Curries might seem daunting, they take time, they often require a lot of different ingredients and steps. But boy are you happy when it’s done and you take that first bite. So, we’re not going to lie, this isn’t a quick recipe and it takes quite some steps. But like we said, it’s all going to be worth it.
Ingredients
So, what’ll you need?
- About 400 grams of waxy potatoes, peeled and cubed
- Green chillis, to taste
- 1 cup of finely chopped unions, white or red
- 1 cup of finely chopped tomatoes
- Spices
- 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds or cumin powder
- a sprig of curry leaves or 1 to 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 1 tsp finely chopped or grated garlic
- 1 to 1 1/4 tsp red chili or kashmiri chili powder
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/8 tsp turmeric powder
- 4 to 5 cloves
- 1 tsp tamarind paste, soaked in hot water
- salt to taste
- oil or (preferably) ghee
Method
Smooth curry making starts with good preparation. We know, BORING, but it really does help, because some of the steps follow each other rapidly. So start by peeling and cubing the potatoes in about 1,5 cm squares. Keep them immersed in water until using.
Chop the onions and the tomatoes, prepare the garlic and ginger, measure out the spices. You shouldn’t have too much trouble to find these spices in your supermarket. The curry leaves are a different story though. We by them at the local toko, but even they don’t always sell them. Fresh they are way better then dried, so if you find them fresh, buy them, a lot, because they keep quite well in the fridge. If you can’t find them, you can use bay leaves.
Heat about 2 tbsp of ghee or oil (like peanut or sunflower seed, but not olive) in a good sized wok or sauté pan that you can put a lid on, on a medium heat. Allow to warm up and add the mustard seeds. When they start to crackle, add the cumin and stir. Add the curry leaves, but look out, because this will spatter a lot. When the spattering has settled down (after like a minute), add the onions and the chilies. Fry until the onions have softened and have a pinkish hue.
Add the ginger and garlic, and fry until the smell of raw garlic is gone. Add the coriander, chili, turmeric, and garam masala powder , and cloves. Fry until you can smell the garam masala, this will take a minute or two. Then add the tomatoes and stir. You can relax a bit a this point, because you’re going cook the tomatoes until they’ve turned to mush.
When the tomatoes are mushy, add the tamarind. Continue to cook the tomatoes, stirring occasionally, until the oils start to separate. You’ll know what we mean when you see it. This takes about 10 to 15 minutes. Have a taste. There isn’t a lot of salt in the curry at this point, so add that, or go for something like stock or fond. We like our spuds salty, but this is up to you.
Add the potatoes (finally, right?) and stir so that they are nicely covered in the sauce. Add boiling water so that the potatoes are just covered and allow to cook with the lid on. Cook until the potatoes are ready. Taste again to check the seasoning. The curry will be rather on the wet side, but if it is too wet for your liking, allow some liquid to evaporate.
And there you go! That wasn’t that bad, right? This can be quite a quick recipe, but we sometimes manage to take hours to prepare it. Serve with rice, parathas or pooris, and a pickle of some sort.
Variations
- For tangyness, you can also add dried mango powder instead of the tamarind.
- Go crazy, and use oyster mushrooms instead of potatoes. Fry the oyster mushrooms until they start to get gnarly before adding them.
- This could be a vegan recipe if you use oil to cook in stead of the ghee.