Sometimes I just crave potatoes. In any form – but not merely chips, or roasted, but rather something more textured, spiced or fresher if that is possible.
In Asia there is a real love for these starchy friends, be it either fried, boiled or baked, all street snacks to main courses feature potatoes. One such favourite of mine has always been in the use of potatoes in ‘chaat’ a South Asian street snack, served either warm or cold, with layers of spice, fresh herbs, spices and crunching ‘sev’ a chickpea fried vermicelli.
This recipe is great as a salad, I add a little Middle Eastern flavour with tahini yoghurt and fermented onions. It is lovely warm with a soup and bread too.
Potato and dill chaat with tahini garlic yoghurt and fermented red onions
Serves: 2 – 4
Cooking time: 30 – 40 minutes
Ingredients:
½ red onion, thinly sliced
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
½ tsp sugar
1 pinch salt
150g full fat Greek yoghurt
½ clove Garlic
Salt to taste
½ tsp freshly dry roasted cumin seeds, ground by hand
¼ tsp smoked paprika
2 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp chopped dill
2 large Maris Piper potatoes, peeled, cut into ½ inch squares, boiled until cooked
1 tin chickpeas, drained
Handful of sev
Handful of chopped Coriander leaves
1 sliced red chilli
Method:
1 Start by fermenting the red onions, in a non-metallic bowl. Add thinly sliced red onions, red wine vinegar, a pinch of salt and sugar and toss. Keep aside but keep mixing every few minutes until the onions turn bright pink.
2 In another bowl, mix all the yoghurt, tahini, paprika, salt, dill, cumin and add half a garlic clove (to add a hint of garlic flavouring, remove later when mixing together).
3 Now, add the boiled potatoes, chickpeas and all the spiced yoghurt together and mix. Top with chopped coriander, crushed sev, red chilli, and fermented red onions. Serve at room temperature.
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