Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Potato-Bell Pepper Vegetable


This is a wonderful and simple Indian side dish from Maya. (Thanks Maya!)
It's REALLY REALLY easy and everyone seems to love it!
I've served it along side Indian dishes of course, but it's equally as tasty with a piece of fish and some rice. After you've tried it, let me know how YOU served it!

Printable version of Recipe

Ingredients:
olive oil
3-4 medium potatoes,
peeled/washed and cut into 1" thick slices of 1-1/2" lengths
3 Bell Peppers, cleaned and cut into 1" thick slices of 1-1/2" lengths
2 Tomatoes, cut into 8ths
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp garlic paste*
1/2 tsp ginger paste*
1-2 fresh thai chilies or 1 jalapeno, chopped (optional)
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chili powder
1/4 tsp garam masala
salt to taste
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro

Medium pan with cover (Ideally cover will have a lip at the edge that you can put a little water in without it running off.)

Peel and cut the potatoes into 1" thick slices of 1-1/2" lengths. I place them in a bowl covered with cool water. Just prior to putting them into the pan I drain them. The water that sticks to them is helpful in the cooking.

In a medium pan over medium high heat, add 2 tbsp oil. When heated, add mustard seeds. When they begin to pop, add the potatoes. Layer on the bell peppers, turmeric powder and salt to taste. Cover and cook on medium heat until potatoes are 3/4 done. (Stick potato with a fork and when still slightly tough, it's 3/4 done.)

Add ginger and garlic paste (and chillies/jalapeno if using) and stir to mix
well. Cover and cook for 2 minutes.

Add all other dry spice except for garam masala. Stir and mix well cook for 2 minutes. Turn heat down to a simmer once potatoes are cooked through.

Layer on the tomato slices. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. Add some water to the cover**.

Sprinkle on the garam masala and cilantro when done. Cover and let sit a few minutes.




** Tip: A trick Maya taught me. If you feel it may burn, put some water on top of the cover and keep cooking. This will keep the pot from burning.

*If you don't have these pastes, finely chop either garlic or ginger as called for. Garlic paste and ginger paste may be found at your local Indian market and at many specialty markets.

*** A note about Indian spices. You can play around with the spices in this dish. Beware that you may not want to increase the amount of turmeric as it can easily make a dish bitter.

Printable version of Recipe

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