Saturday, October 8, 2011

Indian-Style Fries, Fast and Easy

   See the lovely, Indian-style french fries above? So innocent, so harmless, so tempting. Sitting there next to a nice bottle of Racer 5 Indian Pale Ale, it's the perfect picture of tranquility. You should have heard what was going on in the background. SCREAMING!!! LIKE MAJOR SCREAMING.

   I want to make one thing perfectly clear before I start here, and that is that Alan and I rarely fight. We've been married and also have worked together as writing partners for many years. I sit across the table from this man on a daily basis, and one thing I can tell you as someone who writes screenplays for a living, I couldn't possibly work with someone I couldn't get along with or was angry at. Not to say that we don't sometimes disagree about the way a scene should go, or what a character might do or say, sometimes fairly loudly, but it's no biggie. So why should an innocent plate of french fries be the cause of a major blow up? Simple, it's all in how you see them.

   I cooked this dish originally for our friend who was undergoing cancer treatment and needed to be on a strictly vegan, low sodium diet because of his radiation treatment. These Indian style french fries aka Alu Kadai, were a big big hit with him. Of course Alan saw them and they were a big, big hit with him too, except that time he wasn't getting any. But it was such a great dish and so amazingly easy to fix that I decided I'd definitely be making it again soon. So yesterday after tinkering with it a bit, I did. And that's when the trouble started.

   You see, every time something is cooked around here it's photographed and then it's eaten. A lot of the time I'm hungry and hopping around saying "Take the damn picture! Take the damn picture let's eat!!" Lately, we've been working like crazy trying to get the script we're currently working on out of the house, so when we break for a meal we're hungry, and believe me these potatoes are nothing one wants to wave around under the nose of a hungry man. Yes, they're that good. And easy, because with the schedule we've been working, there's not a lot of time to waste.

   Now here's where the fighting starts. I wanted to be very twee and build a sort of little log cabin of these fries, just a few on a plate cunningly stacked. Artsy fartsy, that's me. When Alan saw me reaching for the tweezers he yelled, "What the....? just dump the damn fries!"

 "Okay," I said swinging the pan around , "Fine! Okay!  I'll dump your damn fries. I'm just trying to make 'em look pretty!"  (Obviously the original dialogue  was NSFW ..but I'm cleaning things up here.) I dumped the fries angrily on the plate. "There! Happy asshole?"

  "Yeah, they look great!"

  "Well, I think they look like ..." you get the picture.


   When I say these fries are easy, I really, really am not kidding. This recipe has just a few basic ingredients. Potatoes, green chilies, roasted unsalted peanuts, cumin seed and mustard seed. That's it. I'm not kidding around here, these are kitchen pantry basics and its ready in about 15 minutes. You can't beat that.

Indian-Style French Fries

Here's what to do:
Peel 1/2 pound of plain old potatoes.
Cut them in strips as though making French fries.

In a deep pan or skillet, heat 1 and 1/2 Tbs of vegetable oil. Yes, you heard me right, fries made with 1 and 1/2 Tbs of oil. We are not kidding around here.
When the oil in the pan is hot, hot, hot, add in :
 1/2 tsp of cumin seed
 1/2 tsp of mustard seed
When the seeds start to sizzle and pop, toss in:
 1 seeded and finely chopped serrano chili

and the potatoes.

Now, add in :
  1/2 tsp of salt
  1 Tbs of ground peanuts


 That's it.

    In the end, I apologized. (So did he.) I had not realized that there is a magic connection between men and french fries that does not include tweezers. He didn't even want me to put any fries on his plate for lunch. He ate them straight from the bowl. I think the next step is for me to get a paper hat and a stack of newspapers.
     Coming up next, more "too much work, too little time wonders". Follow along onTwitter@kathygori. Like us on Facebook


  1. Lovely recipe and this will be a hit at home for we simply adore potatoes, cooked any which style.

  2. There is plenty of food fighting in this house too about me taking too long to take photos when my husband is cranky and grumpy! I agree with your husband though, these defiantly just need to be "thrown" on a plate! They sound and look so delicious and I love how easy they are! I cannot wait to try them.

  3. Wow!,Supergood Potato fries recipe dear.Simply adore this crisply fried Indian Style Potato Fries.Luv it.

  4. LOL! This was such a fun post to read!! The fries looks amazing and the pictures too. I'm glad I don't have to collaborate with my hubby to do my blog... if I did it would not be pretty for sure. I cook... he eats. I loved when you grabbed the tweezers. I can just picture that in my mind. :) That's right... don't stand between a hungry man and his spicy fries. Fun post for sure!!:)

  5. wow wonderful recipe,i love this style of fries...

  6. How delicious are these!! I am going to make them today! Enjoyed the story in the background too!

  7. " I had not realized that there is a magic connection between men and french fries that does not include tweezers. " LOL! My husband who is a major french fries or "pommes" monster (he grew up near the German Belgium border) would agree. Delicious looking seasoning.

  8. Wow! those Potato fries look so delicious. Can't wait to try crispy Indian Style Potato Fries.

  9. Looking so delicious. I like fried potatos



Blog Widget by LinkWithin