Bengal Potatoes

Vegetarian? Bengal potatoes is served as a main course or a side dish. This great vegetarian food is well known to Bengali people, a dish in East Indian cuisine.

Ingredients for Bengal Potatoes:

• 4-5 small medium Potatoes
• 2 teaspoons panch puran (5 spices)
• Ground turmeric
• Kashmiri chili 
• ghee

Method:

1. Put a little ghee into a large heavy-bottomed pan with a good lid and put it onto a medium heat.
2. Add panch puran, and let them cook gently until the seeds start to pop.
3. Wash but do not peel the potatoes and cut into large bite sized chunks. Add to pan, stirring so that the seeds coat the potatoes evenly.
4. Add a little ground turmeric, enough to just color the cut surfaces of all the pieces.
5. Add a little chili powder. The quantity varies depending on your palate, and the strength of the chili.
6. Stir well to distribute the spices.
7. Do one of the following:

• Put on the lid, turn down the heat, and allow the potatoes to cook in their own steam until cooked through. A little extra water can be added if necessary, but as little as possible should be used. The potatoes should not boil.
• Put the spiced potatoes on a tray in a hot oven until cooked through.

Serve hot as a snack food with drinks, or as part of an Indian meal.