Whats Cooking?

It was one of those weekends when the cook didn't turn up. I thank God on such days, cuz it gives me the freehand to cook whatever I want, at the pace I want. As I pondered *ahem* on what to cook, my eyes fell on the Exciting Vegetarian Cooking by Tarla Dalal. I bought this book soon after I got married, when I was all gung-ho about cooking and experimenting. I chose one of the dishes that looked lovely, and made some changes/additions of my own to it. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
5-6 medium sized potatoes
2 medium onions
3-4 cashew nuts, pounded into pieces
2-3 cardamoms
1 stick cinnamon
2 cloves
1 bay leaf
2 green chillies, finely chopped
1 red chilli
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teacup curd (yoghurt)
3/4 teacup finely chopped coriander leaves (cilantro leaves)
2 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
salt, to taste

Method:
1. Wash the potatoes, and boil them in cooker.
2. Once done, peel the skin, and cut them into big chunky pieces (but not too big, just that don't mash them)
3. Cut the onions in quarters, and boil them. Use water enough to soak the onions.
4. When done, drain the water. Transfer them into the mixer along with chashewnut pieces, and grind them into a paste.
5. In a pan, heat ghee. Fry cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon and bay leaf for half a min.
6. Now add the onions+cashew paste and fry for sometime.
7. Add green chillies and fry some more.
8. Pound the red chilli and add it to the above along with coriander powder. Fry for a while.
9. Turn it to sim, and add the beaten curd and salt. Cook on low flame.
10. Add half of coriander and cook for a min.
11. Add the potato cubes and cook for few more mins. Mix well.

Garnish with remaining coriander leaves.

Serving suggestion: Serve with hot rotis or parathas!

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Its simple and quick to make. The original recipe had asked for paneer instead of potatoes (there wasn't any paneer at home) and added sugar at the end. I skipped the sugar part. Try and let me know if you liked it!