Aloo Ki Bhujia
- Sanskriti Nigam
- Aug 18, 2016
- 2 min read
This recipe is courtesy of my grandmother, who made it whilst I was back home in London visiting a few weeks ago. It's always been a dream of mine to collect as many of my grandmother's recipes as possible and make them in to a book or something like that, so sharing this recipe with you is the first step towards that!
In Hindi, 'aloo' means potato, and if like me you like anything potato, then this recipe is definitely for you! It's incredibly easy, and minimal fuss requiring only one pan and ready in less than 20 minutes. It's typically made in a 'karahi' which is thick circular cooking pot, traditionally made out of cast iron, used in Indian cooking (see image below).
The dish can be eaten in a variety of ways as it is a dry 'sabzi'. A sabzi is essentially the name Indians give to each and every vegetable dish (in Hindi).You differentiate between these dishes by adding the name of the vegetable before 'sabzi' e.g. bhindi ki sabzi which literally translates to 'vegetable made of okra' or okra vegetable dish!
Back to how you can eat it: you can either eat the aloo ki bhujia as a side dish accompanying rice and dhaal and other sabzi's or you could even put it between 2 slices of bread spread with a little butter and chutney! The options are endless. But first and foremost, you should get cooking and try it out for yourself.
Ingredients
1tspn vegetable oil
6-8 small potatoes sliced in to thin rounds
3tspn fenugreek seeds
2-3 dried red chillies (depending on your spice indicator!)
1.5tspn turmeric
salt to taste
1.5tspn coriander powder
1tspn chili powder (or to taste)
1 medium onion sliced julienne
1tblsp roughly chopped fresh coriander to garnish
Directions
Heat the oil in a 'karahi'* or a wok and then breaking the dried chillies in half add them to the heated oil
Add the fenugreek seeds which should start sizzling. Sizzle for around 1 minute
Add the sliced potatoes, turmeric and salt, and sauté for around 4-5 minutes ensuring all the potatoes are covered with the oil, mustard seeds and spices (the potatoes will go a little yellow from the turmeric - that's ok!)
Cover with a lid to slightly steam and ensure the potatoes are cooked through. In order to know whether or not they are cooked, you should test to see that they give a little, but make sure they don't crumble completely - you want to retain a little bite!
Add the sliced onions and sauté further for 2-3 minutes but keep these a little crunchy to give the dish an alternate consistency and depth of flavour
Add the chilli powder and coriander power making sure to stir thoroughly and ensure everything is fully coated. Sauté for 2-3 more minutes
Once cooked through, remove from heat.
To serve: scatter with roughly chopped fresh coriander
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