Topic: How do you cook potatoes for bombay aloo?

[andymac]

Hi

I know that you will all think i am completely barmy, but its a problem that i just dont seem to be able to overcome!, l either end up with a mush, that all the potatoe, spices etc, stick together, or the spuds are hard in the middle, has anyone any inside information as to how the BIR's do it?, is the spuds they use do they microwave them?, your help would be appreciated.

Andy Mac

[curryhell]

Hi

I know that you will all think i am completely barmy, but its a problem that i just dont seem to be able to overcome!, l either end up with a mush, that all the potatoe, spices etc, stick together, or the spuds are hard in the middle, has anyone any inside information as to how the BIR's do it?, is the spuds they use do they microwave them?, your help would be appreciated.

Andy Mac

Hi Andy.  Find time to read this thread.  Buy either charlotte potatoes or salad potatoes; the waxy type which are quite small rather than the general all purpose floury one.  The recipe below gives excellent results for the prep of spuds before doing the bombay potato bit ;D

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=5537.230

Quote from: Curry Barking Mad on February 18, 2011, 08:16:19 PM

Going by memory and the fact that this was a very large pot of spuds I would suggest the following for home use.
As long as you understand this will be close but may not be totally true to the amounts the chef used..........disclaimer

For 2 lb of potatoes,
150 ml of veg oil
1 tennis ball sized finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon of garlic/ginger paste
Cassia bark 2" x 1" piece
1 bay leaf (Asian)
1 tablespoon of panch phoran
1 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of tomato puree watered down 50/50
2 teaspoons of turmeric powder
1 tablespoon of mix powder
Water to cover

The mixed veg are done the same way.


Cheers
Mick

[bamble1976]

Hi

The important thing is to very slightly undercook them as they will cook a bit as they warm up in the sauce, and put on a very gentle rolling simmer as not to break up the starch molecules too much!

Regards

Barry

[spiceyokooko]

You're not barmy at all andy, it's a tricky balance to achieve. I can't tell you what BIR's do, but I can tell you what my method is and you may find it works for you.

Firstly, you need to select the waxy kind of potatoes and not the floury ones as floury potatoes tend to disintegrate if you overcook them. You can partly pre-cook these if you want to or cook them from raw, but you'll need to get the amount of liquid correct if you cook them from raw.

Secondly, I don't know what recipe you're using but I'll outline my method below and I'm deliberately not going to give you a recipe - but a technique.

1/ Heat some oil in a saucepan, I prefer a smallish saucepan for potatoes rather than a frying pan and add if using whatever whole spices and fry till fragrant.
2/ Add your onion/garlic/ginger puree and fry, then add your tomato puree if using then your spice mix and fry that.
3/ Add your potatoes, par-boiled or raw and chopped into equal sized pieces so they cook evenly and mix into the spice paste. Remember, the smaller the potato pieces the faster they'll cook.
4/ Now add your base gravy, boiling water or stock or whatever you use and bring to a boil.
5/ Now turn down to a simmer, cover and simmer for however long it takes for the potatoes to be cooked through. Somewhere around 30 mins should be about right depending on the size of the potatoes pieces.
6/ You may need to add more liquid if it becomes too dry before the potatoes are tender or you may need to take the lid off the pan and fast simmer for a few mins to evaporate any remaining liquid, just make sure the potatoes and spice paste doesn't stick to the bottom and burn.

The key to success here is to use waxy potatoes, not floury ones and to add just enough liquid to allow the potatoes to simmer for most of the time in liquid but for this to evaporate and end up with the spice mix paste to cling to the potatoes once they're cooked through. The final dish should be dryish with little liquid and with the spice paste clinging to the potatoes.

I then usually add a squeeze of lemon juice, some chopped coriander and a finely chopped green chilli or two.

Experiment with this method and work out what recipe works best for you.

[Les]

Or you could watch Julian's (curry2go) video.

http://www.youtube.com/user/leviteish?gl=GB&feature=mhee#p/u/6/WC87skY6awA

Les

[976bar]

I cut them into 2 inch cubes, and rop them into boiling salted water with 1 teaspoon of Turmeric.

Bring back to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer with the lid on for about 10 minutes. To test, try pushing a skewer through one of the cubes, when they are just ready you will be able to do this, but then take them off the heat, strain, and run cold water over them to stop the cooking process

[Curry Barking Mad]

This may help Andy,
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=5537.msg54396#msg54396

[Peripatetic Phil]

Hi Andy.  Find time to read this thread.  Buy either charlotte potatoes or salad potatoes; the waxy type which are quite small rather than the general all purpose floury one. 

Completely agree (Exquisa are also excellent).  I use CBM's method every time; never lets me down.
** Phil.