A quick and easy recipe for people in a hurry.

15-Minute-Cumin-Potatoes – Jeeraloo, are an office favourite at Dhiraj’s work-place. The recipe from start to finish takes 15 minutes or less and is very easy to make.

Dhiraj Srivastav resides in Mumbai away from his parents and other members of his joint-family. Over a period of time he has developed tasty Vegetarian recipes that take 15 minutes or less to cook. The girls in the office including yours truly, now await Dhiraj’s daily lunch box.

Today we had his specially made 15-Minute-Cumin-Potatoes — Jeeraloo (in Hindi) and 5-grain purees, soft, tasty yum purees to go with the potatoes.

The 15-Minute-Cumin-Potatoes – Jeeraloo is best with purees but taste delicious with any unleavened bread — Roti, Chapatti, Tortilla, Phulka, Dhebras.

INGREDIENTS:

250 gms. Potatoes (skinned, diced and then boiled);

2 tablespoons ghee or oil (Ghee preferred);

1” inch piece of Ginger root, peeled and cut fine;

1 teaspoon cumin seeds;

2 small onions, chopped;

2 small tomatoes, chopped with skin and seeds;

1/8^th teaspoon turmeric (just a little on the tip of a teaspoon);

½ teaspoon chili powder or to your taste;

1 teaspoon Dry Mango Powder (Amchur)

salt to taste.

Three sprigs of fresh coriander, (remove leaves and chop them).

Method:

Heat the ghee on a high flame taking care not to let it smoke;

Add the cumin seeds (Jeera),

When the seeds begin to splutter:

Add the green chilies and Ginger,

Fry for a second or two,

Add the chopped onions,

Fry till golden brown,

Add chop tomatoes, Turmeric and chili powders,

Fry for until the tomato softens, mash the mixture while frying,

Add dry mango powder (Amchur) and salt,

Stir for a second or two,

Lastly add the boiled and diced potatoes,

Stir till potatoes are well coated with the fried mixture,

Add fresh coriander,

Mix,

Cover and cook for about 2 ½ to 3 minutes; taking care that the potatoes do not stick to the bottom of the pan or burn,

Take off the heat.

The potatoes are ready to pack for your office lunch.

Summer Potatoes — Quick and Easy Cool Parsi Recipe, for  your ever hungry brood’s summer vacation this year. Simple and delicious, leaves one asking for more.

Summer Potatoes is light and lovely, cooling, tasty and filling, a recipe so easy to make and so quick to serve. Summer Potatoes are an excellent accompaniment to your meats and other meals or it may be used as a main dish by itself, eaten with Dhebras.

‘Parsis love their potatoes’ and amongst the family recipes from as early as mid-1800s, other than the Summer Potatoes, I discovered at least four other Potato Salads; including the old German Kartofel Salad. I will share them all with you in due course.

INGREDIENTS:

PER PERSON:

2 large potatoes (if for a main dish, add 2 more  per person);

100 Gms curds or 150 ml buttermilk per person (use Yogurt, if you prefer; though Yogurt is not so cooling a food);

¼ tsp cumin powder or freshly, roughly crushed roasted cumin seeds;

¼ tsp black pepper powder or a sprinkle of freshly ground pepper (powder tastes better);

1 tsp finely cut fresh coriander leaves;

2 mints leaves (optional);

1 green chili or as preferred (CHECK {*} in the recipe below).

METHOD:

1) Boil or steam the potatoes whole,

Since in the old recipe the potatoes were put in a pottery vessel (matti nu vaasan) and buried in the embers of the wood stove, we at our place bake the potatoes whole. However, this is time consuming and steamed potatoes do just as well. Boiled potatoes turn up an equally tasty dish and save a lot of time. Any of the three ways will do.

2) Poke a knife into each potato to see if fully cooked all the way to the center. The knife must slide in easily. Any resistance means the potato is not ready.

3) When done, cooked and soft enough take off the fire, drain and run in cold water,

4) When cool enough to handle take the skins off.

5) Cut into cubes and put aside,

6) When the cubes cool completely:

6 a) Sprinkle fine cut coriander and mint leaves (ensure the leaves have been thoroughly washed before adding),

6 b) Add Washed and finely cut green chilies ( * if you want to reduce the zest of the chili, add slit the green chilies length-wise, leave                       then in the salad for five to seven minutes and then remove them from the salad and discard),

6 c) Sprinkle salt and Cumin powder and black pepper powder and salt;

7) Toss to mix well,     

8) Add curds mix with a spoon to coat the potatoes evenly (do this just before serving. Curds tends to become very sour if added before hand and kept. even if you refrigerate it),

9) Place into a serving bowl Sprinkle a little more coriander on top,

Serve Summer Potatoes cold, refrigerated or room temperature. If serving as a main course, Summer Potatoes taste marvelous with Sweet Dhebras.

