We got back from a lovely one year old’s birthday party a while back.
I OD’d at the dessert counter. But there was lovely kulfi with faluda and an unending supply of jalebi fresh from the frying pan. With rabri. I gave in. Many times. And now have a sugar fix.
I feel that it is safe to stick to short posts, often on what I call ‘lazy cooking’ at this late hour.
So this is a story of how I demystified the humble mash potatoes.
Most of us have grown up on mashed potatoes. Either in its Western form with milk and butter or sometimes, with onions and green chillies, as we did in the East along with soggy, starchy rice. Alu sheddo bhat (boiled potato and rice), as it was called saw us through many a night when it was raining or when my mother was working late.
I’ve tried making mashed potatoes at home in the past with milk, butter and then gnashing it with a spoon or fork. It was nice but never had the creamy consistency of restaurant mash.
Then I tried something a few days back which worked wonderfully.
I boiled 4 potatoes and skinned them. Put them into a blender. Yes, that’s the magic touch!!! Added a tablespoon of butter, a teaspoon of garlic paste, 1/3 cup of milk, a teaspoon of salt and a bit of crushed pepper and chilly flakes.
Gave it a nice whip in the blender. Voila, had the most incredibly creamy mashed potato ever.
We had this with some fish grilled in peri peri sauce.
Sounds fancy? We had some pomfret which was cut into pieces. Smeared these with a teaspoon of peri peri sauce in each side, salt, crushed pepper and a bit of thyme. Put it in the micro in the combi (grill + cooking) mode for ten minutes. Took it out, gently turned the fish over. Added a bit more peri peri sauce on the side facing upwards. Put it in combi for another ten minutes.
Net result?
A fancy dish which was healthy (grilled fish) and sinful (creamy mash) and can be cooked in your sleep.
Notes: How to make Peri Peri sauce
- Go to any food shop which stocks foreign goods
- Pick a bottle of Nando’s Peri Peri Sauce. Rs 125, 4-5 servings
- If you are not into lazy cooking then this is an African sauce which is tangy (lemon juice), spicy (chilly bits) and seems to have some garlic in it