Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Aloo Jeera- South Indian Style


Sometimes, the simplest of ingredients come together as a wonderful wholesome dish. As a child, I remember my mother's day to day cooking was very simple and very healthy. Most of the vegetables were steamed /boiled and then just a simple popu/tadka of mustard seeds, curry leaves and urad dal. This resulted in the taste of the vegetable coming through rather than having them smothered in sauces and gravies and the flavours totally hidden. Sometimes, for a change each veggie will have one added ingredient to enhance its taste like sesame seeds with lauki ( bottle gourd, sorrakai, anapakai), or jeera powder with beerkaya ( ridge gourd, toori).

I think most home foods are made that way. Simple, not too many ingredients and easily made.


One of the simpler dishes that I like to make is aloo jeera. I love its taste with chapatis and a dal. Though the potato is a much maligned vegetable, it's popularity cannot be doubted.


Now for the recipe


4 medium potatoes boiled
1 tablespoon jeera roasted and powdered coarsely
salt to taste
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon whole jeera ( cumin seeds)
4 curry leaves
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon rice flour

Dice the boiled potato into 1 inch pieces.
Heat oil. When medium hot, add mustard seeds and fry till they splutter.
Now add the jeera till it turns golden brown.
Add curry leaves and when they are fried, add potatoes.
Keep frying on low heat till it starts turning brown.
Add the rice flour. The rice flour helps in turing the potatoes really crisp.
When nicely browned, add the salt, jeera powder and chilli powder.
Serve hot along with chapatis and dal.

18 comments:

Srivalli said...

tbc...that looks yummy..

bha said...

yeah, you r so right about the simplicity of the home made foos, kamini...and yet it is so tasty and comforting....nice recipe

Latha Narasimhan said...

Potato curry is looking yum kamini! Nice recipe with jeera. All our spices add to taste and have medicinal properties too!

FH said...

Delicious! I can imagine the taste with Chapatis.

Rajitha said...

i love this curry, i can almost taste it with tomato rasam...yumm!

Pooja V said...

Home cooked food is always a treat to taste buds n easy on tummy. Simple but yummy recipe.

Suganya said...

Hi Kamini...This is my fav....Looks YUMMY!....Nice recipe...

Padma said...

tbc, that is really a very comforting food. On a lazy day, I fry some aloos like this to accompany "our traditional rasam" to go along with hot rice. Infact this is the express meal too! Nice photos tbc!

bee said...

we make this is in the oven. it gets evenly done all around. lovely dish.

bee said...

we make this is in the oven. it gets evenly done all around. lovely dish.

TBC said...

That's a good looking potato sabji. Along with some rasam, this would be grrrrreat!

archana said...

Aloo look yummy. Very simple and nice recipe :)

Manasi said...

Very simple.. that is the best thing! sometimes, the simplest of things are the best!

Kamini said...

yes I did forget to mention that this is great with rasam and hot rice... Thanks for pointing it out.
Thanks all of you for your very kind comments..

Unknown said...

Looks yummy!! Potato is great in any form.

Namratha said...

Yum yum Kamini, another potato concoction..simply love it!I made something similar today with bell peppers too. Adding rice flour, thats something new to me...should give it a try! :)

Dori said...

It's neat the blogs you can find by following comments and blog rolls :D These potatoes look really good...you have a nice blog...I'll be checking back again!

Athika said...

My first time in your blog loved your recipes. This is the same way we make the aloo jeera sabji but minus the rice flour. Hey even I am from chennai....nice recipe. I love south Indian style food. I miss them a lot.

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