VARIATION: A Few bits of left over pineapple or finely cut bits of Murabba make a delicious variation.

Sweet Dhebras recipe at:

Sweet Dhebras — Flat, Unleavened, Griddle-Cooked Parsi Bread

Bafela Eeda Ni Akuri is a breakfast dish but can be used for a quick small meal. An Akuri is usually made from raw eggs scrambled with various herbs and potatoes. Irani restaurants of Bombay (Mumbai) serve Akuri all day as a Mini-Meal— filling, healthy and very, very tasty.

Bafela Eeda Ni Akuri, on the other hand, is not found on any Menu — from the 5 Stars to the humble ‘Irani Hotel’ as the ubiquitous Irani restaurants are spoken of in Mumbai. While the Akuri is quintessentially a ‘Parsi Household Dish’, the Bafela Eeda Ni Akuri is not often seen in our homes.

I chanced upon this recipe amongst some written down by my mother’s family for an introduction to the ‘new daughter-in-law’ (Navi Vau) to the family favourites in the Parsi Cuisine.

The recipe seems to be recorded around the end of 1800s before my Grandmother was born in 1889. The weights and Measures noted in there are old and ni longer in use – Tola, Ratal and such – I have converted these to the nearest Metric Weights and Measures for ease in cooking the Bafela Eeda Ni Akuri.

There is an ingredient mentioned therein which says chutney or ‘VILAYATI SAUCE’. Since I know no one in the family or otherwise who is more than a 118 years old, I have to depend on a good guess to decipher what is the ‘VILAYATI SAUCE’. Most likely, it is the *Worcestershire Sauce or as now termed ‘Worcester Sauce’ (pronounced Wooster), I’d think, from its use in some Meat oriented Recipes or plain old **Tomato Ketchup, if it existed then.

Though both sauces existed at the time this recipe was recorded, I’d lay my bets on Worcester.

* Worcestershire Sauce or as now termed Worcester Sauce, a recipe thought up in 1830 by Lea and Perrins but not marketed as they did not approve of the taste. The Barrels of sauce were set aside and forgotten. Months later, the barrels were rediscovered. The sauce had, by now, matured and the taste mellowed to a full and rich one. The sauce was first marketed by Lea and Perrins in 1837.

However, Lea and Perrins were never able to claim intellectual property rights on the patent for the recipe or on the trademark ‘Worcestershire Sauce’ because of a High Court order in a litigation challenging its origin.

**TOMATO KETCHUP: A sauce of Chinese origin. The word ‘Ketchup’ first appeared in ‘Dictionary of the Canting Crew’ in 1690.

The English colonists were introduced to the ‘kicap’ or ‘kecap’ (pronounced ki- chap or ke -chap) as a fish sauce in the early 18th century in the Malay States (now, Malaysia and Singapore). Somewhere along the way from Malay to England, and then to America (through English settlers) the ‘Kecap’ became ‘Ketchup’.

The sauce was obviously very popular in the British Isles and by 1742, the recipe found its place in a London Cook Book with a distinctly British flavour (addition of shallots and mushrooms).

The popular Heinz Tomato Ketchup was marketed in 1876.

INGREDIENTS:

4 eggs;

250 grams onions;

250 Gms potatoes;

3 bunch of coriander;

3 green chillies (reduce the number of chillies if preferred less heat);

10 leaves of mint;

1 tablespoon ***chutney or schezwan sauce or your favourite flavouring;

IF making Bafela Eeda Ni Akuri in the MANGO SEASON, replace chutney/sauce with 2 finely cut raw green mangoes, absolutely delicious!

2 tbsp Ghee or butter or preferred cooking medium (original recipe specifies Ghee or butter not oil);

½ level teaspoon salt or as per your taste.

