Bombay potatoes
Parboiled and steam-dried, then roasted hard with mustard seeds and turmeric until the edges go crisp.
Serves 6 as part of a curry night spread.
Ingredients
You will need: a large roasting tray, a colander.
- 1 kilogram potatoes, in rough 3 cm chunks
- 2 onions, sliced
- 3 teaspoons garlic puree
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons turmeric
- 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
- 1 fresh chilli, sliced, to finish
- 3 tablespoons oil
- salt
- fresh coriander, to finish
- lime, to finish
Method
- Heat the oven. Boil the potatoes in salted water until a knife meets a little resistance.
10 min
- Drain and leave to steam dry in the colander. Do not skip this: it is what gives you crisp edges rather than soft ones.
5 min
- In a large roasting tray, mix the oil with the mustard seeds, cumin, turmeric, chilli flakes, garlic puree and salt. Add the potatoes and onions and toss until coated.
- Roast, turning once halfway, until browned with crisp edges.
30 min
- Finish with the fresh chilli, coriander and a squeeze of lime.
Keeping it
Best straight from the tray. They soften on standing and do not reheat especially well.
Letting the potatoes steam dry after boiling is the whole trick. Wet potatoes steam in the oven instead of roasting, and you get pale soft chunks rather than crisp edges.