Yum! Yum! Yum!

Achari Aloo is a popular North Indian side dish on the table. In this recipe, baby potatoes are boiled and coated with Achari ( pickle) spices like mustard, red chili, fennel seeds and amchur (dry mango) etc. As this dish is made with baby potatoes this could be a healthy one bite appetizer too. Creamy boiled potato inside will cover up all the achari spices outside making it flavorful, delicious and kids friendly. From long time I wanted to make this dish for my potato lover at home and finally it happened today.  This serves best as Appetizer or Side Dish with Roti or Rice. Here is the recipe for you, Njoy!

Super Yummy Achari Potatoes!

Ingredients:
Baby Potatoes - 1 lb
Onion - 1/2
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Mustard Oil - 1 Tbsp ( or Vegetable Oil)
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
salt - 1 tsp
Cilantro - 1 tbsp ( for garnish)

Achari Spice Powder:
Mustard Seeds - 2 tsp
Methi Seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Fennel Seeds - 1 tsp
Dry Red Chili - 4
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Preparatory Steps:

• Boil Baby Potatoes in the Pressure Cooker for 1 whistle. Take them out once the cooking is done, peel the skin off and keep them aside. 
• Grind all the spices under Achari Spice Powder section into coarse powder in a small mixie jar and keep it aside. 

Method:

1. Heat  non-stick pan and add oil to it. Once the oil is hot, add cumin seeds, mustard seeds and turmeric powder. As mustard starts spluttering, add chopped onions and saute them well. 
2. Add salt and Achari Spice powder to the pan. Saute onions with spices for 1 min. Add 1/2 of cup of water and simmer for 2 min. 
3. Add boiled potatoes to the pan and coat with spice mixture.  Reduce the flame to low and simmer for 5 min, while tossing the potatoes up and down gently. 
4. Switch off the stove, transfer to serving bowl and garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve hot with rice or roti.

Tips:
Adding mustard oil gives very authentic and achari flavor to this dish. If you don't have it that is fine, you can use Vegetable Oil in place of Mustard Oil in tempering. But Methi Seeds and Fennel Seeds are must to make this spice powder and they are irreplaceable in this recipe.



Will be back with another exotic easy dish
Happy Cooking until then!
-Mythreyi

In my space, i realized that there aren't that many Bhindi Recipes, so when I am trying to look for new Bhindi recipes, I stumbled on this Bhindi Kurkuri Recipe several times. As it looked like deep frying is involved in this recipe, I have skipped it several times. But today I just wanted to try this Crispy Okra for once. As I suspected this is not at all healthy recipe as deep frying is involved to get that taste and texture for this dish. But the taste is awesome, once in a while it is okay to try new dish! I may not make this very often because of the lengthy process involved and that deep frying process lways tests my patience. If you don't mind deep frying, you will appreciate Bhindi in fritters form for sure. Give it a try, Here is the recipe for you, Njoy!


Ingredients:
Bhindi / Okara -  1/2 kg ( 1 lb)
Salt - 1 tsp
Red Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala Powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Besan / Gram Flour - 3 Tbsp
Oil - for deep frying ( 1 cup roughly)

Method:

1. Trim the edges of Bhindi and cut them into half lengthwise. Remove the seeds as much as you can carefully, then chop the Bhindi skin into thin strips. ( i left some of the seeds, as it became very lengthy process to remove all the seeds)
2. Mix all the spices in a small bowl. 
3. Add the spice powder into a big ziplock bag. Add Okra stripes into the ziplock bag, close it and toss them in the bag until Okra strips are coated with Besan and Spice powder. 
4. Heat Oil on the Stove for 5 min. Once the oil is hot, add okra strips to the oil and deep fry them for 5 min until they turn into crisp. Finish all the Okra strips in batches until done. 
5. Transfer the Crispy Okra into a Serving Bowl and Serve hot with White Rice as Side dish. 

Check out other Bhindi Recipes as well.




Will be back with another new dish,
Happy Cooking until then,
-Mythreyi