Potatoes in Coconut Curry with Mint and Cilantro

~6 Servings~
Adapted from Suvir Saran’s Indian Home Cooking 

I’ve made this recipe substituting eggplant for the potatoes.  Paneer or tofu may work well too.  If you try out a different main ingredient, let me know.  I haven’t tried it with cauliflower as suggested in Indian Home Cooking.  For some reason, the combination doesn’t really appeal to me.  Also, don’t be intimidated by the number of ingredients this recipe calls for – most of them are things you have in your pantry.  And in a pinch, I’ve made this without the mint and just substituted twice as much cilantro (with the stems!) which packs a lot of fresh, tangy flavor on it’s own.

Onion-Coconut Paste:
1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts
1 large onion, quartered (red or yellow)
1/4 cup shredded coconut (fresh or frozen)
2 green cardomoms (popped out of the shell)
2 tablespoons water

Mint-Cilantro Paste:
1/4 cup mint leaves
1/4 cup coriander leaves (you can use the stems too)
1-2 green chilis

Other:
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
2 cinnamon sticks
4 green cardomoms (popped out of the shell)
4 cloves
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
Fistful of curry leaves
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, diced
1 28 oz. can of coconut milk (I use light coconut milk to keep things on the healthier side)
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1/4 teaspoon lal mirch (red chili powder)
1/4 teaspoon garam masala
3-4 potatoes (peeled and diced into bite size pieces)
Fistful of fresh chopped cilantro for garnish 

In a food processor or blender, blend the peanuts to a consistency of semi-fine crumbles.  Add the remaining ingredients for the onion-coconut paste and process until you have a smooth paste.  Keep aside.

Add the mint-cilantro paste ingredients to the food processor bowl and process until you have a smooth paste.  Add a little water if necessary.

In a large stockpot, heat about 2 tablespoons of oil on medium-high heat.  Add the mustard seeds and when they pop, add the cinnamon sticks, cardomom pods, cloves, curry leaves, ginger and garlic stirring occasionally for 2-3 minutes.

Add the onion-coconut paste and salt to taste (I add about 2 teaspoons) and cook uncovered until the water evaporates from the paste and the oil separates.  Steam pockets will develop that make the paste puff up so be sure to keep an eye on it and stir.  Cook for about 7-10 minutes.

Add the potatoes and stir until the pieces are coated with the mixture.  Cook with the stockpot partially covered so some steam can vent out for about 15 minutes until the potatoes are slightly tender when poked with a fork, stirring occasionally.

Add the coconut milk, cumin powder, chili powder, garam masala and mint-cilantro paste and stir well.  Cook for another 10 minutes halfway covered stirring occasionally or until the potatoes are completely tender.  

Add salt to taste and shower with cilantro.  Serve hot with roti or naan and rice with raita. 

Spicy Pesto Third Way: Basil-Mint Pesto Tofu Scramble

Grocery:
2-3 tablespoons spicy pesto
1 package tofu
1 yellow onion, diced
Half a beefsteak tomato, diced
1 potato, boiled, peeled and cubed
Half a 28 oz. can white tuscan beans, drained and rinsed
Handful of tostada shells or tortilla chips

1. Heat about a tablespoon of oil in a skillet.  Add the onions and saute until translucent.
2. Squeeze the water out of the tofu.  Use your hands to crumble into small pieces and then add to the skillet and cook until golden.
3. Add the beans and tomatoes and saute until the tomatoes are melted and the beans softened.
4. Add the potatoes.
5. Mix about 1/4 cup water with the pesto and pour over the scramble.  Cook on medium low heat for 2-3 minutes and then serve hot with tostadas.

Spicy Pesto Second Way: Basil-Mint Pesto Bruschetta

For the Spicy Basil-Mint Pesto recipe click here.

Additional Grocery:
1 loaf crusty bread, sliced into pieces about half to three-fourth inch thick
Handful thinly sliced garlic (optional)

Making Pesto Bruschetta: This is an easy appetizer to make for a dinner party because you can make the pesto a day in advance and store it in the refrigerator.  It’s also a really colorful addition to a dinner table (and while I love food to taste good, looking pretty is nice too).  When you’re ready to serve, arrange the bread slices on a cookie tray.  Smear a little Olivio or butter on one side of each piece of bread.  Sprinkle the garlic pieces over the bread so each bread piece has one or two pieces of garlic.  Spread a generous layer of pesto over each slice of bread.  Pop the tray into the oven at about 350 degrees or into a toaster oven for about 4-5 minutes or until the bread starts to look a little golden around the edges.  Eat while still toasty.

