Chettinad potato roast

This is probably my most favouritest post (It’s ok at times to be grammatically wrong when the correct superlative is zimbly not enough :)). Now that I have emphasized on the seriousness of this post, let me break down as to why this is such a special post for me – D made this dish :). Yeah, you heard me right. That very same D, who generally comes to the kitchen to fish something out to eat rather than make something in the kitchen. In the last 6 years that I have known him, I can count the number of times he has cooked – This includes keeping a pot of rice (during the entire duration he had my MIL as on call support :)), making maggi, making some sandwiches (with store bought bread). There was this one instance he had made a basic potato curry (again, with my MIL as on call support). It was edible yes, but it was all squished & smashed. Basically you got the point, right?. D isn’t the culinary go-to in our house. However, he claims to be the next Mr Venkatesh Bhatt (a south indian famous chef) and actually gives feedback when we are cooking just by smelling the food. If I don’t add the fact that he is right most times (he is right most times), he’s probably going to kill me :). Over the last weekend, D just declared he is going to make something for us. He checked on google and decided on what he was going to make as well. He had asked us to cook the potatoes & asked help to locate the spices required for the dish. Other than that, he pretty much did the dish all by himself and gawd, the dish was mind blowing. Mind blowing to the extent, I just had to put it on the blog even though we didn’t take any step wise pictures (I swear I wasn’t expecting such an mouth watering end result). D’s cooking experiment reminded me of a famous quote (which also comes in Ratatouille) – ‘Anyone can cook’. D has a new found respect from my side in the world of cooking! Expecting more from you D :p. The original recipe he referred to is this.

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Chettinad potato roast

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

30 mins

 

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

• 3 nos potatoes
• 1 no onion (diced thin and long)
• 5 pods garlic (diced thin and long)
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 tsp oil

To roast & grind

• 1/4 tsp fennel seeds
• 3 nos red chillies
• 1 tsp channa dal
• 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp pepper corns
• 1/2 tsp oil

Instructions

To roast & grind

1. In a small pan, heat some oil & add all the ingredients mentioned in the 'To roast & grind' section above.

2. Once the ingredients brown, turn off the heat & let it cool down.

3. Once cooled, grind the mixture to a coarse consistency. Set it aside. 

For the chettinad roast

1. In a small pressure cooker, pressure cook the potatoes for 2-3 whistles. 

2. Once the steam is released, peel the potato skins and cut them into cubes (any desired shape is fine).

3. In a pan/ kadai, heat some oil & add the mustard seeds. 

4. Once the mustard seeds start to splutter, add the garlic & saute for a few seconds.

5. Add the onion and saute for a few minutes till they start to brown. 

6. Add the cubed potatoes at this stage along with some salt and give it a quick mix. 

7. Add the red chilli powder, turmeric powder at this stage and cook till the raw smell starts to wear off (maybe 3-4 minutes on high flame).

8. At this stage, add the powdered mixture and mix well. Check and adjust for salt. 

9. Once the potatoes get crispy on the outside, turn off the heat. 

10. Serve hot with rice or rotis. Divine people! 🙂

Recipe Notes

1. Our potatoes were cooked about 80% in the pressure cooker. That helped to ensure the potatoes don't get all mushy during the rest of the process.