Zeera Aloo Matar : Cumin tempered pan fried potatoes and peas

One of the simplest and tastiest potato items to make is Zeera Aloo Matar. As a child I loved this preparation because it was tasty and not spicy,  which appealed to my tiny taste buds, and now as an adult I love it all the more because my son loves it, and i can make it in a jiffy.

It is interesting how aloo or potatoes became an inseparable part of Indian cuisine. Potatoes were introduced in India during the Moghul rule, in the 17th century. It took little time for us to use this versatile vegetable in several of our preparations. Potato is a vital ingredients in several foods across India. They blend easily with other ingredients of the dish and add taste value in both vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes.

Potatoes are not just used for cooking, Potato skins along with honey are a folk remedy for burns in India. Several burn centers have experimented with this remedy to protect the burns while healing.

Aloo

Aloo is a South Asian term for potatoes. It is a versatile vegetable and is cooked along with several green vegetable and meats.

The Aloo, or potato was first domesticated in the region of modern-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia between 8000 and 5000 BC.It has since spread around the world and become a staple crop in many countries.

According to conservative estimates, the introduction of the potato was responsible for a quarter of the growth in Old World population and urbanization between 1700 and 1900. Following the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, the Spanish introduced the potato to Europe in the second half of the 16th century. The staple was subsequently conveyed by European mariners to territories and ports throughout the world. The potato was slow to be adopted by distrustful European farmers, but soon enough it became an important food staple and field crop that played a major role in the European 19th century population boom. However, lack of genetic diversity, due to the very limited number of varieties initially introduced, left the crop vulnerable to disease. In 1845, a plant disease known as late blight, caused by the fungus-like oomycete Phytophthora infestans, spread rapidly through the poorer communities of western Ireland, resulting in the crop failures that led to the Great Irish Famine.[26] Thousands of varieties still persist in the Andes however, where over 100 cultivars might be found in a single valley, and a dozen or more might be maintained by a single agricultural household

Source: Wikipedia

Cooking Tip: Decrease extra salt in a gravy using a potato

If you find that the gravy you have prepared has extra salt, cut a raw potato in two or three and let it boil with the gravy for a while. The potato will absorb the extra salt and can be later removed from the gravy without any change of taste to it.

Zeera Aloo Matar

Ingredients

• Potatoes 4 medium sized
• Fresh green peas 1 cup
• Cumin seeds 1 Tsp
• Green chillies slit lengthwise 2
• Oil or butter 1 Tbsp
• Salt to taste

Method

Serving Suggestions

Serve these crisp potatoes with tomato slices, green chutney and hot parathas.
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