Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for pickled new potatoes with curd rice | Indian foods and drinks

These “pickled” potatoes are for anybody whose mouth waters on the concept of dousing chips in salt and vinegar, as mine does. They’re not truly pickled, however cooked in an analogous strategy to the Indian achar model of cooking that makes use of explicit spices alongside an acidic ingredient, corresponding to lemon juice. They go very well with a typical south Indian curd (yoghurt) rice and a fiery little shop-bought pickle.

Pickled new potatoes with curd rice

My favorite pickle to eat with that is Indian gooseberry pickle, or amla, which is scorching, salty and oily. I’m unsure if there’s an acceptable substitute in British supermarkets, however it’s going to even be wonderful with out.

Prep 10 min
Cook dinner 55 min
Serves 4

300g basmati rice
750g new potatoes, washed
Wonderful sea salt
Rapeseed oil
350g plain coconut yoghurt (ie, with no added sugar) – I like Coconut Collab
2½ tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp mung dal, or chana dal
1½ black mustard seeds
1½ tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp sesame seeds
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced
½ tsp floor turmeric
1 inexperienced finger chilli, finely sliced
20 recent curry leaves

Put the rice in a bowl, add chilly water to cowl, then swirl together with your fingers till the water turns cloudy. Drain and repeat till the water stays clear, then depart to soak.

Put the potatoes in a big saucepan, cowl with chilly water, convey to a boil and simmer for 25 minutes, or till cooked via. Drain and depart to chill.

Drain the soaked rice very well, then put it in a saucepan for which you might have a tight-fitting lid. Cowl with 500ml freshly boiled water, add a teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of oil, then stir and pop on the lid. Carry to a boil, then flip down the warmth to a simmer and prepare dinner for 12 minutes. Scrape the rice right into a bowl and add the yoghurt, 200ml heat water, a tablespoon of lemon juice and a half-teaspoon of salt. Beat with a fork till clean and the consistency of dense rice pudding – if you shake the bowl, the rice ought to settle right into a creamy layer.

Lower the cooled potatoes into 2cm cubes. Put six tablespoons of oil in a big frying pan on a medium-high warmth and, when scorching, add the dal and stir-fry for about three minutes, till a wealthy, nutty brown. Add the mustard, cumin and sesame seeds, garlic, turmeric, chilli and curry leaves – cautious, as a result of they may splutter – then stir for a minute. Add the potatoes, fry for about three minutes, transferring them round sometimes, then add a teaspoon and a half of salt and a tablespoon and a half of lemon juice. Combine properly, fry for an additional three minutes, then take off the warmth.

Test the rice: if it has drunk up all of the water, combine in as much as one other 100ml, if want be, to keep up that rice pudding consistency. Decant the rice on to a platter, spoon the potatoes evenly excessive and serve immediately with some pickle on the facet.