Although I'm not a vegan, I've always thought highly of the concept. So, when my friend, and ex-head of PETA India, Anuradha Sawhney, asked me to contribute a recipe for her new cookbook, The Vegan Kitchen: Bollywood Style!, I was all too happy to jump on the bandwagon.
Below is an excerpt from the book with my recipe:
Rahul Khanna, the suave and debonair Bollywood actor, gave me this recipe, saying “Potatoes are one of my favourite comfort foods and I am always looking for healthful ways to cook them. This recipe gives me my comfort food in a healthy avatar and is a sure-fire hit on the dining table.” I tried Rahul’s way of cooking the potatoes and the potatoes turned out stunning! They looked like deep fried potatoes as they had such a fabulous reddish brown colour to them! I serve Rahul’s dish now every time I have people over. To vary the taste sometimes, I toss them in roasted sesame and Thai sweet chilli sauce and serve them skewered on toothpicks. Either way, they are finished first!
CRISPY, SALTED BABY POTATOES
4-5 servings
Ingredients:
500 gms baby potatoes
1 tsp oil
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Method:
Soak the potatoes in a bowl of water for 30 minutes to loosen any dirt on the skin. Rinse and scrub them well with a brush so they become squeaky clean. Soak them again.
Put a non-stick or even a ceramic pan that has a handle and a lid over high heat. When hot, add the oil and the wet potatoes. If a few drops of water go in with the potatoes, it is fine, do not drain or dry them.
Cover the pan immediately. After about 4 minutes, shake the pan vigorously so that the potatoes get dislodged. Leave the lid on.
Reduce the heat to moderate and keep shaking the pan every 3 minutes.
After 12-15 minutes, open the pan carefully, making sure that no water that may have condensed on the lid falls back into the pan.
Check if they are cooked. The skin should be crisp and the potatoes should be tender from inside. Pierce one with a skewer; it should feel soft all the way through.
If not, cover the pan again and cook on low heat, till tender.
Do not cover the pan once the potatoes are cooked, else they will lose their crispness.
If you are serving them immediately, add salt and pepper and serve in an open dish.
If you are not serving them right away, leave them in the pan, without any seasoning, and cover with a light net cloth.
When ready to serve, reheat without covering, season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.
You can purchase The Vegan Kitchen: Bollywood Style! here.
