak pakoda is used in place of papdi, also it is very easy to make and a lot more healthier. Hope you guys like it as much as I liked making it and we did eating :)

Here goes-

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Aloo matar paratha

loo parathas are something that don't need any introduction. These are the most popular of all the stuffed parathas in India. Can be found in high-end restaurants as well as at the road side dhabas. I have not met a single person in my life who doesn't like it. It is basically an indian unleavened and pan fried flat bread stuffed with spicy potato filling, generally served with pickle, yogurt or just a little pat of butter...mmmm! It is a staple dish in almost all indian households with minor variation in the recipe here and there.
I remember mom often used to make it for breakfast and also sometimes for dinner with tomato chutney during winter times and it was soul satisfying. She also sometimes used to add peas in the filling and I always liked that better as i love green peas... so here is my mom's recipe of my fav aloo matar de parathe!
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Achari aloo

This was one of the very first dishes I made for my dear hubby after we got married and I came to the US. He had called a few friends over for dinner and I set everything up on the table (achari aloo, puri, fried rice, malai kofta, raita and kheer... amazing how I still remember). He looked very happy and was mighty impressed, loved it.. so it will always be something very special :) He especially asked me make this achari aloo often.
Achari aloo is basically a tangy and spicy dry potato curry flavored with traditional indian pickle masalas. I love the fennel and achari flavor in this dish. It is also always hit with guests, great for potlucks and picnics too, as it tastes great both hot and cold. Goes with almost anything but we like it best with pooris... mmmm! This is ridiculously easy to make and super fast. I make it with tiny whole red potatoes. Traditionally the recipes calls for deep frying but I skip that to make it healthier so it can be eaten on a regular basis.So here goes my version. 

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Samosa

he 'KING' of Indian street food.. hot yummy samosas are the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Indian appetizers. I believe samosas have now gone global. How can you not love a samosa, crispy fried shell/pastry filled with amazing spicy potato filling.. total yum! there are over a dozen samosa recipes. Today I am giving my mom's recipe here. She used to add a little sooji in the dough to make it more crispy.. and her samosa filling I think is the best ever. I always thought of samosas as something that mom makes. Not even in my wildest dreams I had thought I will ever attempt making them.. and here I am.

Serve it hot with green chutney, tamarind chutney or just plain ketchup. They are also great to serve when you are entertaining guest. They will be gone in seconds!

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Aloo aur matar ki Tehari or Tahiri

his dish reminds me of the Sunday brunches back at home.... my mom often used to make this specially during winter times when green peas and cauliflower were in season, paired with boondi raita and cucumber salad.... an ultimate comfort food.... we just used to wait for this every sunday.

I like to call it a very very light version of vegetable biryani (jhat - pat biryani :)). It is just a wonderful one pot meal (the best part), very simple to make and tastes awesome. I often make these for a quick lunch and have also made these for some late night supper or for that matter any time when not in the mood to cook something elaborate and crave for something nice, spicy and homely.

This is also a very famous rice preparation in UP cuisine. You can make this using various vegetables like carrots, green beans, cauliflower, eggplant etc. I am giving the recipe for Aloo aur matar tahiri, my mom's recipe. Mom used to make this in a pressure cooker, but I like to use a non stick pan. I just like the texture of the rice better when cooked in a pan than pressure cooked.

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