Tandoor Aloo Potatoes With Spices Done With Fire!!!

It's been crazy up here in wine country. actually it's crazy everywhere but since this is where I am presently this is my crazy. We've been laying low since I recovered from covid. We were laying low before too. What that means is we haven't socialized, eaten out, (even contactless pickup) or gone anywhere (we are walking the dog) except to a hospital or doctor's office since this whole thing started. Meanwhile, my cooking muscle since I've been up and about again, is really getting a pandemic workout.

If that isn't enough, we've had lightning strike wildfires, rolling blackouts, and temperatures in the 100+ category. We're trying to get a script turned in and it's hard to work under those conditions. We've had our bags packed to run, and fortunately we didn't have to. We were also told to limit water / power use, and NO fires no way no how. So no outdoor cooking, not that anyone would want to stand in 103 degree temps over a fire pit. So far so good.

Last weekend we got a break, when more lightning was predicted, meaning the possibility of more fires, but the weather gods/goddesses decided to cut us a break, sent a a bit of rain and held the lightning. The fires are still burning but are much more contained, and people who had to flee their homes in the evacuation zones are being allowed to go back home. We're not out of the woods here yet, but hopefully the woods will not still be on fire.

I took advantage of pleasant temperatures and the ability to use my Homdoor Tandoor oven to do a little Indian cooking, and one of the dishes worked beautifully with the tandoor oven. It involves potatoes and is one of the simplest dishes  there is. Potatoes aka Aloo, simple boiling potatoes, basted with spices and then roasted on skewers in the tandoor till they are charred on the outside, spicy and soft on the inside. There are a lot of ways of doing this dish, this is how I do it.

Tandoor Aloo

Here's What You Need:

Several medium sized yukon gold or boiling potatoes

2 Tbs vegetable oil

2 tsp cumin seeds

1 serrano chili finely chopped, either seeded or unseeded (depends on how hot you want it)

2 tsp mashed coriander seeds

1 tsp red chili flakes

1/2 tsp turmeric

2 tsp amchur  (dried mango) powder

1/2 tsp cumin ppowder

2 tsp lemon juice

salt to taste

a handful of chopped fresh cilantro

 

Here's What To Do:

You can par boil/ partially cook the potatoes to soften them a bit before skewering them, just don't cook them all the way through.

After they are cooked, you can leave the peel on or not, as you wish. Set them aside.

What we do here is prepare a basting sauce that will be used on the potatoes as they cook and then the remains of it drizzled over the finished dish.

First, get your spices ready.

Dice the chili pepper.

Crush the coriander seed with a mortar and pestle.

In a skillet or kadhai heat 2 Tbs vegetable oil. When the oil is hot toss in the cumin seeds.

Let them toast. As soon as they get fragrant (less than a minute) toss in the  serrano chili, and crushed coriander seed.

Now add chili flakes, turmeric, dried mango powder (amchur), roasted cumin powder, and salt. Stir these around and cook them for a few seconds. This is your basting liquid. Set it aside

Rub the potatoes with oil and thread the potatoes on oiled skewers.

Fire up your Tandoor Oven. The potatoes cook at 400 degrees for about  5 minutes, if you are doing these on a grill the same applies.

Brush the potatoes with the spice marinade

Place the skewered potatoes in the tandoor or on your grill.

Let them roast for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes take them out and brush them with the spice mixture again . Put them back in the tandoor for another 5 minutes.

When they are done, take them out and off the skewers.

Place them back in the kadhai with the marinade, coat them. 

 Drizzle them with lemon juice.

Sprinkle them with the chopped cilantro.

Ignore curious fans....

and serve them up!

Serve these spicy potatoes alongside any dish, meat or veg. Scoop the insides out of the charred skins and enjoy. 

I'm really enjoying the tandoor and especially enjoying cooking stuff fresh out of our garden in it. 

We're supposed to have more record breaking temperatures up here this Labor Day weekend.  Reports are of 102-104 degrees so I've got something cool planned. Watermelon Chaat. so stay tuned! Follow along on Twitter at @kathygori  

Tired Of The Same Old Spuds? Creamy, Spicy, Potatoes Indian Style.

    
   Summer is here in Sonoma in full force. We had a series of super hot days  (fortunately, with cool nights) good for the grapes. It's also been good for everything else we're growing around here. This has been a busy year so far. Working on a new film script, introducing the first phase of  The Chaunk line of Indian spices and grilling rubs, and helping work on the menu for the new CocoaPlanet Chocolate Factory and Tasting Room  that' s going to be opening here in Sonoma very soon.

PS: The  menu is entirely gluten free, as the entire facility will be totally gluten free! See this Cherry Almond Tart? Totally gluten free and less than  1/4 cup of organic sugar in the whole shebang!

And these brownies made from CocoaPlanet chocolate....

And these vegan deep dark truffle  pots de creme topped with gluten-free edible dirt and edible flowers?

Yeah, that's what we're talking about!

