The Startup Cook – Potato Curry
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My taste for string hoppers developed during my early twenties. When I was growing up, it was a different story. Ironically, I would rather go to bed hungry than even entertain the thought of string hoppers for dinner. Anyway, TODAY I love to eat string hoppers with some lovely Pol Sambol, a spicy Fish or Chicken Curry and of course an Ala Hodi.
As we buy our string hoppers from the ‘kade’, the accompanying dishes (excluding the Meat curry) are also purchased from there. Now the problem with their ‘Ala’ curry is that whoever who cooks it forgets to boil the potato! As a result we end up attempting to gnaw rock hard potatoes.
Enough was enough. Saving a trip to the dentist, I decided to make the potato curry as well. It’s a very convenient recipe that promises to consume a minimal amount of time. The potatoes are soft and delicious, and more importantly the curry rich in taste and texture is a match made in heaven with string hoppers.
Ingredients
3 potatoes
2 onions (medium size)
1 tomato
2 green chillies
2 cloves of garlic
1 ½ cups of coconut milk
½ tsp of grated ginger
1 tsp of mustard seeds
1 tsp of lime juice
1 ½ tsp of turmeric powder
1 ½ tsp of oil
1 tsp of chilli powder (roasted)
5 -6 curry (Karapincha) leaves
Salt
Pepper
Directions
Wash, peel and cut the potato in to quarters.
Dump the cut potato in to a saucepan, pour water in to the pan covering the potato and add two teaspoons of salt to it.
Place the pan on a medium high flame and let the potatoes boil.
While the potatoes are boiling, wash, peel and fine dice the onions.
Mince the garlic cloves.
Wash and slice the tomatoes and green chillies.
After the potatoes have boiled drain it and set it aside.
On a medium high flame, heat up the oil in a heavy based saucepan.
Add the mustard seeds in and let it sputter.
Add the garlic and ginger to it and let it fry.
Add the onions, chilli powder and a teaspoon of pepper in to the pan and sauté.
Once the onions start to change colour, add the boiled potatoes, tomatoes, chillies, curry leaves and turmeric powder to the sauté and temper it a little.
Then pour in the coconut milk.
Add a teaspoon of salt to the curry, lower the flame, close the lid of the pan, and let it cook for minute.
Then add the lime juice to the curry, stir and let it simmer.
Disasters, Warnings and Tips
When I make an Ala curry, I tend to put extra turmeric.
Homemade kiri hodi is the best!
I had this curry with some string hoppers, fish curry and pol sambol. God bless Sri Lanka!
My oven broke down. It’s horrible.
If you have added a little too much of turmeric and you wish to salvage it, add an extra ¼ cup of thick coconut milk to the curry.
Feel free to flavour your curry with cardamoms and sage.
By Shazzana Hamid
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