'H' is for Hara Alu

I was searching for a last minute recipe for Nupur's A-Z of vegetables. I came across this recipe at Sanjeev Kapoor's Khana Khazana. I am glad I tried out this recipe as it came out really good. I did make a few variations to the original recipe though. I roasted the potatoes in the oven instead of cooking them with the cilantro-green chilli gravy. Also the original recipe did not include onions and I added onions to enhance the flavor. The result was a cilantro spiced potato curry that was delicious. Here is the recipe.

Hara Alu

Ingredients
4 medium sized potatoes
1 medium onion (sliced thin)
1 cup chopped cilantro
3 green chillies
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
Salt as needed
Oil as needed
1/2 tsp jeera
A few curry leaves

Method
1. Peel the skin of the potatoes and slice them into rounds. Mix in 2 tbsps of oil and spread out on an oven safe tray. Ensure that all the potatoes are coated in the oil.
2. Bake at 425 degrees for about 35 to 40 minutes until slightly brown.

3. Grind the cilantro and green chillies into a coarse paste.
4. Pour oil in a pan and season with jeera and curry leaves.
5. Sauté the sliced onions and ginger garlic paste.
6. Add the cilantro-green chilli paste and sauté for 1-2 minutes.

7. Add cumin powder and coriander paste and mix well.
8. Transfer the oven roasted potatoes, add salt and mix well till the potatoes are evenly coated with the cilantro-green chilli-onion mixture.
9. Serve hot with rice or rotis.

Kitchen notes:
1. You can also add pudina/mint leaves along with cilantro.
2. Instead of slicing the potato into rounds, you could also cube them.