Arusuvai Friendship Chain and Sindhi Aloo..

The Arusuvai friendship chain has been going on for quite sometime now in India. It was started here, in the US, recently by The Yum Blog, Bhags & Bharathy. Thank you, for starting this chain. Its great to be part of this chain and join in both the excitement and the anxiety of what pops up as your secret ingredient in the mail and what you would want to pass on to your friends !!!

I got my package from Seema of MyRandap, neatly wrapped up with the secret ingredient and some lovely chocolates and a card, in continuation of the Arusuvai Friendship Chain. Thanx so much Seema for the hard to resist chocolates and the very versatile ingredient. I thought it was coriander powder, but Seema said it was Coriander-Cumin (Dhania-Jeera)Powder, home-made by her. The moment I opened the packet, I knew this was home-made, coz of the freshness and the fragrance.

And right at that moment something came up in my mind. There was a Sindhi colleague of mine back in India, whose Dabba (lunch-box) we would all attack. She had this amazing cook whom we would sing praises of. The rajma-chaval,Sindhi Aloo, the parathas, its a long list. Me being a big fan of Potato (Aloo), I specially remember the Sindhi Aloo dish. Its just a simple and easy recipe, but tastes just extra-ordinarily good. I remember to have asked her the recipe and then made it a few times before. So thought, with the dhania-jeera powder, this would be a perfect thing to make after ages.

I will mention the recipe here, but you can adjust the quantities of all the ingredients according to your taste.

Update: I asked Seema about her Dhania-Jeera recipe and this is what she told me "For the Dhania-Jeera powder I use 1 glass dhania & 1/4 glass Jeera (My mom's recipe). Dry fry Dhania till you can get a nice aroma. Turn off gas & add jeera & stir for a minute or two... Allow to cool & grind to a fine powder." Thanx Seema :).

You will need small pototoes, coriander-cumin powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and oil.

- Peel and slice the potatoes. (Small potatoes are best for this. If using the bigger ones, cut each slice into 2-4 pieces).

- Heat oil in a pan. Add the potato slices in it and keep stirring till the potatoes get cooked in the oil itself. If you take very little oil, the slices will stick to the bottom, so make sure you take enough oil.

- After the slices are fried/cooked, remove them from the pan onto a plate.

- Leave just about a tsp of oil in the pan and drain out the rest into a container or so.

- Now in this oil in the pan, on very low heat, add salt, red chilli powder, dhania-jeera(coriander-cumin) powder, and turmeric powder. Take care not to burn these. Switch off the heat.

- Add the potato slices back into this, and mix well such that the mixture coats the slices well.

- Serve hot with rice and any gravy.

I am so fond of this, that I just gobble up little by little right after am done making it. Hard to stop..

I will update on whom I'm sending the secret ingredient to, as am awaiting for one more response...

I would like to send this post as my contribution to Ode-Potatoes hosted by Sia of MonsoonSpice and also to Dhivya of CulinaryBazaar for her event - The Potato Fe(a)st.

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