potato bhajee

Potato Bhajee is as traditional a Shabbat dinner side-dish for Indian Jews as potato kugel is for Ashkenazim. If you search Google for a recipe for Potato Bhajee you will find many, and one varies so much from the next that it’s hard to imagine that it’s the same dish with the same name. Some are saucy, some are dry, some call for frying the potatoes until crisp, others call for boiling them until tender. Also, there seems to be much confusion as to what spices belong in the dish. I suppose it’s regional, like so many foods are.

I’ve culled this recipe together using one idea from this recipe, another from that recipe, and so on until I landed on this method and these ingredients that work perfectly for my taste. It’s simple to make and so fragrant and delicious. The spices that are less common in American grocery stores can be found in Indian markets or online. If you can’t find them all, just leave out what you don’t have. You’ll still end up with a very tasty dish.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb yellow potatoes, peeled and cut into 1” pieces

• 2 medium yellow onions, sliced very thinly

• 2 cloves fresh garlic, finely minced

• 1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds

• ½ teaspoon powdered turmeric

• ½ teaspoon black mustard seeds

• 1 teaspoon nigella seeds

• 2 tablespoons crushed curry leaves

• Salt and pepper as needed

• Chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) for garnish

Method:

• Bring a medium sized pot of lightly salted water to the boil. Add the potatoes and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, until somewhat softened but not cooked through. Then drain the potatoes and set them aside to cool.

• Add a generous glug of oil to a hot skillet and fry the potatoes until crispy, tossing them in the pan so that they are crisped on all sides.

• Combine the coriander seeds, the mustard seeds, the nigella seeds, and the curry leaves in a spice grinder and grind them to a powder. Alternatively, you can use store-bought powdered spices, but the flavor will not be as rich and bright.

• Wipe out the skillet and add another glug of oil. Sauté the sliced onion, with a light sprinkle of salt, over medium-low heat until soft and golden. (Cooking them slowly will give them time to release their sugars, resulting in sweet, tender onions.)

• Add the minced garlic and all the spices, and sauté another minute or two, until the spices start to smell toasty.

• Add the potatoes back to the skillet and toss them with the spiced onions over medium heat until nicely combined and heated through.

• Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with a few cilantro leaves.