Monday, February 16, 2015

Achaar ke Aaloo: Hyderabadi zone

As everyone knows I love food, eating out especially, and recently I have tried to actively enter the cooking zone as well. End of last year, a friend of mine, who is also an ardent food lover, gifted me a recipe book on my birthday (best gift ever, right?). I have been in the mood for Indian cooking for a while and this recipe book seemed as a great way to kick start the journey. It’s a book on Hyderabadi cuisine by Neeta Mehta and I set down to prepare a few dishes (3 to be precise) for a dinner when we were hosting some family friends at home. 

Today I shall give you the recipe for one of those dishes that was prepared- Achaar ke Aaloo or Potatoes in a Pickle Sauce. The dish was perfect, soft potatoes and proper achaari tangy mirchi vaala taste. Goes well with hot phulkas.



Serves 6

Ingredients:

Potatoes- 700 gm, boiled and cut into 1” pieces
Onions- 5 medium sized, ground in a mixture to form a fine paste
Ginger paste- 1 ½ tsp
Garlic paste- 1 ½ tsp
Red Chili powder- 1 ½ tsp
Turmeric powder (haldi)- ½ tsp 
Salt- to taste
Oil- for frying
Mix Together
Vinegar – ¼ cup and Sugar- 2 tsp
For Tempering
Oil- 2 tbsp
Nigella seeds (Kalonji) 1 tsp
Mustard seeds (Rai)- ½ tsp
Cumin seeds (Jeera) or Coriander seeds- 1 tsp
Dry whole Red Chilies- 8

Method:
  • Take a kadhai and heat oil for frying.
  • Deep fry the potatoes till they give a slight golden brownish colour. Keep the potatoes aside.
  • In another kadhai or pan, heat 8 tbsp oil. Add the onions on medium flame till they turn golden brown.
  • To this, add the ginger paste and the garlic paste and fry for about a minute.  Then add the salt, turmeric powder and red chili powder and mix well.
  • Add the fried potatoes to the onion-ginger-garlic paste mixture and mix well gently.
  • Add about ½ cup water and cook on low heat for about 5 minutes till the spices are well blended and some gravy remains.
  • Remove this from the fire and add the sugar and vinegar mixture. Mix well gently and then transfer to the serving dish.
  • For tempering- Heat 2 tbsp oil. Add the dry whole red chilies, mustard seeds, coriander seeds or cumin seeds (Note: The recipe originally calls for cumin seeds, however I tried a twist with the coriander seeds which I felt made the temper crispier).  After these add the nigella seeds. When the mustard seeds begin to splutter and the red whole chilies begin to darken pour this baghaar over the dish.
  • Serve hot with garma garam phulkas and enjoy!
After eating delicious cupcakes, sweets, chocolates and various desserts on the occasion of valentine’s day and India winning the India-Pak ICC World Cup match, I am sure everyone must be craving for some chatpata and tangy flavor. Cook this Achaar ke Aaloo and satiate those cravings! 

4 comments:

  1. Your recipe calls for cumin seeds for tempering but the picture has coriander seeds in it. Could you clarify which is to be used.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Archana, the original recipe calls for cumin seeds. However I tried a twist with the coriander seeds for tempering and it gave the temper a crispier touch. Thanks for your question. I have updated the blog post. Happy Cooking!

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. Thank you Ananya :) If you are a spice lover you must try this one!

      Delete