Simple Carrot Fry

Carrot fry/curry is of the easiest ways to make something totally yummy out of carrots. Normally, I add carrots to almost all the mixed vegetable dishes I make as they add a little sweetness to the dish, but don't make anything just out of carrots itself. But this curry has a great flavor that it makes me forget that I'm eating carrots :-).

Ingredients (2 - 3 servings):

Fresh carrots - 4 to 5 washed, peeled and chopped
Cooking oil - a couple of teaspoons
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Urad dhal - 1/2 teaspoon
Asafoetida - a couple of pinches
Dried red chillies - a couple of them broken by hand
Grated/powdered coconut (optional) - about 2 teaspoons
Red chilli powder (optional) - 1 teaspoon (vary this to suit your taste)
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. In a pan, heat some cooking oil, pop mustard seeds, add the urad dhal, asafoetida and dried red chillies and fry until the urad dhal turns light golden brown in color.
2. Add the chopped carrots to step 1, mix well, cover and cook on low heat for about 10 - 15 minutes or until the carrots get cooked.
3. Add some red chilli powder and salt to step 2 and fry the carrots on medium heat for another 5 - 7 minutes and turn off the stove. You can add some grated/powdered coconut now, but otherwise the carrot fry is ready to go.

This goes great with rice and sambar or rasam.

Potato Podimaas

Potato podimaas is the easiest potato curry that I know to make. The flavor of this curry comes from just the seasoning alone. No special masalas needed for this! I simply love to have it as a snack than as a side dish :-).

Ingredients (about 4 - 5 servings):

Potatoes - 4 to 5 small ones boiled, peeled and broken by hand
Ginger - 3/4 inch cut into small pieces
Green chillies - 3 to 4 cut into small pieces (vary this to suit your taste)
Cooking oil - 2 teaspoons
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Urad dhal - 1.5 teaspoons
Channa dhal - 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
Grated/powdered coconut (optional but tastes great if used) - 1 to 2 teaspoons
Curry leaves (optional) - a few
Juice from 1/2 a lime/lemon
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. In a pan, heat some cooking oil, add mustard seeds and wait for them to splutter. After the mustard splutters, add the urad dhal, channa dhal, asafoetida, curry leaves, ginger and green chillies and fry until the the dhals turn light golden brown in color.
2. To step 1, add the broken potatoes and salt, mix the contents thoroughly, fry on medium heat for about 2 to 3 minutes and turn off the stove.
3. Mix in grated/powdered coconut while the curry is still hot and after it cools down a bit, add the juice from 1/2 a lime/lemon. Isn't it easy????

I use yukon gold potatoes (or yellow potatoes) in my cooking as the skin of that variety is very thin, it cooks easily and has a slight sweetness in it. You can try the same dish with steamed plantains as well.

I don't know of a specific main dish that would go well with this curry, but any type of sambar, rasam would do. Give it a shot and see if you like it :-).