   Anyway, man does not live by dessert alone (or so I've been told) and every now and then you've gotta throw some vegetables into the mix, which brings me to the latest product from our garden: organic Yukon Gold potatoes. Potatoes are one of the easiest things to grow...since all one needs are seed potatoes. You know, those potatoes that are kind of old and have eyes popping out all over??? Plant them. Cut them up first into halves or quarters, just so long as each one has an eye or two to start sprouting and BIngo!  In aboout 60 days or so, you've got potatoes.

Fortunately, we had a long rainy winter up here in Wine Country this year and so I had to wait for the rains to taper down before planting my potatoes...but once we had a dry spell into the ground they went.  I harvest the first bunch last week.

I combined them with some of our Anaheim chilies and of course a few tomatoes.

The recipe I'm sharing here doesn't require the tomatoes, so I enjoyed those on their own with  a bit of olive oil. The potatoes and the Anaheims became part of a classic Indian dish  Aloo ki sabzi, or...

Potatoes With Anaheim Chilies

Here's What You Need:
3 yukon gold potatoes
3 Anaheim chilies
1 Tbs vegetable oil (I use coconut oil)
1/4 tsp turmeric
3/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp sugar
4 Tbs crushed peanuts
1 Tbs sesame seeds
1 onion finely chopped
salt to taste

Here's What To Do:
Halve and boil the potatoes until they are fork tender, about 15 minutes or so.
Rinse them with cold water to stop the cooking process and set them aside.
Meanwhile, slice the Anaheim chilies into rings.

Peel the cooled potatoes. The skin should slip off easily.

Cut the potatoes into cubes.

Chop the onion finely and set aside.
Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet or kadhai.

When the oil is hot add in the cumin seeds.

When the seeds start to sizzle, add in the chopped onion.

Cook the onion until it becomes soft and translucent then add in  the turmeric, chopped peanuts...

...and sesame seeds.

Stir everything around a bit and then add in the Anaheim chilies...

 ...cumin and coriander.

Saute everything together, until the peppers are softened but still a bit al dente.
Add in the Kashmiri chili...

...and the yogurt mixed with sugar.

Stir everything around on a low heat. You don't want the yogurt to curdle.

Add in the potatoes, and salt to taste.

Stir everything around to blend it well.

When everything is cooked and the potatoes have warmed through and are well covered with the yogurt, take it off the stove and enjoy!

   Creamy, spicy and a tiny bit sweet, this is a great vegetarian accompaniment to any meal. I think it would also work chilled for a cookout.. however, it didn't last long enough for me to try it out that way. The great thing about this dish is it makes up pretty dang fast. Boil your potatoes ahead of time to really get a jump on things. This potato dish is definitely in my meal rotation.

   Coming up next, more Indian dishes, fast and easy because who wants to spend the summer in the kitchen! Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Blankity Blank Heirlooms

Heirlooms used to be the stuff that arrived in a cardboard box after great aunt Gertrude kicked the bucket. Things that were passed down . The odd chair, a string of pearls, the family silver, usually not potatoes....or any other vegetable for that matter. Until things started to change. Many years ago many vegetables roamed the earth. Different shapes, different colors, different sizes and then all of a sudden...they were gone all was silence and there was just...the big brown lump we know today as The Potato.
Once upon a time there were lots of potatoes and they all had great names...the Adora, The Agria, The All Blue, The Atlantic, The Austrian Crescent,The Bintje, The Dakota, The Carola Rose, The Desiree, The Inca Gold, The Irish Cobbler,The Ozette, The Purple Majesty,. you get the drift. It all started when Alan and I downloaded the documentary The Botany of Desire. I highly recommend it, especially the segment on potatoes and how we went from all these exciting varieties to just one or two or three. Living in the country I'm exposed to a great variety of vegetables and half the fun of cooking them is getting to know them. Up close and personal. By name.
Last week there was a special table at the Sonoma Market and on it was a hand lettered sign from a local grower Blankity Blank Produce. The table was piled with potatoes and they all had names. The German Butterball, The Red Chieftain, The Princess La Ratte. I was hooked.
I scooped up the German Butterballs, which are in the picture above, and also the Princess La Batte which is a fingerling variety. I would have had a picture of them too, but I ate them and the camera did not have a fast enough lens for that.
I couldn't wait to serve the German Butterballs. Indian cuisine offers a lot of potato dishes from one end of the subcontinent to the other, and one of my favorite is made with new potatoes but I figured it would work just as well with the German Butterballs.
I took my 6 German Butterballs. I washed but didn't peel them. I sliced and diced them. I took a one inch piece of ginger chopped it and placed it in the blender with 3 Tbs of water and 1/2 tsp of turmeric.
Here's what to do next.
1.) In a deep skillet or Karhai heat 2 Tbs of vegetable oil.
When it's hot, toss in
2.) 1/4 tsp of cumin seeds
stir fry it for a beat and when it starts to turn color add in
3.) the ginger paste
Cook it for one minute then put in
4.) 1 green chili seeded and thinly sliced
Stir fry it for about 30 seconds and then
5.) Add in the potatoes. Fry them for abouit 5 minutes and keep them moving in the pan. No sticking!
After about 5 minutes addd in
6.) 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Turn the heat down and continue to cook the potatoes stirring them and keeping them moving for another 5 minutes. Now toss in
7.) 1 1/4 tsp of salt
8.) 1 tsp of garam masala
9.) 1 Tbs of ground coriander
10.) 2 Tbs of lemon juice and about
11.) 3 Tbs of water.
Stir it all up and lower the heat, keep the potatoes cooking for another 25 minutes or so till it's done. Stir them every 10 minutes or so.
These potatoes are sort of an Indian version of home fries and very popular at our house whether or not I'm serving an entire Indian meal. Supporting local growers and their experiments with heirloom vegetables is a great idea, and an even better one if you have the ability to do so, is grow your own. They're easily ordered online from places such as Ronnigers Potato Farms. After all, what better way to do home fries, than homegrown?

