Weekend Herb Blogging with The Humble Tiffinbox Lunch: Adraki Aloo Tamatar

Adraki Aloo Tamatar/ Gingery Potatoes  and Tomatoes

Cut Salad: Crisp Turnips, Radish, Onions, Carrots, Green Chilli Pepper, Lemon

This lunch menu of  light rotis/chappathis with a Adraki Aloo-tamatar/Gingery potato and tomato curry  and a simple 'cut salad'  of winter vegetables would be 'at least made once' for many of us. Of North Indian provenance...this can be re-invented in endless ways, all of of them delicious. 

It lends itself to your whim on the go with the basic staples in your pantry: potatoes and tomato. It sounds simple and an any 'whichever way' kind of dish but when it comes together balancing the tart sauce with the hearty potatoes, the heaviness cut by the flavour of ginger, it is a perfect accompaniment to the humble, light phulka/ roti or the fried puris/pooris. You can avoid one spice or the other,  but cummin and ginger are the essential ones.

Ingredients

1 medium large red-skinned potato, cut into chunks = 1 1/4 cups

2 roma tomatoes

1 1/2 tsp of grated ginger

1/2 tsp of cummin seeds

1/4 tsp aniseed

1/4 tsp Shahjeera or black cummin

2-3 dried red chillies

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

Pinch of asafoetida powder

Salt

Method

Cut the potatoes into chunks

Heat 2 tbsps of vegetable oil

Temper the cummin, aniseed and shahjeera

Add the broken red chilli pieces

Immediately add the potato chunks

Sprinkle turmeric powder and toss well to coat

Add a little water and cook until the potatoes are almost done

Add chopped tomatoes and water if needed

Add grated ginger

cook for another 8 minutes or until it has a saucy consistency

Garnish with chopped coriander.

This recipe goes to the Weekend Herb Blogging # 311, started by Kalyn's Kitchen and continued by Haalo,   hosted  this week by Brii.