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

Sweet Dhebras are another of the lost-Parsi-Zoroastrian-recipes. The Sweet Dhebras are flat, unleavened, griddle-cooked bread. Though not originally Persian, the Sweet Dhebras was bread much enjoyed by the Parsis and is still spoken of with nostalgia.

After coming to India, initially the Parsis adapted a lot of the Gujarati cuisine and adapted it to suit their taste buds. The ingredients, for these adapted foods from this unfamiliar cuisine, were freely and easily available in their newly adopted home in the land of the Jadav Rana (Jadi Rana). Sweet Dhebras, were eaten with great relish with a number of ever delightful dishes like ‘Fajeto’, ‘Summer Potatoes’, ‘Kachi Kairi ni Kari’ (raw-mango curry), ‘Lasan nu Eedu (garlic scrambled-eggs) and umpteen such dishes.

Making Sweet Dhebras is as simple as making chapattis and the daily diet may very easily be substituted by the Sweet Dhebras. Versatile, the Sweet Dhebras lends itself to be also eaten as a snack (try it with sour curds or ‘Lasan or Nariel ni Chutney’ {Garlic or coconut Chutnies}, Methia nu Achar {mango or any other pickle}). Make it, Taste it, and Device your own combinations.

Closer to the original Guajarati Dhebras are the Savoury Dhebras made by the Parsis. Unlike the Parsi Sweet Dhebras, the original Guajarati Dhebras are basically made from Sorghum (Jowar) Flour or of Pearl Millet (Pearl Millet) Flour and are Savoury with the addition of some vegetable and dry spice powders. The modern Thepla and Guajarati Dhebras are interchangeable names for the same flat bread. In recent times, borrowing from North India, the Guajarati Dhebras is made also from Corn Flour (Makkai ka Atta). The Gujarati Sweet Dhebras are made like the savoury Dhebras the only difference being the additional ingredient, Sugar to sweeten the mix of flour, vegetables and Masala. The ingredients of the Gujarati Savoury Dhebras are not replaced by sugar, it is merely an extra ingredient included.

Parsi Dhebras, whether sweet or savoury, are always made from Whole wheat Flour (Atta) and the cooking method and ingredients are different for each.

RECIPE:

INGREDIENTS:

350 grams jaggery;

3 tablespoons Ghee/cooking medium of choice but avoid Olive Oil as it will alter the Indian Flavour of the bread;

2 cups whole wheat Atta;

½ teaspoon salt.

METHOD:

Cut the Jaggery into small bits,

In a thick-bottomed vessel, heat 2 ½ tablespoons of Ghee,

When fairly hot, put all the Jaggery into it,

Reduce the fire,

Melt all the jaggery, stirring occasionally so the jaggery does not stick to the bottom or burn,

And once all the jaggery has melted to a smooth rather viscous paste,

Take the vessel off the fire.

Once off the fire,

Sieve the Flour over the melted Jaggery,

Mix well, fast but not too vigorously (vigour will make the dough sticky and difficult to handle and cook),

When the dough is cool enough to handle,

Knead with your hands to make soft Dough (like for paronthas),

Add water while kneading, if necessary.

Roll the dough into a large circle, about a ¼ inch thick,

Dust the edge of a round mold, bowl or glass with dry flour,

Use it to cut the dough into small roundels,

Put aside.

Heat a griddle,

Grease the griddle with a little of the remaining Ghee,

Place each Dhebra on the Griddle and cook, like chapattis flipping over twice, until brown on both sides.

Grease the griddle each time you place the next Sweet Dhebra to cook.

A sprinkling of sesame seeds on the Sweet Dhebras before cutting into Roundels makes a tasty variation.