Potato Fry/ Urulai kizhanghu Varuval - I

Who doesnt love Potato... if not for the calories I can have them day and night. Here in Belgium, I was surprised to see  fries (friets) being served as the main course along with salad and some meat, and its far better and delicious than what we are used to in ..  you know ..:)

One day in our office cafetaria, one of collegues who had freshly landed from India that morning, found nothing vegetarian to eat, asked for a plate of 'French fries'. The lady was so offended and became serious and replied "these are much better than french fries". At that moment I realised how much we are used to calling normal potato fries as 'French fries' and how it can be mistaken else where. So guys be careful when you use this term in Europe.

I dont use potatoes much in my regular cooking and if I do its always the good old south indian crispy potato fry, to be served with curd rice or lemon rice. Perfect combination to go in a lunch box.
Here is the recipe for the Potato fry that was peeping in the picture of the dhal in my previous post. I make two different versions of this fry and this is one of them .

Ingredients:

3 medium sized potatoes.
1 tsp fennel powder/seeds
1 tsp curry leaves powder/ fresh curry leaves
1 tsp chilli powder
2 pods of garlic smashed
1 tsp mustard seeds
oil and salt as required.

Method:
Peel and slice the potatoes into semicircles.
Peel and smash the garlic using a knife.
Now add all the ingredients and tsp of olive oil to the sliced potatoes and mix well so the potatoes are evenly coated.

Heat about 1 tsp of olive oil in non stick pan, add the mustard .
When the mustard pops spread the marinated potaoes over it.
Using a wooden spoon gently stir the potaes couple of times, add about 1/2 cup of water and close with a tight lid. Cook for 10 mins.
Now Open the lid, again stir them gently,(or turn them over patiently) and allow to cook till crispy in a low flame(without the lid), approximately 10 mins. If you dont mind a couple of tsps of oil you can add at this stage.Its purely optional.

Note.The fennel seeds (sombhu)gives a delicious flavour to the dish, so that is a must.

Its better to use Fennel seeds powder than seeds.You an grind a handful in the spice gringer and store it for future use. A tsp of this powder in any vegetable fry tastes great.