METHOD:

Boil the Eggs and let cool,

Cut each egg into 4 slices horizontally or as preferred;

Peel and dice the potatoes to 1/2 cm cubes;

Preserve the potatoes in a bowl of water till required;

Peel and grate the onions or dice to miniscule pieces;

Pluck the leaves off the coriander and cut the leaves fine (only leaves no stems however tender);

Cut fine the green chillies;

Cut fine mint leaves; Now,

Fry the Potato cubes and grated onions in a pan of hot Ghee,

Stirring constantly till golden;

Add coriander, mint, green chillies and Green Mangoes/chutney/ sauce and fry till a light brown,

Lay oiled eggs on top of the fried mixture,

Mix gently so as not to break/damage the egg slices.

Return the pan to the fire, cover and cook the egg and herb mix for 30 more seconds taking care not to let it burn at the bottom.

Garnish with coriander leaves and eat immediately with preferred bread or chapattis Best with Portuguese Pau.

***If you do not have favourite CHUTNEY, try this:

GRIND together to a smooth taste: 1 tbsp grated coconut, 1 tbsp coriander leaves, 2 green chillies, 1inch piece of dried tamarind, a pinch of dry mint powder or 4 fresh leaves, 1 centimeter  piece ginger (peeled) , 2 cloves garlic (peeled),  ¼  teaspoon cumin seeds, ¼ teaspoon fennel seeds, 1 pinch sugar , A Pinch of salt. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

(Okra and Potatoes, Stir Fried)

Bhindi and potatoes, cooked the Sindhi way is a great favourite of my niece. Sindhi Bhindi was the first vegetarian dish the child ate without a fuss and in fact, asked for more……and that from a Parsi child?!

Niloufer Dadina  successfully tried the Sindhi bhindi Recipe on November 3, 2017. Her Comment: “Tried your Shindhi lady fingers today, YUm……. Send me more”

RECIPE

Serves 2

PREPARATION TIME:  5 minutes

COOKING TIME: 12 minutes

Cooking vessel: Large frying pan.

INGREDIENTS:

2 Large Potatoes (peeled) any firm variety;

500gms. Bhindi (Okra);

2 tablespoons peanut oil or any preferred cooking medium;

¼ teaspoon each of Rai (Mustard seeds), Jeera (Cumin seeds), Methi (Fenugreek seeds);

About 7 curry leaves;

2 green chillies or as per taste;

¼ teaspoons each, Amchur (dry-mango powder) or juice of half a lime

¼ teaspoon Jeera (Cumin);

1/4 teaspoon Salt.

Method:

PLEASE DO NOT USE ANY WATER IN THIS RECEPIE.

1. 1. Dice the potatoes into 0.5 cm x 0.5cm pieces. Place them in a bowl of water so they don’t turn brown.
   2. Cut the okra horizontally into 1

      

      cm pieces. Discard the head and tail.

   3. Pour one tablespoon oil in the frying pan and put on a high flame on the stove to heat.
   4. Drain the potatoes in the meantime.
   5. To check if the oil is heated, hold your palm 10” above the pan. If you can feel the heat at that distance, it is hot enough.
   6. Once the oil is well heated but not yet smoking, put the potatoes in for frying.
   7. Move the diced potatoes round in the pan to be properly coated with oil.
   8. Cover the pan. Let potatoes cook for 1 minute.
   9. After a minute add a pinch of table salt and a pinch of cumin (Jeera) powder.
   10. Reduce heat. Stir the potatoes to coat with this seasoning.
   11. Let it cook in covered pan. You know the potatoes are cooked when they break easily if poked with a spoon.
   12. Remove the potatoes from the pan. Leave the pan on the stove.
   13. Add another tablespoon of oil. Bring once more to a high flame.
   14. Add to the oil: ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds (Rai); ½ teaspoon cumin (Jeera)

       

       seeds; ¼ teaspoon Fenugreek (Methi) seeds; a few Curry Leaves, two or three Green Chilies split lengthwise or adjust as per taste. I normally slit the chilies and discard the rib and seeds from the inside and use only the skin.

   15. When the seeds start to splutter, add the Bhindi (okra).
   16. Sprinkle the Bhindi (okra) with a large pinch of salt.
   17. Fry for two minutes, moving the vegetable around from time to time.
   18. Add the fried potatoes.
   19. Add a large pinch of cumin (Jeera) powder                                               
   20. Stir around to mix the vegetables.
   21. Cover and let cook on a low flame. Normally less than 5 minutes.
   22. Once the Bhindi (okra) is cooked, put the stove off.
   23. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
   24. Sprinkle a large pinch of Amchur (dry-mango powder). If not available, squeeze the juice of ½ a lime on the vegetable.
   25. Your Sindhi Bhindi is ready to eat.