June 11, 2008

Potato Bell Pepper Fry

For the click , I made this extremely simple stir fry which ended up a mellow yellow..yellow bell peppers with potatoes.
The potato part of the recipe was inspired by an unusual potato fry that I recently tried out and ended up making back to back for a couple of days. It was Nandita's spicy potato fry as described here which is absolutely crunchy and delicious. Just the addition of rice flour to a the standard cumin-coriander-red chili powder combination spiced up the whole dish with a crunch as if the potatoes have been deep fried and not just sauted.

You Will Need:
2 medium potatoes,
Yellow Bell Pepper-1 sliced thinly
2-3 tbsp oil

Spices:
Fine rice flour-1 1/2 tbsp
Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
Cumin- 1/2 tsp (substitute with roasted cumin powder)
Red Chili Powder(hot)-1 teaspoon (use less for less spice)
Coriander powder-1 teaspoon
salt to taste
1 tbsp finely chopped cilantro for garnish

Preparation:

Peel the potatoes and wash it well. Cut it into thin slices similar to French fries. Rinse it once more and then cook it in a microwave safe glass bowl with double the quantity of water for 3-4 minutes. It should be almost fully cooked and should cut break easily.

Rinse with cold water and drain the water and dry the slices on a paper towel or clean cloth. Now sprinkle the spice ingredients (except cumin)on the boiled potato cubes, tossing lightly with a spoon.

Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a heavy bottomed/non stick/hard anodised pan, add the cumin, stir till the aroma comes through and then add the potato slices and mix lightly. Let the potatoes cook on a medium low flame without stirring it too much.

At this point, add the thinly sliced yellow/orange bell peppers and mix well. Turn them around only after 10 minutes, to brown the other sides. The whole sauteing should take somewhere between 10-15 minutes to get the nice crunchy crust. You may not need more oil unless the pan is stainless steel.

Add oil by drops if further required. Keep the heat constant and try not to break up the potatoes by mixing which is what I did the first time around.:)
Once ready, garnish with coriander and serve hot.Garnish with cilantro.

6 comments:

Kalai said...

Thanks for sharing the recipe, Shaheen! Love the addition of rice flour to make it super crispy. Nice one! :)

FH said...

I have noted that recipe too, looks delicious!Now I must try!:))

amna said...

i love the flavour of bell pepper but have never tried a dish with it alone. will definitely give this a shot :)

Ramki said...

You can microwave potato juliennes without adding any water. Just cut them up, and cook on highest setting for 2-3 minutes and they get cooked beautifully.

Anonymous said...

Aah... its nice to be able to read your blog again. Don't know why I was not able to get it earlier.

Thats a nice tip - the addition of rice flour. Will definitely try it out. As Ramki suggested, is there a difference if the slices are microwaved without water?
Thanks!

Shah cooks said...

ASha, heh.. u are going to try this? i am nervous now. anyway, if u microwave it without water, it should be fine..it might get too dry. iwill try it out and let u know. u just need about 2-3 tbsp of water to create steam. make sure the rice flour get coated evenly and cooked well. might need more oil depending on ur cooking pan.