Hold the Drumsticks! Hold the Turkey Too!

This is a weird time of the year to be talking about holding the drumsticks. Drumsticks seem to go together with Thanksgiving, which everyone in the US of A is frantically preparing, shopping and cooking for. As I discovered when I started cooking Indian food, there are other sorts of drumsticks. Drumsticks that any vegetarian would have no problem with. Because these drumsticks are a vegetable, otherwise known as Moringa Oleferia. It's a long ridged bean-type veggie and it's eaten as a lot of things are, in a lot of places, except here. When I talk about except here, I'm really talking about Sonoma where I live now.
Back in the day when I was full time In Los Angeles I was always shopping at a number of Indian Markets, buying spices, kitchen equipment and all the exotic vegetables I wanted as most of them were grown by local people. Long beans? Got em. Bitter Melon? Got it? Snake gourd? Got it? I could go on. Of course here in Sonoma there are many things that I couldn't find so easily down in LA. All sorts of local organic farms, for fruit, meat and vegetables all with in a stones throw. So, I can't complain too much.
We have one Indian market in the entire county which is a 50 mile round trip drive for us and there are also 3 other southeast Asian markets that I shop at, also a long haul. Whenever I'm in LA on business I'm always toting back everything I've been missing, and any studio meeting is always followed by a grocery shopping trip.
Among the things that I can't get up here are the aforementioned Drumsticks. I've been looking and am always promised..."next week....maybe" So, alas I can't show a drumstick here, but I can show a drumstick recipe and there's no better stand in for an original drumstick than a good old easy to find green bean.
Green beans are everywhere right now. It's one of the most popular dishes served on the Thanksgiving table. Green beans with browned butter and almonds, and who hasn't had green bean casserole with cream of mushroom soup mix right out of the can sprinkled with canned fried onion strings.....anyone? anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
This adaptation of an Indian dish by Atul Kochhar from his book, Indian Essence goes beyond Indian food and makes it all the way to the shores of Plymouth rock. And I promise no canned fried onion strings were used in the making of this dish!
Which brings me to what I call the non drumstick drumsticks with peas and potato.
1.) Clean and chop 1/2 lb of green beans into 1 inch pieces
2.) Cut 10 small fingerling potatoes into thin rounds
Meanwhile, in a spice grinder or processor mix
3.) 2/3 cup of grated dried unsweetened coconut
4.) 2 Tbs of chopped fresh cilantro
5.) 2 medium tomatoes
6.) 2 chopped shallots
7.) 2 tsp of sliced fresh ginger
8.) 1 Tbs of vegetable oil
9.) 1 tsp of Kashmiri chili powder substitute is 1/2 tsp cayenne powder mixed with 1/2 tsp paprika
10.) 1/2 tsp ground coriander
11.) 1/2 tsp ground cumin
12.) 1/2 tsp of turmeric
Grind all of this up until you have a nice thick paste.
Now, in a deep skillet or karhai heat
13.) 2 Tbs of oil
Toss in:
14.) 1 tsp of brown mustard seeds and
15.) 10 curry leaves
Saute these till the mustard seeds pop and everything is crackling. Then add in your spice paste and stir it all up.
16.) Cook it, stirring for about 3 minutes or so then Add in your green beans, and potatoes along with 7 Tbs of water and some salt to taste.
17.) Simmer the vegetables for about 20 minutes or until they're done.
18.) Add in 2/3 cup of frozen peas and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes.
Serve this hot. It makes a great quick vegetarian lunch with chapattis, or you can serve it as a side with any meat or fish. In fact it might make its' way to your Thanksgiving table. You won't be sorry. Save the canned fried onion strings for another day, and give thanks you don't have to eat them.

Just a note
Go to my A Million Cooks Podcast Page and listen to my interview with JoAnn Cianciulli Author of The LA Farmers Market Cookbook from Chronicle Books. JoAnn co-created and produced Food Network shows such as Food 911 with Tyler Florence, co-authored cookbooks with world-renowned chefs like Michael Mina, and has served as an industry expert on shows including Bravo's Top Chef Masters. It was great fun talking to her and I'm going to be talking to more cookbook authors in the near future, so stay tuned to the podcasts.