My Mom's Style Potato Fry

This was the very first item that I learned as a novice cook and my most favorite side dish (actually, I have it as a snack ;-)). It is also the ONLY item that my sister knows to make (she will probably kill me for letting out her little secret). There are 2 different variations here based on how you feel about cutting potatoes ;-).

Ingredients (about 2 - 3 servings):

Potatoes (I use yukon gold) - 4 to 5 medium sized ones cut into small, thin pieces (just like the picture :-))
Cooking oil - 2 tablespoons
Coconut oil (a must) - 2 to 3 teaspoons
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Urad dhal - 1 to 1.5 teaspoons
Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
Red chilli powder - 1 to 2 teaspoons (vary this to suit your taste)
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Heat some cooking oil in a pan, pop mustard seeds, add the urad dhal and asafoetida and fry until the urad dhal turns light golden brown in color.
2. To the above step, add the finely cut potatoes and mix the contents well. Keep frying for a about 5 minutes on medium heat.
3. Add red chilli powder and salt and fry more until the potatoes get cooked and turn a little crunchy and turn off the stove.
4. Add the coconut oil (this is all that does the magic) now and mix everything well once again. That is it!!!!

Note:
1. You can add sambar powder instead of red chilli powder to give it a slightly different flavor, but don't forget the coconut oil at the very end :-).
2. If you don't want to do any cutting work, you can boil and mash the potatoes and follow the above procedure. I normally make the mashed version if I'm traveling and want to take chappathis with me. I simply roll the chappathi with the curry inside and it neatly fits into a ziploc :-). The picture below depicts the mashed version.

Both varieties make for a good snack as well as a side dish and taste extrodinary with curd rice.