Recipe is excerpted from How To Take Care © 2020 by IAO Studio & Friends. Published by In Absence Of Studio. All rights reserved.
This is the first (and only) recipe I saw my sister making when we were both kids and ever since then I have it in my head that if a child can make it, it must be easy.
Potato or batata (the last “a” is silent) bhaji is typically eaten for breakfast or as an in-between snack between meals in Goa (India), where I am from. Once you get comfortable with the first few steps of the recipe, you can easily switch up the vegetables depending on what you have at home. But if you ask me, there is nothing more approachable than a simple potato.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp brown mustard seeds
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 10 curry leaves
- 1⁄4 + 1⁄4 cup red onion, finely diced and divided
- 1 potato (about 1 cup), boiled in salted water and diced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 lime, cut into quarters
Add the oil to a frying pan on medium heat and to that add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, turmeric powder and curry leaves. Stir them around for until they get fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Add 1⁄4 cup of the onion to the pan and stir it around, letting it cook and take on some color, for about 1 minute.
Next, add the potato and mix it up with the onion and spices, letting it take on the golden hue from the turmeric. Add salt to taste.
Let the potato absorb all the flavors from the pan for about 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally. If you would like more of a local bhaji shop feel to the potatoes, add about 1/8- 1⁄4 cup of water to the pan and let it stew for 1-2 minutes more on low heat. If you like it as is, leave out the water and take the pan off the heat.
Serve with bread, roti, puris or corn tortillas.
The remaining onion and lime is for sprinkling/squeezing on top of individual servings.
