Lasoon Sengdane Batate chi Bhajee (Garlic-Peanut Potato Curry)

We had some potatoes that needed to be used up and I needed another dish to go with the eggplant curry for dinner last night, so this potato curry was a natural choice. (I had originally been hoping to also make a dal go to with it to add a little more protein to the meal, but I ran out of energy and just stuck with the two veggie curries in the end.)

TF usually isn't that big a fan of potato curries. But surprisingly, in this case she actually preferred this to the eggplant one! Honestly, they were both excellent. Although grinding up the peanuts and garlic and whatnot for the initial step of the recipe did take a bit of elbow grease. Next time I might try using the "food chop" setting on the blender rather than doing it in the molcajete. Hopefully that will streamline the process a bit.

Lasoon Sengdane Batate chi Bhajee

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. sesame seeds
• 2 Tbsp. raw peanuts (without skins)
• 4-5 cloves garlic
• 3 dried red Thai, cayenne, or arbol chilies
• 2 Tbsp. peanut oil¹
• 450g potatoes, cut into 2cm cubes
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1 small (~400mL) can diced tomatoes
• 1 c. water
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
• 12 fresh or frozen curry leaves

Directions

1. Combine the sesame seeds, peanuts, garlic, and chilies in a blender, food processor, or molcajete and pulse to form a finely chopped, slightly gritty blend. (If using a molcajete, you may want to add a small portion of the salt to help aid in breaking down and grinding the garlic and chilies.)
2. Heat the oil over medium-low heat.
3. Add the minced blend to the oil and cook, stirring, until the mixture turns brown and begins to get somewhat crumbly (5-8 minutes).
4. Add the turmeric and cook for another 5-10 seconds.
5. Add the potatoes, tomatoes, water, and salt and stir to combine.
6. Raise heat to medium-high and bring to a boil.
7. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are tender (30-40 minutes).
8. Stir in the cilantro and curry leaves and serve.

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¹ I didn't have any peanut oil, so I decided to go for sesame oil instead. If you don't have either of those, then I think that canola oil or ghee would also be fine. (Although obviously don't use ghee if you need to keep things vegan.) ^Back