Chinese Potato Curry (Kooka randayi recipe)

Chinese Potato Curry (Kooka randayi recipe)

Randayi in GSB Konkani cuisine refers to coconut curry with:

1. a simple coconut masala (masolu) made with coconut + dried red chillies + tamarind + salt. 

2. That is then tempered with -  mustard seeds + curry leaves. 

3. And has a veggie in it. 

Kook in Konkani are the earthy flavoured Chinese potatoes. They have a distinct taste of their own.

Kooka randayi is Chinese potatoes in a simple coconut curry with a simple tempering. It's deliciousss. Served with rice for a yummm meal. 

Kooka randayi/Chinese potato curry are made 2 ways. 

1. On it's own like below.

2. With a pulse, with garlic tempering.   

Using Chinese potatoes you can also make kooka upakari/a stir fry of sorts,

Chinese Potato Spicy Side Dish (Kooka Sukke)


Preparation Method:

1. Peel Chinese potatoes.

If you are using fresh Chinese potatoes you can add them into a gunny bag, pound them hard to the ground.

My granny used to give Chinese potatoes in a gunny bag a nice back rub using her legs. 

If they're fresh they should be peeled by the above 2 methods.

If there are any peel left off or if using the above 2 methods the stubborn dry peel doesn't come off, you have to then nicely scrub them against the gunny bag using your hands one by one or use a peeler. 

Watch peeling here.

2. Chop peeled Chinese potatoes into cubes.

3. Pressure cook them using water and salt for 1-3 whistles depending on the size of the cubes and their freshness.

4. Meanwhile, as they cook, make a coconut masala.

Preparing the masala:

5. Fry dried red chillies for a few seconds using or without using a few drops of oil. This helps them crisp up and powder well. Also, helps remove it's raw flavours.

6. Grind fried dried red chillies with coconut, tamarind & salt into a smooth paste using as much water as needed.

7. Transfer ground coconut masala, cooked Chinese potatoes into a cooking vessel. Add stock used to cook them into the cooking vessel to bring the curry to medium thick consistency. It'll thicken on cooking, further thicken on cooling down. So keep it thinner in consistency to begin with.

8. Add salt and bring it to boil.

9. Then simmer until rawness of the coconut masala goes off. 

10. Remove off heat & temper the curry.

11. Heat oil in a tempering pan, add in mustard seeds, when they start popping add curry leaves & let them sizzle for few seconds. Add the tempering to the curry.

12. Mix well, serve hot with steaming hot rice & enjoy.


Watch it's making here:

 


Chinese potatoes, kook are also used in curries like:

Sprouted Green Gram Curry (Muga Gashi)

Vegetables in coconut milk (Valval)

Tags: curry, randayi, recipe, Chinese potato, kooka randayi, kook, kooka gashi, lunch, GSB cooking.