I am known to always make potatoe and pea curry every Friday, come rain or sun shine. Come Friday and I am lazy to make anything that requires me to use brain power, hence potatoe curry, I can make it in my sleep.

I never follow a potatoe curry recipe from a book, firstly my potatoes always come out harder than when they went in and secondly, they always want me to boil the potatoes and adding it last to the pot.

The problem arises, when I need to peel the skin off the potatoe and it just spirals out of control when I then need to cube the soft potatoes, that is why when I read a potatoe recipe in a book and it says parboil the potatoes, I just flip the page.

I came across a very interesting recipe for a tamarind tomatoe and potatoe curry, which I really really wanted to try, of course the first instruction, par boil, peel and cube the potatoes… but I decided to give it a try and if all else fails, just cube raw potatoes and let them cook as the mixture boils.

And guess what for the first time, the potatoes came out perfect and kept their shape and didn’t break up as I stirred or peeled them and they came out square when cubed.

This dish itself is so tasty and different to what I am used to eating, I would never have thought to put tamarind into a potatoe curry, but it works…no more potatoe and pea curry for me.

Ingredients:

• 4 x medium potatoes, boiled in their skins till soft, drained and allowed to cool before peeling and cubing.
• 25g x tamarind from the dried block.
• 3cm piece of ginger, peeled and grated.
• 1 x tsp cumin seeds.
• 1 x tsp mustard seeds.
• 3 x dried chillies, roughly chopped.
• 1 x 400g tin of tomatoes, blitzed.
• 25g x treacle brown sugar.
• 1 x tsp masala.
• 1 x Tbsp coriander powder.
• 1 ½ x tsp turmeric.
• 1 ¼ x tsp salt.
• 2 x handfuls fresh coriander, chopped.
• ¾ x tsp garam masala.

Method:

• Soak tamarind in 200ml boiling water for 10 minutes.
• Using your fingers, break up the pulp and pour through a sieve, throw away the remaining pulp and keep the water aside.
• In a pot, heat up some oil.
• Add in the dried chillies, cumin seeds and mustard seeds.
• When the mustard seeds start to pop add the tomatoes and sugar.
• Cook till the sugar has dissolved.
• Add in the tamarind water, ginger, masala, coriander powder, turmeric, salt and about a handful of the chopped coriander.
• Add in 400ml boiling water, stir, add in the potatoes, cover and cook for 10 minutes.
• Add in the garam masala and cook uncovered till the gravy has thickened.
• Garnish with the left over chopped coriander.