Recipe of the month - Indian potato curry, pulav and raita

- Swati Biwal, composed by Rutana Al-Hassan and Anita Yehudai

Serves - 7

Potato curry

Ingredients:

* 10-11 Boiled Potatoes, medium size

* 1 big onion

* 1½ tomatoes

* 1½ inch ginger

* 2 pods garlic

* 3 small green chilies

* 1 small bunch of fresh coriander

* 1½ cup of water

* 2 tbsp Oil

* 1 bay leaf

* 5 black pepper kernels

* 4 cloves

* 1½ tsp cumin seeds

* ¼ tsp turmeric powder

* 2 tsp coriander powder

* ½ tsp chili powder

* salt to taste

Cooking:

1) Chop the tomatoes and onions into small cubes and peel the boiled potatoes and set aside.

2) Finely chop the garlic, ginger and chilies.

3) Heat the oil in a wok and put in bay leaf (broken in half) and add the black pepper, cloves and cumin.

4) Once the cumin crackles, add the chopped ginger, chilies and garlic and fry in oil for half a minute.

5) Add the chopped onion and sauté until transparent, then add the tomatoes and add the turmeric, chili powder and coriander powder.

6) When tomatoes are soft add the water and salt to taste.

7) Once the water comes to boil, add the potatoes broken

by hand into the dish and leave it to simmer for about 20 minutes.

8) Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Vegetable Pulav

Ingredients:

* 1 chopped carrot

* 1 cup frozen peas

* 1/2 onion julienne

* 1 tsp ghee or oil

* 1 tbsp cumin seeds

* 1 bay leaf

* 2 whole cardamoms

* 4 whole black pepper kernels

* ½ tsp turmeric

* ½ tsp chili powder

* 2½ tsp salt

* 2 cups basmati rice washed and soaked in water for 30 min

* 3.5 cups water

Cooking:

1) Heat up the ghee or oil in a frying pan and add the cumin, bay leaf, cardamom and the pepper kernels.

2) After the cumin start to crackle, add the chopped onions and sauté for 1 min.

3) Now add carrots, peas, turmeric, chili powder and salt. Make sure the vegetables are half cooked. Keep stirring.

4) In a separate vessel start cooking the soaked rice in water and wait till it’s half cooked (about 5-7 min) then add the vegetables to the rice and mix well.

5) Cover the vessel and cook on low flame. Keep checking for water and if required, add a little more till the rice is fully cooked.

Cucumber Raita

Ingredients:

* 500g plain yoghurt

* 1 tsp sugar

* 1 tsp salt

* 1 tsp roasted cumin powder (alternative: If you don’t have cumin powder, roast cumin in a dry pan and crush)

* Half a cucumber chopped into tiny cubes or grated

* Small bunch of coriander leaves, chopped

Cooking:

1) Pour the yoghurt into a bowl.

2) Then add sugar, salt and cumin powder and mix well with yoghurt.

3) Add the chopped cucumber into the mixture and garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves.