Aloo 65

Ever since I got on to Facebook, blogging has taken a back seat. My reader is brimming over with unread posts....but I can't pull myself away from FB. I am either hunting treasure or planting seeds on my farm or thinking up status messages.
This post is my way of telling myself that I can stop myself from logging onto FB if I really want to.
Aloo 65 is one of the easiest side dishes to make and also quite tasty. The only thing that takes a little bit of time is peeling the baby potatoes. Once that is done, making this is a breeze.

What you need:
Baby potatoes - about 20,cooked, peeled and pricked with a fork a few times
Thick curd - 1 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Garam masala - 3/4 tsp
Kashmiri chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
1 green chilli + 3 cloves of garlic - ground into a paste
Salt
Jeera powder - 1/2 tsp

Take the curd in a large bowl and stir it with a ladle until it is smooth. Add in all the ingredients except the potatoes and mix well.
Marinate the potatoes in this mixture for at least an hour. Remember, the more you let it marinate, the more pronounced and better the flavour will be.
Heat about 3 tbsp of oil in a pan. Add the potatoes to this along with any left over marinade. Let it cook on a low flame until all the moisture is absorbed and the potatoes are well browned.

These taste great on their own and would make an ideal starter. It can also be served along with rice/rotis.

Tried and Tasted - Urad dal pooris and potato curry

Jugalbandi - a blog that I go to not just for recipes, but also for their anecdotes and fantastic pictures. When I came to know that T&T features them this month, I bookmarked a couple of recipes. I've religiously done this for the last 3 T&Ts but didn't get around to the cooking part of it. This time around, I did try out and taste the jugalbandits' urad dal pooris and potato masala. Here's the result.I made no changes at all to the puris. J&B are absolutely right when they say that these taste much better than regular puris. Next time around, I might add in some garam masala and amchur to the dough, though. To the potato masala, I added more green chillies and skipped the red chilli powder. Oh...and did I tell you these puris are so much prettier than the regular ones?
Thank you, Jai & B.

Needless to say, this goes to Zlamushka for her Tried and Tasted event.

Tandoori Aloo or maybe I should call it Microwavi Aloo

This is a quick snack that I tried last night with good results.
Make a marinade by mixing 6 tsp of sour, thick curd, 1 tsp all purpose flour, 1 tsp red chilli powder and 1 tsp garam masala. Peel baby potatoes. Prick them all over with a fork and marinate for about 30 minutes. Microwave on high for 8 minutes.
We ate them hot off the oven and that left me with no pics. Will update the pics next time I get around to making this. The only hard part of this recipe is peeling the baby potatoes....It took sooooo long.

This goes to Valli's Potluck.