Asian Potatoes and Peanuts

So this post is yet another entry for the Kolkata Food Bloggers' event Know Your Blogger and this week's star blogger is Urmi of Ume's Kitchen. I have spent quite a few hours rummaging through Urmi's repertoire of delicious dishes, trying figuring out which of her numerous lip-smacking good recipes I should try and finally zeroed in on her Spicy Peanut Potatoes. Then I changed my mind and set out to try her lemon tarts, albeit with my own twist. The outcome of my experiment did not please me as much as I wanted it to, so I went back to the Spicy Peanut Potatoes. 

But while I took inspiration from Urmi's dish, what I whipped up is very different from Urmi's recipe. Driven by impulse, I gave the dish an Asian twist. So, there's peanut and there's potato but that's all that is common to the two dishes. I am not very fond of peanuts in my food, if you serve me a dish with peanuts in it you are most likely to find them stacked in a neat mound on the side. The only exceptions are perhaps a Phad Thai or a  crunchy Thai style salad. So I wanted to give the spicy peanut potato, distint Asian flavours, which I did. The result was pretty great. A few simple ingredients, you can alter proportions too suit your taste buds, and you have a delightful dish. Check it out. 

Ingredients 

Baby potatoes - 500 g (boiled and peeled)
Finely chopped garlic - 2 tbsp
Fish sauce - 1 tbsp (optional)
Dark Soy Sauce - 2 tbsp
Tamarind pulp - 1 tbsp
Jaggery (melted) - 2-3 tbsp
Finely chopped red chilies - 3-4 tbsp
Roasted and crushed peanuts - 1/2 cup
Sesame seeds - 1/2 tsp
Vegetable oil - 2-3 tbsp
Salt to taste
Finely chopped coriander leaves for garnish
Lemon Wedges to serve with

Method 

Heat oil in a wok. Add chopped garlic and fry for a minute. Add the soy sauce and fish sauce and give it a quick swirl.

Toss in the baby potatoes and chopped red chilies and give it all a good toss. Add jaggery and tamarind pulp and keep tossing o the fire for a few minutes. Adjust seasoning (be careful, both fish sauce and soy sauce have salt).

Remove from heat. Add the roasted peanuts and give it all a good toss. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and sesame seeds and serve with wedges of lime.