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Ruchik Randhap

Food & Memories of Mangalore

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Aloo Methi (Potatoes & Fenugreek Leaves)


In many families the presence of small kids at home is most often the reason behind change of diets. The switch from not so healthy to very healthy food happens when a child steps into his terrible twos and trying threes and throws a tantrum each time ‘food’ is mentioned. Not just any food mind you, its only during mealtimes that such tantrums are selectively thrown. I think every mom who has a child going through the same phase of life as mine has gone through this. I wonder if this is happening only with our generation cuz my mother hardly remembers me having thrown a tantrum. Well, for one, I always loved food and am remembered by many as being an eternally chubby child and secondly my mother like most women from our previous generation had an amazing amount of patience during meal times.
My mum claims that mealtimes with me didn’t last beyond 7-8 minutes and she never once had to resort to leaving the dining table to beckon the neighbourhood cat, dog or crow to divert my attention and make me gobble up what was on my plate. I just ate, and ate and ate (sigh!). I wonder why she never stopped me! I think I am still continuing that tradition and yeah, the food blog is probably just a natural outcome of all that love for food (double sigh!)
Unfortunately I deal with two picky eaters at home especially when it comes to vegetables. Anything on the extreme ends of the flavour meter cannot even feature on their plates. So morphing these flavours becomes critical. Thus was born the Aloo Methi. So far my love for greens was limited to just the spinach (Malabar Spinach or Palak) but now I am glad that I am discovering so many more ways to present the lovely fenugreek/methi leaves that is healthy as well as delicious.
The only mistake I made with this dish was to overcook the potatoes – never do that! Also, try and cook it in a non stick pan or a heavy bottomed kadhai so that the potatoes are beautifully cooked and also retain their shape. This dish tastes wonderful with hot chapathis or as a side dish with rice and dal and the bitterness of the methi leaves almost disappears.
A special thanks to Swapna Samar who is part of a food group on Facebook, for sharing with us such an easy, simple and tasty dish.

Aloo Methi
Prep time: 15mins | Cooking time: 15mins | Serves 2


You Need:

  • 1 bunch (or 2 packed cups) methi/fenugreek leaves washed and finely chopped *see notes
  • 2 medium sized potatoes peeled and cut into tiny cubes
  • 2 medium sized green chillies finely chopped
  • 1 medium sized onion finely chopped
  • 1/2 tsp cumin/jeera
  • a pinch of turmeric powder
  • a pinch of asafoetida/hing

Method:
1. In a heavy bottomed pan or non stick kadhai heat oil and toss in the cumin, when it slightly browns add the chopped onions, green chillies, turmeric and asafoetida and saute for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add the potato cubes, mix well, cover the pan and cook on a very slow flame. Stir occasionally to avoid scorching. About 3-4 minutes later, when the potato is half done, add the chopped methi leaves, salt to taste cover and continue to cook. There is no need to add water here as the potatoes cook in the steam.
3. The resultant dish is dry without any water. Serve hot with chapathis or rice.

Notes:
Pluck only the methi leaves and not the stem as it tends to emit a bitter flavour.
You may add more than 2 cups of methi leaves but note that methi will be the dominant flavour in that case. However, methi is good for health so don’t worry.
Do not add any water while making this dish – you will end up with a soggy mess.

 

 


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Comments

  2. Sayantani says

    this is something I miss a lot n Kolkata. its only available during winter. tried growing them but the weather seems to be against the seedlings. love this curry and you made it so well.

    Reply

    • Shireen Sequeira says

      Then triple the ingredients, all except the chillies – keep them lesser than 3 times the amount or it could get too spicy

      Reply

  9. Dilavez says

    Tried it for dinner all including kids gave it a thumps up..feels good when u give healthy things to them ..

    Reply
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