Recipe : Nepali Aloo/Potato Kebabs

Today was Dusshera and since we are in Egypt, we did not have a holiday.

I still wanted to make the day special for my husband so he wouldn't feel too homesick for the delicious food his mom would have cooked for us. So I fired up the deep frying pan and rustled up a bunch of ajwain puris, made some chole (which I had soaked last night) and in a bid to try something different, yet familiar and keep the menu vegetarian - I pulled out a recipe given to me by a Nepali friend for potato kebabs.

Potato dishes go very well with puris and it is comfort food for my husband. This dish was no exception.

Ingredients:

6 medium potatoes

1 tbsp cumin powder

1 tbsp corriander powder

1/2 inch ginger paste (fresh is better)

5 cloves garlic ground to paste

1 cup yoghurt

1/2 tsp pepper powder

chilli powder to taste

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

salt to taste

4 small bay leaves

1/2 cup oil

1/2 inch ginger, chopped

Peel potatoes and cut into 4 to 6 equal sized pieces.

Mix all ingredients except potatoes, oil, chopped ginger and bay leaves into a smooth paste.

Marinate the potatoes in this mixture for at least 4 hours.

Don't leave the potato pieces too large.

In a large pan, heat the oil, add chopped ginger and fry on high heat till it browns.

Add bay leaves and stir for awhile.

Drop the potatoes into the hot oil mixture and fry till the potatoes turn light brown while stirring occasionally.

Pour the marinade into the pan for some liquid quotient, lower the heat, cover the pan and cook potatoes for 10-15 minutes until soft.

Dry up the potatoes before serving.

They should be crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.

Serve hot with rice, roti or puri.