Spicy Baby Potatoes Curry

Now a days, the whole of North and East India is under the realm of a severe cold wave which has broken last 40 years record. Even in the North Indian Plains, the temperature has dipped below zero degrees. While staying here at Bangalore, I can emphasize with what the people in general and children in particular are going through in this biting cold as I was born and brought up in the foothills of Himalayas in a town called Haridwar. 

Although most schools have declared holiday till 16^th still in order to perform day to day chores and buying household supplies mothers have to fight with this cold and go outdoors sometimes with the children. 

Coming back to today's recipe, baby potatoes are in season so making the most of it by preparing variety of dishes with it.

Ingredients:
1/2 kg baby Potatoes
2 Onions, ground to paste
2 Tomatoes, ground to paste
1/4 cup Peas
6-7 Garlic pods
1/2 tsp Ginger, grated
4-5 Green chillies, deseeded and slit
1/4 cup hung Curd
1 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp Coriander powder
1 tsp Kashmiri Red chilly powder, soak in warm water for 15 minutes
3-4 Whole red chilly
2-3 Green cardamoms
2-3 Cloves
2-3 Pepercorns
1 Bay leaf
Salt to taste
Oil

Method:
Boil baby potatoes in a medium sized pot till they are tender or if you are using pressure cooker then just 2 whistles are needed. When cool, peel the skin,poke holes in each baby potato so that they absorb all the spices and marinade with salt and turmeric powder for 10 minutes.

I generally shallow fry these potatoes in a pan but here I just wanted to try by deep frying them. So it is your wish to either shallow fry them or deep fry (though I prefer to shallow fry these with just 1 tsp oil in non stick pan).

First make a paste of garlic and whole red chilly in a coffee jar with almost no water or just sprinkle little water *. Keep aside. Now heat oil in a pan and add bay leaf, cardamom, cloves, pepercorns and fry for a minute to get nice aroma then add onion paste. Fry till it turns pink, then add ginger and garlic paste*. Add turmeric, coriander, red chilly, salt and mix well.

 Add tomato paste and fry till it leaves oil, then add hung curd on medium flame stirring continuously for 5 minutes. Now add peas and potatoes on lower flame. Mix well and cover and cook for 2 minutes. Add water little by little and cover and cook for next 10 minutes. Garnish with chopped coriander and green chilles. Serve hot with Luchi / Pea Pulao or chapathi.

Baby Potatoes served in baby spoons ;-)