By – Veena Sashikumar
Winter is setting in and the afternoon chai is getting more important. I personally love a nice snack with my tea. Something that not biscuits. Here are two of our house favourites that I make with tea. They are so yummy that they vanish in seconds.
ALU MEIN ALU
I had a similar dish long ago and I wanted to recreate it. The recreated version looked very similar to the one I ate but didn’t taste anything like that one but tasty nevertheless. It was in so much demand that I had to hide a few just to click a photo.
INGREDIENTS
- Medium sized potatoes – 5 or 6 (depends on how much you want to make)
- Chaat masala – 1 to 2 tsp – you can add more or less to suit your taste
- Chopped coriander – 4 tbsp.
- Chopped chilly – 1 or 2 (optional)
- Pepper papad – 3 to 4 – microwaved or roasted
- Salt to taste
- Turmeric – 2 to 3 pinches
METHOD
- I prefer the potatoes with skin for this one. Its gives a very nice flavour. So try using the white or pink potatoes and not the brushed potatoes. Cut the potatoes in half and scoop out the flesh leaving 1 mm of flesh with the skin to form a shell / cup.
- Boil the potato shells with a little bit of salt and turmeric. Keep them semi cooked. Because if they go soft then they will not hold shape.
- Cook the flesh separately with salt and turmeric. These have to be cooked fully and should be mash able. You can even put them in the cooker for 3 whistles. Don’t use a lot of water. You don’t want a very watery consistency. If you are cooking them in a pot, then drain out the excess water once they are cooked.
- Once this cools a little add the chaat masala, coriander, chilly, papads crushed.
- You could add salt but the chaat masala & the papad will have salt and you have cooked the potatoes with salt of taste before adding more salt.
- Fill up your cups with the potato papad mash.
- Place in oven at 180o for 10 – 15 mins to till you get a nice brown tint on the skin.
- This is now ready to be served with chutney of your choice or just plain tomato ketchup and chai.
VARIATION
- Crush some extra papad in a separate plate dip the filled potato cup to add a little crunch.
- If you like sweet potatoes, you can try the same recipe with sweet potatoes or a combination for potatoes and sweet potatoes.
About Veena:
I am a food and nutrition enthusiast. I love baking and experimenting with new recipes. Some of my cakes are displayed on my facebook page – annibunnycakes. And my recipe blog is cookwithveena.blogspot.com. So post your thoughts & comments when you try a recipe or like a cake.
