Alu/Gobhi Mutter - Gravy

My only excuse for yet another potato based recipe is VJ. He does NOT eat any other vegetables and it's been quite a task for me to convince him to try. It's a lost battle for the past 27 years but I have not given up hope. And so hasn't he 'cause he thinks that this recipe is a testament of the fact that he has changed my ways. Total BS! But to be fair, this is a simple and easy recipe on hectic weekdays when we have a quiz, a paper, case-studies...the whole enchilada on one school day.

But this recipe was originally meant for Gobhi Mutter which incidentally I love and VJ absolutely hates (he says cauliflower stinks). So you can make this with either vegetable you want. I've tried it both ways and its good. Although for the gobhi mutter, I saute the gobhi with a little oil to remove excess moisture. Otherwise the curry tends to get watery over the days as the gobhi leaves water when stored.

Ingredients:

Potatoes - 6 or 8 medium sized ones

Green peas - 1 cup

Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tsp

Green chillies - 4 spicy hot

Tomato - one medium sized, pureed in a blender

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp

Amchur powder (dried mango powder) - 1 tsp

Garam Masala powder - 1 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

Water as needed

Method:

1. Boil the potatoes. Cool, peel and cut into cubes.

2. Wash the peas in running hot water and soak them in hot water for about 15 minutes. If you are using fresh peas, cook them in water and a pinch of turmeric. The turmeric helps to keep the green color of the peas.

3. Slit the green chillies. Add the oil in a think bottomed vessel and splutter jeera in it. Add the ginger-garlic paste and the green chillies. Fry for 1 minute until the raw smell of the ginger-garlic paste fades away.

4. Move the vessel to a cold stove, add all the masalas and blend well. Move vessel back to the hot stove and immediately add the tomato puree. Do NOT add any water at this stage.

5. Keep the stove on MEDIUM-LOW and cook the tomato puree until oil separates. After that add 1/2 to 1 cup water based on how much gravy you desire in the curry.

6. Add the peas and potatoes, salt as needed and taste to make sure that all the seasoning is right. Mix well and add more water if needed at this stage.

7. Cover and cook on LOW or MED-LOW for 20 minutes. Make sure there is enough water to let it cook for this long. Otherwise you will end up burning the curry.

8. Another variation is to just toss in the peas and potatoes into the cooked tomato paste puree so that they are lightly coated. This would give a relatively dry version of the same dish.

Source:

Adapted from Sanjeev Kapoor's recipe here:

http://sanjeevkapoor.com/gobhi-matar.aspx

Pics to follow soon once I get back home! :)

Updated finally with pics!