Cooking notes

• It’s rich, substantial, deeply-satisfying, yet unhealthy enough that you can’t enjoy it daily – yes, it’s the typical Punjabi breakfast!

• Aloo puri (i.e. potato curry with puffed, deep-fried bread) is a favourite, and for this recipe I’ve adapted the curry made by Manjula’s Kitchen (I love all her recipes, they’re fail-proof).

• You can use her puri recipe to complete the meal, but this curry is just as enjoyable with rice, parathas or chapati.

• Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients

For the marination:

• 4 medium potatoes, boiled and peeled

• 3 medium tomatoes, finely chopped

• 2 tbsp cooking oil

• 1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)

• 1/8 tsp asafetida (hing)

• 3 tsp coriander powder (dhania powder)

• ½ tsp red chili powder

• ¼ tsp turmeric powder (haldi)

• 1 tsp ginger, finely grated

• Salt, to taste

• 2 cups water

• ¼ tsp garam masala

• 2 tbsp coriander leaves, finely chopped, for garnishing (dhania)

Method

1. Roughly crumble the potatoes by hand into bite-size chunks. The beauty of this curry is in irregular-shaped pieces, rather than neatly cubed by knife.

2. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Once its moderately hot, add the cumin seeds and asafetida. The seeds should split right away – so to test if the oil is ready, add just one seed at first.

3. After 30 seconds of stirring, add the tomatoes. Cook the tomatoes until they are soft and mushy (2-3 mins).

4. Add the spices, i.e. coriander powder, turmeric, chili powder and ginger. Stir fry until the tomatoes start leaving a trail of oil around the sides of the pan. This should take about 2 minutes.

5. Add the potatoes and salt, and mix it up well. Add water. Once the curry comes to a boil, cover the pan and lower the heat to medium. Let it cook for about 10 minutes.

6. Stir the curry, and while doing so, mash a couple of the potato chunks – this adds thickness to the curry. Adjust the water to your liking, as the curry will thicken further while cooling.

7. Add garam masala and coriander leaves. Mix it well, turn off the heat and cover the pan for 5-10 mins. And your dish is ready!