Potato Stir Fry (Batate Upakari)

How about a simple stir fry of potatoes for lunch, dinner? All you need is 20 minutes to make this.

Potatoes are stir fried in a simple seasoning & called as batate upakari in Konkani. If you love poatoes you'll love this batate upakari too. :-) Batato means potato in Konkani, upakari means stir fry.

It is usually served as a side dish for lunch, dinner.

Ingredients:

2 medium sized potatoes
1 dried red chilli
2-3 green chillies
3 tablespoons of oil
1/2 teaspoon of mustard seeds
1-2 leaflets of curry leaves
2 tablespoons of grated coconut
1/2 a teaspoon of urad dal
Salt to taste

A pinch of asafoetida powder (optional)

Serve: 2-3

Preparation Time: 20-25 minutes

Preparation Method:

1. You can peel the potatoes or leave them unpeeled. Wash them well if your leaving the peel on.

2. Chop potato into thin strips. The thinner the slices, the faster they cook.

3. Heat oil in a wok. Non stick wok works better, as it helps prevent potato from sticking to the bottom of the vessel.

4. Set the heat to medium. Add in mustard seeds and when they start popping add in urad dal.

5. Then add in slit green chillies, dried red chillies cut into small pieces, curry leaves. Saute them until urad dal starts to brown and the green chillies get half fried.

6. Add in asafoetida powder to the seasoning and let it sizzle. Asafoetida ia added to give the stir fry a heavenly aroma & also to take care of any gastric issues that arise from potato consumption. You can choose to skip it.

7. Then add in potato pieces and toss to mix.

Now the next easiest step would be to add about 1/2 - 3/4th cup of water, salt. grated coconut and cook it closed until potato's cooked through. :-)

But if you don't like mushy potatoes and need well separated, firm potatoes slices, that are just cooked enough then follow the next steps.

8. Close the wok with a lid and allow it to cook on medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Turn the heat to low & cook the potatoes for another 2-3 minutes. Put off heat and allow it to rest for 5 minutes.

9. Remove the lid off, now add in salt, give the ingredients a nice toss, put the lid back on. Set the heat to medium and repeat the above steps.

10. If your potatoes are fresh, they should be cooked by now. If not cook them for a little longer until they are cooked through and soft.

11. Potatoes cook in the steam formed inside the closed wok. Add 1/4 cup of water if required to help potatoes cook.

12. Lots of oil used helps prevent potato strips from sticking to the bottom of the vessel.

13. Do not add lots of water to cook the potatoes. They then become mushy and they stick to each other.

14. Once potatoes are cooked through and soft, add in grated fresh coconut, mix well. Remove off heat and serve hot.

Side Note:

If you want firm, well separated potato strips, then these tips are very important.

Do not saute too many times, unnecessarily. Just a toss, once in a while for even cooking and just to make sure potato strips don't stick to the bottom.
If you want your poato strips well separated, then do not add water at all and do not overcook the potatoes. They then cook just enough in the steam formed inside the wok and don't get mushy.
Use lots of oil to help fry the potatoes. If you're oil conscious then reduce the amount of oil you use and use water to cook the potatoes.
Do not cook potatoes at a stretch. Put off flame for some time and then cook again on low heat for some more time. Keep repeating this process until potatoes cook through. That way potatoes don't stick to the bottom of the vessel and cook in the steam formed.

Serving suggestions:

1. Serve batate upakari hot as a side dish with a bowl of steaming hot congee.

2. Or serve it with rice and dalithoy or with any curry.

3. You can also serve it as an accompaniment with hot chapathis.

Find more Konkani cuisine side dishes here.

Tags: potato stir fry, batate upakari, spicy, side dish, Konkani recipe, Konkani dish, Konkani cuisine, Udupi cuisine, Mangalore food, Konkani food, lunch, dinner, bachelor recipe