Potato~Capsicum Cashew Nut & Milk Curry.

“Potato~Capsicum Cashew Nut & Milk Curry” … When you forget to buy veggies, potatoes always come to your rescue … A medium spicy delicious curry that goes well with methi poori / urad dal poori / roti / paratha or spicy biryani … Yummy Yumz … 

** Potatoes are real life savers. I somehow overlooked the fact that there were no much vegetables in my fridge and today all I was left with were some beets and capsicums. It is during such time that the humble potato comes out gleefully grinning that finally it does have a upper hand at times. Well in my home potato is always a welcome sight in the dishes so potatoes need not scream injustice. I always see to it that certain things like potato, onions, bread etc. are always in stock at home. So without veggies the choice was good old potato and those capsicums. I decided to prepare this old recipe of mine which usually I prepared with cauliflower, but today it would have to be potato and capsicums. I must say they turned out delicious and yummy. 

** The inclusion of cashew nuts ground and used as the base of gravy, gives the dish the needed texture of a rich gravy. This dish is medium spicy and is best kept it at that level itself. Increasing the spice level would not be suggested by me as the aroma of the dish will then go topsy turvy. Some things are best prepared as it is without changing them much. I remember I did try once long back to increase the spice level, but the dish did not turn out good and was not very appealing. Again this dish should be consumed fresh, without actually keeping it away for hours as somehow, the aroma does not hold good as time passes. In all a very delicious dish that goes very well with urad dal poori or luchi or bathuras.. But you can relish the same with biryani too. 

** Here is my simple recipe for “Potato~Capsicum Cashew Nut & Milk Curry” … My style …. 

** Ingredients : 

Potato / Batata : 2 large sized 

Capsicums / Simla Mirchi / Donne Mirsang : 2 large or 3 medium sized. 

Onion / Piyav / Kanda : One large sized 

Full fat Milk / Doodh : 1 cup (Boiled separately and kept ready) 

Ginger / Alle’ / Adrak Paste : ½ tsp 

Garlic / Losun Paste : 1 tsp 

Coriander Leaves : 2-3 tblsp finely chopped. 

Cumin Seeds / Jeera : 1 tsp 

Musatard Seeds / Rai / Sasam : 1 tsp 

Curry Leaves / Kadipatta / Karbev : 8-10 fresh leaves 

Cashewnuts (Whole) : 4-5 

Salt to taste 

** Masala Powder Needed : 

Coriander / Kothimbir Powder : 1 tblsp 

Cumin / Jeera Powder : 1 tsp 

Red Chilly Powder / Mirsange Pitti : 1 tblsp 

Haldi / Turmeric Powder : ½ tsp 

Garam Masala Powder : ½ - ¾ tsp 

** For Grinding : 

About 1/2 cup of cashew nut pieces. 

** Oil required : 1 tblsp + 2 tblsp 

** Peel off the skin of the potatoes and cut them into large sized cubes, wash them and put them in a pressure cooker pan with enough water and cook to one whistle. Remove, cool and keep it aside ready. 

** Wash wipe and cut the capsicums also into large piece similar to that of potatoes and keep them ready aside. 

** Peel off the skin of the onion and cut them also into large pieces and keep them ready aside. 

** In a thick bottomed kadai roast the cashew nuts for a few minutes till they are warm. Do not brown them, just warming is enough. Remove and put them in a mixer grinder and grind to a smooth paste with water. Remove and keep this paste ready aside. 

** In the same kadai heat 2 tblsp oil, when hot, lower the heat and add in the mustard seeds, when they begin to splutter add in the jeera fry for a second and add in the curry leaves followed by the onions and then ginger paste and garlic paste. Fry till the onions turn translucent and the ginger and garlic is also fried well. Now add in the capsicum pieces and mix well. Add some water, cover and let the capsicum cook. 

** Meanwhile in a small pan add in the 1 tblsp oil, when hot, lower the heat and add in the whole cashew nuts and fry till they are slightly brown, remove and keep aside for garnishing. In the same oil on low heat add in all the powders, ie. first haldi then coriander, jeera, red chilly and finally garam masala powder. Do not allow the masala to burn. Remove and add this to the onion-capsicum being cooked and mix well. Check to see if the capsicums are cooked. 

** Once the capsicum is cooked 80% add in the ground cashew nut paste and mix well. Add in half a cup of water, salt to taste and mix well. Cover and cook stirring often till you see bubbles appearing on top. Now add in the potatoes and mix well. If the curry is too thick and you find it sticking to the sides of the kadai or bottom add in some more water and mix well. Cover and let the curry cook for another 2-3 minutes. 

** Lastly add in the full fat milk (you can add in skimmed milk too) and mix well. Do not raise the heat to bring the curry to a boil as after adding in the milk, the curry should be cooked with caution. Too much heat suddenly increased leads to sometimes curdling of the milk and then the curry becomes distasteful. So cook the curry on low heat stirring often till you see bubbles appearing, say it will take about 8-10 minutes. Garnish with the fried whole cashew nuts and the coriander leaves and remove from fire. 

** “Potato~Capsicum Cashew Nut & Milk Curry” is done and ready to be served. Serve this curry hot with any dish of your choice. I would recommend serving this with any one of these like Luchi, paratha, urad dal poori, methi poori or biryani. Tastes awesome and I am sure your family and friends will love the same. Do try this awesome curry and do remember to give me a feedback which really motivates me to do more. 

** An Earnest Request : There are many more recipes of similar type in the blog. For all my Recipes, use the search option or the label section in the Blog. If you are still not able to find it please leave a message in comment section or mail me the same. You can also go to my page (add on the left side of blog) and leave a message and I will try my best to get back to you as soon as possible … Thank you.