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Home-Fried Potatoes with Onion and Amchoor

A real twist on American home fries, so good they can be eaten cold. Amchoor is dried mango powder, a supersour element; substitute lemon juice if you prefer. Amchoor powder is available at Indian markets. Serve these as you would any home fries. If you cook these in butter, they’ll be more authentic and more delicious. But oil is fine, too.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    makes 4 servings

Ingredients

About 2 pounds waxy potatoes
Salt and black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons butter, peanut oil, or neutral oil, like corn or grapeseed
1 cup chopped onion
1/4 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
1 tablespoon curry powder, preferably homemade (pages 592–593), or garam masala (page 594), or to taste
1 teaspoon amchoor powder, or to taste

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Peel the potatoes, cut them into 1-inch chunks, and boil in salted water to cover until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain.

    Step 2

    Put the butter in a 12-inch skillet, preferably nonstick, over medium heat. Wait a couple of minutes, then add the potatoes. Raise the heat to medium-high and cook, turning to brown each side but not stirring too often. Add the onion when the potatoes are nearly done, after 10 to 15 minutes of cooking; cook, stirring, until the onion softens and begins to brown, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the seasonings, then taste and add more salt, cayenne, or amchoor if you like and serve hot or at room temperature.

  2. Spicy Indian Home Fries

    Step 3

    In step 2, cook 1 tablespoon mustard seeds in the oil before adding the potatoes. Omit the onion and, along with the potatoes, add 1 tablespoon whole cumin seeds and 1 teaspoon ground turmeric. Add 1 jalapeño, stemmed, seeded, and minced, or to taste, and cook for another minute or two, then finish with some chopped fresh cilantro leaves and about 1/4 cup chopped cashews (optional).

  3. Spicy Indian Home Fries with Tomato and Egg

    Step 4

    A popular vegetarian dish: Follow the preceding variation and add 3 or 4 hard-cooked eggs (page 338), each cut into about 8 pieces, and 2 cored, seeded, and chopped tomatoes along with the chiles. Cook for another 2 minutes or so, then garnish and serve.

The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved. MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.
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