Serve this alone as an appetizer or alongside pasta.  We had ours with leftover Pesto Marinara on Whole Wheat Linguine (happy to report that it made for great leftovers).

I made this pesto using mint in part because I’ve become convinced that anything green can be made into pesto (basil, cilantro, mint, etc.) and because the mint in my fridge was threatening to go bad.  It gave a really nice pop to the pesto that lingered in my mouth and balanced the spice of the red chilis and creaminess of the basil.
Grocery:
5-6 half inch pieces of pecorino romano or parmesan reggiano 
2 tablespoons pine nuts
3-4 dried red chilis 
3 big cloves garlic, peeled*
1 bunch fresh basil, leaves plucked
1 bunch mint, leave plucked and stems discarded
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt to taste

Making the Spicy Pesto:
1. Add the pieces of pecorino romano to food processor and process until in small pieces.  
2. Add the pine nuts, red chilis and garlic and process until all are in small small pieces.  
3. Wash the basil and mint.  Dry the leaves with a paper towel or by wringing the water out.  Add the basil-mint mix to the food processor bowl.  Not all of the basil-mint mix may fit into your food processor bowl.  In that case, add the basil-mint in batches and process.
4. While the food processor runs, slowly drizzle in the olive oil through the top opening or add before running.  If all of the basil-mint mix didn’t fit, add the remaining amount and run the processor again while drizzling in the remaining olive oil.
5. Transfer from the food processor to a bowl.  Add salt to taste.  Refrigerate until ready to use. 

*For a milder garlic flavor, you can blanche the garlic pieces before using.  Put the peeled garlic cloves in a saucepan with cold water and bring to a boil.  Drain and then use as you would otherwise.

Spicy Pesto First Way: Whole Wheat Pasta with Spicy Pesto Marinara

Additional Grocery:
Jar of tomato sauce
Pasta (a wide ribbon pasta like linguine is suggested)
Crunchy loaf of bread on the side for sopping up sauce (optional but strongly recommended)

Making Pesto Marinara: Now that you’ve made the pesto, all of the work is done (although it goes so quickly that it hardly feels like work). Heat the jar of marinara in a sauce pan on medium-low.  Add about one and a half cups of the pesto and mix in.  I like to keep a nice balance between the pesto and marinara, so I know I’ve reached the right level when the sauce has a red-green look to it.  Enjoy over wide noodles, like the whole wheat linguine we had, or penne or rigatoni.  I would avoid angel hair pasta since the pesto tends to overpower thin, delicate noodles.

Suggested additions: A few handfuls of tuscan white beans would have gone nicely with this pasta with the added benefit of providing a dose or protein.  

Bhajis 
~makes about 20-25 pieces~      

Grocery:
2 cups gram flour
1 cup rice flour
1/2 cup fine cornmeal*
2 medium sized potatoes, peeled
1 white onion
1/2 head cauliflower, cut into small florets

Masala Rack:
2 tspn. salt (more to taste as needed)
1 tspn. lal mirch

Staples:
For dipping: Ketchup, Coriander Chutney or Mint Chutney

*Cornmeal is optional.  My mom had the idea to add this to the batter after we had really good bhaji somewhere…maybe Chennai Garden in NY.  I tried it and it turned out nicely because it gives a nice, thick and crunchy coating.  But it’s not required.   

Preparing the Batter:
1. In a large mixing bowl, mix together all of the flours.  Mix in the lal mirch and salt.
2. Add water – add 1 cup of water first and mix.  Add more water as needed until the batter has a pancake like consistency.  The batter should not be very thin.  If it is too thin, add more flour.  
3. Taste the batter to make sure there is enough lal mirch and salt.  

Preparing the Veggies:
1. Peel the potato and cut them into 1/4 inch thick slices.  
2. Cut the onion down the middle and cut into thin slices.
3. Cut the cauliflower into small florets.  

Making the Bhaji:
1. Heat enough oil (I used canola) in a deep skillet to deep fry the bhajis on medium-low to medium-high heat.  
2. When the oil is hot, drop a handful of the veggies into the batter.  Take one veggie, make sure it is well coated and then remove it from the batter holding holding the veggie piece upright so the excess batter drips off towards your hand.  My mom taught me this trick.  It keeps the bhaji from developing “tails” or long pieces of batter dripping off the side (like a tail).  Although she confessed to me that she really like the tails b/c they get nice and extra crunchy.  I’m inclined to agree that I like tails. 
3. Gently roll/drop the bhaji into the oil and fry until golden.  You may need to turn the bhaji over if the oil is not deep enough.
4. Enjoy while hot with ketchup and mint or coriander chutney.