Spiced Potatoes
Serves 2
Having a busy day planned doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a home-cooked flavourful meal come the evening. Before heading out for the day I set some chicken legs marinating in a mixture of plain (Greek) yogurt and tandoori spices along with a dash of vinegar. I knew that I could transfer these to the oven in the evening (180c for about 45-60 minutes) and I could make accompaniments whilst they were cooking.
I decided a spiced potato dish would make a suitable pairing and I could freshen everything up with some minted yogurt and a crunchy mango salad, both of which could be made whilst the potatoes were cooking (see notes at the end for details).
- Ingredients:
- 1 heaped tsp coconut oil
- 300g white potatoes, cut into 1cm cubes
- 2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
- 2 small pieces of cassia bark
- 2 cardamom
- 2 cloves
- 1/2 tsp crushed chilli flakes (optional, leave out if you don’t want the heat)
- 1 tsp cumin seeds (whole or ground)
- 1 tsp coriander seeds (whole or ground)
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 2 tsp brown mustard seeds
- Large pinch each of salt and pepper
Step 1: Heat the oil in a (preferably non-stick) frying pan, over a medium heat. Add the potatoes and stir for a minute or two.
Step 2: Cover with a lid and lower the heat, allowing the potatoes to gently soften in the natural steam. If needed add a dash of water from time to time to create a little steam. Cook for about 15 minutes.
Step 3: Add the garlic and spices, along with the salt and pepper and continue to cook for a few minutes (lid on). Serve when the potatoes are tender, the garlic is softened and the spices have warmed.
If you want to recreate this meal but don’t have a tandoori spice mix, just using some garam masala mixed with the yogurt will suffice. To make the crunchy mango salad I diced up half a ripe mango, finely sliced half a head of little gem lettuce and a handful of finely sliced red cabbage and tossed it all in the juice of a lime. The minted yogurt is simply Greek yogurt with fresh mint chopped up and stirred through.
