Sweet & Sour Chilli Potatoes

This recipe is taken from Smitha Chandra’s cookbook ‘Cuisine of India‘.The book is filled with wonderful recipes along with multi spiced history and stories of India.According to the author,this dish is invented by Hakka Chinese,who form most of Calcutta’s Chinese population.Quoting Smitha Chandra’s words here:- “Cooks in Hakka Chinese were extremely inventive in adapting their menus to suit Indian tastes by spicing up their foods.Hakka cuisine,in its Indian incarnation,is now the most popular of Chinese cooking styles in India.”

Here fresh potatoes are smothered in a tamarind-red-chilli-garlic sauce, which gives out an irresistable combination that goes very well with fried rice or pulao.

The recipe follows..

Ingredients:-

To roast Potatoes :
Fresh potatoes peeled and cut into wedges – 5 medium sized
Ground black pepper – 1/2 tsp
Salt – to taste
Sesame Oil – 1 tbsp
Vegetable Oil – 1 tbsp

For the sauce :

Seedless Tamarind – a walnut size piece
water – 1 cup
Corn starch – 1 tsp
Sesame Oil – 1 tsp
Ketchup – 1 tbsp
Soy Sauce – 2 tbsp
Sugar – 2 tsp
Red Chilli sauce/Chilli paste – 1 tbsp

Vegetable Oil – 2 tbsp
Ginger grated – 1/4 inch piece
Garlic grated – 2 cloves
Dried Red Chillies – 2
Finely chopped Onion – 2 small sized

Method:-

Preheat oven to 400 F.Combine potatoes,salt,pepper,sesame oil and 1 tbsp vegetable oil ,toss it to coat well and bake in a single layer for 30 minutes.

Shake the tray occasionally for the potatoes to roast evenly.Turn off the heat and let the potatoes roast for another 10 minutes in the fading heat of the oven.

Microwave tamarind and 1/2 cup water for few minutes.Mash well using a fork and set aside to cool. Mash it well with your fingers again, pour it through a sieve set over a bowl,and discard the fibrous residue.Dissolve the cornstarch in the collected tamarind water and add sesame oil,ketchup,soy sauce,sugar,and red chilli sauce.Mix in the remaining 1/2 cup of water.Stir well and set aside.Warm oil in a non stick wok over high heat,add dried red chillies,grated garlic and ginger.Saute for 30 seconds until crisp,then add chopped onions and saute for 3-4 minutes until lightly browned.Now add the roasted potatoes and stir-fry for 1 minute.Turn off the heat,mix in tamarind-cornstarch sauce,and stir well to caot the potatoes.Let it thicken over the stove for a minute.Transfer to the serving bowl.

This is my entry for Vaishali’s JFI-Potato.