Potato Lime Curry
One of the most common and all time favourite curry in South India, our blog would be incomplete without a post on the simple Urulaikizhangu Podimas. This post is also for my daughter’s friend who says that she lives in ‘white bread country’, and has no access to these dishes, unless she tries cooking herself!
The literal meaning of podimas is ‘mash’. Urulaikizhangu podimas is the name given to mashed potatoes. Indian kitchens are always equipped to convert any bland dish into a very tasty delicacy with just a dash of the right spices, and mashed potatoes are quickly transformed into this delicious and versatile curry.
My children loved to eat urulaikizhangu podimas curry rolled in chapattis during their tea breaks at school. It also makes delicious filling for sandwich toasts. Combined with a scoop of sautéed onions it becomes an irresistible filling for the masala dosas. It goes very well as a side dish with poories, and although an unusual combination, it goes very well even with the hot spicy bisibele bath!
This very same curry goes into the making of the famous potato buns baked at all Iyengar bakeries as well. Whenever I visit my close friend she welcomes me with a plateful of potato buns which is her ever favourite dish. We chat and chat for very long hours while the quartered potato buns add spice to our conversation!
INGREDIENTS:Potatoes – 6 medium size
Lime – 2
Salt – 2 level tsps
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Cooking oil – 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
Black gram dal (Urad dal) – 1 tsp
Bengal gram dal (Channa Dal) – 1 tsp
Asafoetida – 1 pinch
Curry leaves – a few
Chopped Green chillies – 3
Coriander leaves – a little
METHOD:1. Wash and cook the potatoes in the pressure cooker. Or you can boil it until it is soft and can be easily mashed.
2. Once the potatoes cool down, remove the peels.
3. Crumble the potatoes one by one by, by gently pressing it between the palm and the thumb.
4. Potatoes should not become mushy, and neither should there be very large lumps.
5. Extract the juice of the lime, and add salt and turmeric powder and keep it aside.
6. Heat oil in a pan and the mustard seeds.
7. When it splutters add the dals and fry till they are golden in colour.
8. Add asafoetida and the chopped green chillies.
9. Add curry leaves, followed by the lime juice, salt and turmeric mixture.
10. Stir once and switch off flame immediately. This is done to remove any raw smell from the turmeric. Be careful to switch off within a second, as prolonged heating will make the lime juice bitter!
11. Now add the crumbled potatoes and blend with all the seasoning.
12. Garnish with chopped fresh coriander leaves.
Enjoy the urulaikizhangu podimas curry in any of the combinations you like.
This post goes to FIC Yellow event at Tongue Ticklers.
12. Garnish with chopped fresh coriander leaves.
Enjoy the urulaikizhangu podimas curry in any of the combinations you like.
This post goes to FIC Yellow event at Tongue Ticklers. 
