We generally tend to take the fact for granted, that delicious food is directly proportional to time. Which means, to attain the food rich in taste we have to make a lot of effort. And this is one of the primary reasons that holds us from stepping into the kitchen or puts cooking as a chore that we have to do without even enjoying it. Well, I won’t deny it completely, that few delicious dishes need effort from us to acquire the perfection. But, trust me, this fact holds true for only few particular dishes. There are so many dishes in the world which will take hardly 15 minutes of your effort, even time put together for preparing and cooking. But, they are sure to bring a smile on your face and a satisfaction in your heart when you taste the first bite. My ‘Butter Cheese Cup Corn’ recipe is one of the few examples.
Today’s recipe or should I say recipes, that I have with me, are few of those comfort recipes that will bring out your inner chef without even making you realize the effort, or, shall I say the recipes are so quick and almost effortless that you won’t feel the effort to prepare the dish. But, rest assured, once you prepare the dish successfully, you will feel the same satisfaction that you generally get after cooking a five course meal.
The recipes I am talking about are none other than ‘mashed potato recipes’. Although now a days in India, we tend to hear the words ‘mashed’, ‘potatoes’ quite often, but that was not the case probably 15 years back when international cuisine was not easily accessible to common man, at-least in small towns. However, may not be the -words, but the dish mashed potato is a very familiar dish for Indian sub-continent and have multiple variations with multiple names, like, aloo bharta, aloo chokha, aloo makha, aloo pitika etc. In today’s post, I am going to talk about few of the easy and quick mashed potato recipes, including the ‘classic mashed potato’(the very dish that the entire world resonates mashed potato with), which can be a quick side dish for your parathas, rice or the dish to complete your elaborate brunch or lunch menu.
So, the next time, either after a tired day at work or for a quick side dish to complete your lunch menu, don’t hesitate to embrace mashed potato as your quick panacea and bring that joy of satisfaction on your face.
Recipe: Classic Mashed Potato
Preparation Time: Around 15 minutes Cooking Time: Around 20 minutes (includes boiling the potatoes) Equipment used: One pressure cooker, one bowl to mash potatoes, a pan and a turner
Ingredients:
- 2 potatoes
- Around 1/8 cup chopped garlic
- 1/3 cup chopped dill leaves
- ½ cup cream
- Around a quarter teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
Method:
- Wash the potatoes and pressure cook them with 2 cups water till 3-4 whistles
- After the pressure releases from pressure cooker, unlock the pressure cooker and rinse the potatoes with cold water
- Drain the water. Keep the potatoes aside for a while till they cool down.
- Peel the potatoes and mash them with hand or masher. Mash the potatoes to the point till any lumps are left
- Heat a pan and add oil into the pan
- When the oil is hot, add chopped garlic pieces and let them sauté
- Add mashed potato when garlic pieces are sautéed and mix them well
- Add cream. Mix the ingredients with a turner till the potato absorbs the cream completely
- Add dill leaves and spread it across
- Add salt and mix it
Wash the potatoes and pressure cook the potatoes till 3-4 whistles.
Rinse the potatoes with cold water and peel the potatoes and mash them.
Heat oil in a pan and saute the chopped garlic pieces.
Add mashed potato once the garlic pieces are sauteed.
Add cream to the mashed potato and mix them with a turner till the potato absorbs the cream completely.
Add dill leaves to mashed potato.
Tips:
- You may use vegetable oil instead of olive oil
- Instead of cream you can use full cream milk. But in case you are using full cream milk increase the quantity to quarter cup milk
- To check if the potatoes are cooked, pierce them with a fork
- Before mashing don’t wait too long for the potatoes to cool down. Over cooling will make the potatoes hard to mash
Recipe: Mashed Potato With Fried Onion And Garlic
Preparation Time: Around 18 – 20 minutes Cooking Time: Around 20 minutes (includes boiling the potatoes) Equipment used: One pressure cooker, one bowl to mash potatoes, a pan and a turner
Ingredients:
- 2 potatoes
- Around 1/8 cup chopped garlic
- 1 chopped onion
- 3 tablespoon oil
- Around a quarter teaspoon salt
- 1 red chilli
Method:
- Wash the potatoes and boil them in a pressure cooker with 2 cups water
- Once the pressure releases, unlock the pressure cooker and pierce the potatoes with a fork to check if they are boiled
- Rinse the potatoes with cold water and drain them. Keep the potatoes aside to cool down till they reach close to the room temperature
- Peel the potatoes and mash them with your hand or a masher
- Heat a pan and add oil into the pan
- Add red chilli for tempering once the oil is hot
- Once red chilli changes colour, add chopped garlic
- Add chopped onion once the garlic pieces are sautéed
- As soon as the onion turns golden brown, add the mashed potatoes
- Using a turner, mix the mashed potatoes with the other ingredients for 2-3 minutes
- Remove the pan from heat and add salt and mix it with a turner or a spoon
Boil the potatoes. Peel and mash them.
Heat oil in a pan and add red chilli for tempering.
Add garlic, followed by onion once the red chilli changes colour.
Add mashed potato once the onion turns golden brown. Mix the ingredients with a turner.
Tips:
- You can use vegetable oil or olive oil for this recipe. However, use mustard oil to experience the authentic taste
Recipe: Mashed Potato With Nigella Seeds Or Kalonji
Preparation Time: Around 15 minutes Cooking Time: Around 20 minutes (includes boiling the potatoes) Equipment used: One pressure cooker, one bowl to mash potatoes, a pan and a turner
Ingredients:
- 2 potatoes
- 1 red chilli
- ½ teaspoon nigella seeds
- 3 tablespoon mustard oil
- Around a quarter teaspoon salt
Method:
- Wash the potatoes and pressure cook the potatoes with 2 cups of water
- After 3-4 whistles, switch off the stove and let the pressure releases from the pressure cooker by itself
- Rinse the potatoes with cold water and drain them. Keep the potatoes aside for a while till they reach close to the room temperature
- Peel the potatoes and mash them with your hand or a masher
- Heat a pan and add oil into the pan
- Add red chilli once the oil is hot
- Add nigella seeds once red chilli changes colour
- Add mashed potato and mix the ingredients with a turner
- Remove the pan from heat once the oil and nigella seeds spread across mashed potato
- Add salt as per your taste
Heat oil in a pan. Add red chilli and nigella seeds.
Add mashed potato once red chilli changes colour.
Mix the ingredients properly with a turner.
Tips:
- Mashed potato with nigella seeds tastes best with piping hot steamed rice
Recipe: Mashed Potato With Raw Onion And Coriander Leaves
Preparation Time: Around 20 minutes Equipment used: A pressure cooker and a mixing bowl
Ingredients:
- 2 potatoes
- 1 chopped onion
- Around 1/3 cup chopped coriander leaves
- 1 green chilli
- 1 tablespoon mustard oil
- Quarter teaspoon salt
Method:
- Follow the first four steps as is, as mentioned in the above recipes
- Add chopped onion, coriander leaves, green chilli and mustard oil to mashed potato and mix it well
- Add salt to the above mix
Add chopped onion to the mashed potato.
Add chopped coriander leaves, mustard oil and chopped green chilli.
Tip
- For best results, use hand to mix the ingredients properly
