I never really sat back and looked at my pantry at all the things in there. It just seems that I always have ingredients in there when I need it.

3 weeks of not stopping every other day at the stores and stocking up on odds and ends and of not filling up the fruit basket makes you really take out your thinking cap when it comes to cooking a meal.

With all the funeral prayers almost complete, we have just have the 30 day service to go and then life can resemble some sort of normality again, hopefully.

This is the first death in my family, not counting my grandparents and let me just tell you something, everything has been going by in a blurr. There are days when I have no idea what to cook and days where food just doesn’t taste appetizing. Who knows when last I have even used my oven. Let me not even mention the smell that came out of fridge when I opened it 3 weeks later. I am not sure what happened, but it required me to clean every inch of it, from top to bottom.

When lunch came around yesterday my mother put her foot down and said she wanted something hearty and filling and something she could sink her teeth into to.

Upon inspection of my pantry I had zero vegetables, not even a potatoe to my name, I had to visit the Paki store across the road to buy a few potatoes. When my father heard this he almost hit the ceiling, after all he likes up to date potatoes not normal potatoes that the rest of us like. I hate cooking with up to date potatoes, overcook them and you land up with curried mash potatoes.

I came across this recipe in one of my Indian cookbooks and it seemed the perfect thing to make, simple and easier and not a lot of chopping.

The verdict, my mother loved it, my father loved it minus the potatoe part…men I tell you. The only complaint I had with regards to this dish was there was no roti to go with it. I made the folks eat rice.

Ingredients:

• 500g x potatoes, peeled and cubed,
• 1 x tsp turmeric powder/
• 55g x ghee.
• 6 x curry leaves.
• 1 x dried chilli.
• 2 x fresh green chillies, finely chopped.
• ½ x tsp nigella seeds.
• 1 x tsp mustard seeds.
• ½ x tsp cumin seeds.
• ½ x tsp fennel seeds.
• 1 x onion, finely chopped.
• 5 x tbsp. coriander, finely chopped.

Method:

• Boil the potatoes in salt water till soft, drain and set aside.
• Melt the ghee in a pot.
• Add the onions and salt and saute till the onions are soft.
• Add the remaining ingredients and mix.
• Cook for a couple of minutes.
• Add the potatoes and toss to mix everything.
• Cook till the potatoes are heated.