Seriously Good Potato Fries

This recipe is as essential and as basic as it gets. Somewhere a few weeks back, the husband was running fever and needed to get to the immediate care facility. Actually, this was about a week before, the cat and his Christmas day visit. Well, the problem with our house like most houses is that one of the grown ups are sick. It is not quite so easy for the other partner in crime to leave the house and take the sick grown up to the doctor. Taking the thus far well little ones to such a place is just asking for trouble.

Anyhow, one of the husband’s friends obliged and took him over, so to thank him for spending the Sunday helping us out I made these addictive crispy potato fries. Interestingly, enough even in the midst of actually transcribing the recipe I ended up with a bout of the flu.

Crispy Round Potato Fries


Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 -20 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients

3 medium sized potatoes (Russets or Yukon Golds)
¾ chickpea flour (besan)
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon turmeric
3-4 green chilies chopped
2-3 scallions chopped
1/3 cup fresh cilantro finely chopped
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
¾ cup water
¾ teaspoon nigella needs
Oil for shallow frying
Black Pepper for garnishing


Method of Preparation


1. Wash the potatoes well, and peel them thinly. Cut the potatoes into thin slices and set them aside in water.
2. Place the chick pea flour in a mixing bowl and beat well with a wisk to break out any lumps.
3. Add in the salt, turmeric, green chilies, cilantro and red pepper flakes.
4. Mix in the water to make a batter that is about the consistency of thin pancake batter.
5. Stir in the nigella seeds and mix in the potatoes to coat them evenly with the batter.
6. Heat the oil (about 1 inch deep) in a skillet and when ready add single pieces of batter coated potatoes.
Cook undisturbed on medium heat for about 3-4 minutes on each side, till the potatoes are nice and crisp and dark golden but not brown.

7. Drain the oil and blot on paper towels. Continue this process until all the potatoes are cooked. Garnish with several grinds of fresh black pepper.

8. Serve with ketchup and paper towels and savor the moment and you enjoy these spicy crispy treats.

Happy New Year - A stop in Ardsley

 In the midst of everything we have started a year, in fact, "the holidays" are over! I had initially not really thought of a resolution. For some reason, I gave up that idea last year. However, as they say ideas exist to be changed. This year as I end the weekend and get ready to brave the new year in earnest, my resolution is to enjoy and be grateful for the simple pleasures of life. The ones that we sometimes take for granted. 

The year thus far already promises to be filled with a lot of them.

Late last year, just before Christmas, Anshul and I made a stop to a relatively new Indian place in town called Calcutta Wrap and Roll. A restaurant named after the town I was born in is naturally worth a visit just based on its name, however once I was there I think the place deserves to be visited for a whole lot more reasons.

The place is a small reasonably charming little storefront mostly positioned as a take-out place with a few tables (actually three to be exact) for convenience.

Their menu was a good balance of anytown USA Indian  restaurant style classics (such as butter paneer) and several dishes (a large number of them cooked in the Bengali style of cooking) that were touted as house specialties. A lot of the dishes were also listed a special favorites of the owners and their spouses clearly emphasizing the home style flavors that the restaurant prominently dubbs as their genre of Indian cooking.
We actually sat in to enjoy a nice afternoon meal. We order a couple of rolls, a regular chicken roll, a vegetarian skinny roll, the vegetable chop and their goat curry.

The first thing that struck me about the food was that the flavors were clear and pure and there was no sparing of the very finely chopped Serrano chillies that were generously used in the rolls. The chicken roll was nice but missing the touch of grilled onions that I think is a hallmark of this preparation.

We LOVED the skinny paneer roll. The boldly spiced cubes of Indian cheese were encased in a pan crisped whole wheat bread, topped with a fried egg. The vegetable chop is a potato and beet croquet that was fried to crisp perfection.

The goat curry was not greasy and cooked in a very nuanced and complex tomato based sauce. My only reason for possibly taking some time in getting back there would be their lack of seating space. This is largely because I personally do not do a lot of take out when I have time to plan and Ardsley is not quite a spontaneous distance from me when I want some quick nutrition to put on the family table.

I would certainly encourage you to pay the place a visit and order some of the items that might be unique to their menu.

As always, it is nice to see more options on the ethnic food scene in Westchester. If you do visit, please tell me what you think.

Calcutta Wrap and Roll

465 Ashford Avenue

Ardsley, NY 10502
http://www.calcuttawrapandroll.net/
914 591 2222

Merry Christmas - Liz's Cranberry Sauce for Grown Ups

Today has been rather unusual as holidays go, but then again maybe not quite so unusual. The weekend was deliciously long, since I was at home on Thursday. The daughter had a concert in school, that I had to attend and I felt I deserved a couple of extra hours off. The husband and I tried a new rrestaurant a quick kind of place. I shall hopefully tell you all about it before the weekend is over.

Yesterday, we had a nice group of people over. Anju and Melanie, my aunt and cousin and a couple of other friends were over. I cooked some really good stuff. However, the cat too, decided to run out and spend a day in the backyard and came back with a wound. So this morning was spent at the emergency veterinary hospital.  Now, that was the tip of the problem. Benji was generally OK, but I now have 14 tiny tablets that he needs to be fed 2 times a day.

Read more »

A candy store for spice lovers - Kalustyan's

How or why would you pick an isolated spice store, particularly when the store is located in New York City. A city that never sleeps (had to put that in) and has anything a foodie could want. Well, Kalustyan's on Lexington Ave, in the upper 20's is what I call a candy store for spice lovers. The store has the most amazing selection spices, teas, coffee, and cookware that I can think of.

Read more »

Wilted Spinach with Carmelized Onions and Raisins

I loved reading Little Women and all the rest of the series, like a lot of people my heart was captured by Jo, the independent almost tomboyish sister. Jo had lovely hair, refered to as her one beauty in several places, I think like Jo, my one reedeeming eating habit is my love for greens. I love them year long.

Read more »

Harvest Latkes and Spiced Date Apple Sauce

At the risk of offending some of the Microsoft engineers in my life, I sometimes think working with Microsoft Office is much like my husband. It is pretty much a part of my life, and on most days it works,  some days it completely drives me crazy and other days, it totally surprises me with its multidimensional possibilities. 

Read more »

One of those bad good dishes...

I might as well warn anyone, for the most part the next few posts shall be all about bad good food, in case you are wondering what I mean by that, I mean food that tastes good, but not quite so good for you. But hey, tis the season. Also, it is going to be way to busy for me at work, so not really that relaxing in terms of the time of the year. What would normally be Santa's workshop, the office dowstairs is currently a podium for the new I-POD and the edges of the TV stand are begining to get all cluttered with mail.

However, it never stops me from cooking. One of my many weaknesses is fried calamari, actually fried food in general but I can actually get my partner in crime (PIC), to share the fried calamaris and enjoy them with untimate relish.

Read more »