Everyday cooking isn’t easy. If you’re a foodie like me, having the same vegetable for the second time in a week will surely drive you up the wall. While we would love to have mouth-watering, exotic-sounding culinary marvels served to us on a fancy platter everyday, the onus to make it happen lies on the shoulders of the poor confused soul who needs to cook his way through.

The practical issue of using up the refrigerated stock before it goes bad might be a dampener but cannot be ignored either. Sometimes we’re left with a little of this and that which cannot be used up singularly and doesn’t ideally ‘fit’ together. Necessity is the mother of invention, isn’t it? For a chef, this is the sign to take off and open his wings of creativity!

My son loves corn and makes me buy it every time he accompanies me to the green grocer’s. The guy sells it only in fixed quantities and our consumption isn’t as much. Baking it on the stove ‘roadside style’, corn rice, corn besan, steamed corn and what not, I have tried everything! Still, many times one odd piece remains and I’m left wondering what to do with it.

Faced with a similar conundrum, I came up with this Potato-corn sabzi the other day. This was an experiment, yet the surprisingly unique burst of flavours in my mouth was amazing. If you like your food spicy, this dish is for you!

Potato-corn in coconut-chilly gravy

Ingredients:

Potatoes (boiled and roughly diced) – 3 no

Corn (blanched) – Half cup

Onion (made into paste) – 1 no

Mustard and cumin seeds (for tempering) – 1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder – 1 teaspoon

Red chilly powder (optional) – 1 teaspoon

Hing (asafoetida) – Quarter teaspoon

Oil – 2 tablespoon

Salt to taste

For fresh masala:

Desiccated coconut- Half cup

Whole red chillies (dry) – 2 no

Coriander seeds – 2 tablespoon

Cumin seeds – 1 tablespoon

Tomato – 1 no

Garlic cloves – 5-6

Ginger – Half inch

For garnish:

Finely chopped coriander leaves – 1 teaspoon

Procedure:

1. Dry roast cumin seeds, coriander seeds, desiccated coconut and red chillies in a pan till they are fragrant. Remove them from heat and let them cool.

2. Grind them together till they have a coarse powder consistency, then add chopped tomato, garlic and ginger and grind till you have a smooth paste. Add very little water, if required.

3. Heat oil in a pan and temper it with mustard and cumin seeds. After they splutter, add hing.

4. Add the onion paste and sauté on a low flame till it turns pink. Add the fresh masala paste and sauté the mixture till you can see oil separated on the top.

5. By now the mixture should be fragrant. Add turmeric powder and red chilly powder and sauté for another one minute.

6. Add the boiled potatoes and blanched corn and mix well.

7. Add water depending upon the thickness of the gravy you desire. Season with salt.

8. Cover and cook for 5-10 minutes.

9. Voila! Your dish is ready. Serve hot. Garnish with coriander leaves.

You can have this with laccha paratha, kulcha or naan or even use it as gravy with rice. It works well with everything.

What do think of this little creation of mine? What do you do when you have limited resources and want to have something new and tasty? Do leave a comment and let me know.

Alexa Rank on Sep 19, 2017

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