You can never have too many potato recipes. There’s just no such thing. No, really, there isn’t!

And this one deserves a spot in your recipe box. Like all other Madhur Jaffrey recipes, this southern Indian potato curry is a clear example of the spirit of India shining through with simplicity.

It takes plain ole and humble potatoes, a handful of spices and magically transforms them into an exotic side dish chockfull of flavour and pizzazz! Perfect for vegetarians, vegans and meat-eaters. And all that in under half an hour. Not bad, huh?

Good food does not have to be complicated.

Ingredients:

1 pound potatoes (waxy ones)
1 medium onion
1 tomato
13 curry leaves (mine were dried)
2 dried chili peppers (or dried chill flakes)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 cup water
1/2 cup coconut milk
handful cilantro or flat-leaf parsley
1 tbsp ghee or oil

Optional: 1 or 2 tsp yellow split peas

Directions:

 
This was a side dish for two (and a half)! Adjust the quantities to suit your needs.
 

Grab your spices. The recipe called for fresh curry leaves, but alas, no such thing here in the Netherlands so I used their dried counterpart.

Mix the cayenne, coriander, garam masala and salt in a small bowl.

Chop the onion and tomato. Peel and dice the potatoes in bit-sized pieces and store them in cold water until you’re ready to use them.

For this recipe I used the ghee (clarified butter) that the guys at Ghee Easy mailed me. Love this stuff!

Heat the ghee or oil and add the mustard seeds, yellow split peas and dried chilies. Cook until the mustard seeds start to pop.

 
The yellow split peas are optional but really, you gotta try it! It adds such an amazing texture to the potatoes making them a heck of a lot more interesting to eat.
 

In with the onions and curry leaves and cook until the onion has softened but hasn’t browned. This will take three minutes or so.

Stir in the diced tomato.

Add the spices and cook everything for another minute. Just to get the flavours going.

Stir in your potatoes.

Pour in the water, bring it to a boil, lower the heat, pop the lid on and simmer the potatoes for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on how small you diced the potatoes.

 
Remember that you can’t dice the potatoes too small when adding yellow split peas. They also need their time to soften up. Just sayin’.
 

For me 15 minutes was more than enough.

Stir in that beautiful virgin-white coconut milk.

Let it heat through for a moment and taste to check the seasoning.

Sprinkle a handful of minced cilantro or flat-leaf parsley all over right before serving.