Vasandhura Chauhan
You say eether and I say eyether,
You say neether and I say nyther;
Eether, eyether, neether, nyther,
Let’s call the whole thing off!
You like potato and I like potahto,
You like tomato and I like tomahto;
Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto!
Let’s call the whole thing off!
To twist what George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin wrote, there can be differences, but a potato’s a potato, even when it’s a potahto. My father loves to quote an old colleague, who said, of another, recently transferred, “Oh, that chap! He’s very good, he fits in anywhere. Just like a potato – he fits into any curry”. And don’t we know it – there’s gobhi alu, alu methi, alu matar, alu beans, zeera alu, poori-alu, alu tikki, zeera alu. And alu gosht, alu-qeema cutlet, alu paratha, alu bonda, alu pakora, alu masala dosa and alu samosa. Sometimes the alu is a stretcher, making a mutton curry go further, but who can say that the taste of potatoes simmered in meat gravy until they’ve absorbed all the flavour of the masala is merely edible; they’re a pleasure in themselves.
Okay, so potatoes cooked in mutton gravy are delicious because they’ve taken on the spices and the essence of meat stock. And so are potatoes cut into long, thick fingers and simmered in machher jhol, the delicate fish curry of Bengal. But aren’t just plain potatoes, cooked without benefit of meat/vegetables /fish an end in themselves? For me, the ultimate self-indulgence, when the family’s out, I feel I’ve had a hard day and deserve a consolation prize, and the menu needs cater only to my taste, my fancy turns to sookhe alu and parathas. And a scrambled egg or, if the fridge is yielding, cold shammi kebabs. But these are frills – the mainstay of solid satisfaction is the sookhe alu-paratha combination. With maybe a green chilli or three on the side. Every home, I think, makes some version of sauted potatoes, desi style. Usually potatoes are boiled, peeled, chopped and then tempered with whole zeera (cumin). Chillies and garam masala are optional and haldi (turmeric) rarely used. But there was a young woman in my office whose mother packed lunch for her and I would wait for those days when it included sookhe alu. The fragrance was different, something I didn’t get in my potatoes and her response, every time I complimented her, was “Oh these? They’re just baniyon ke alu. No big deal” until I asked her to ask her mother, and the source of the fresh flavour was revealed: saunf, fennel.
Considering how much we use potatoes, it’s hard to imagine where we’d be without them. They came to the old world when they were introduced to Europe by Spain in the middle of the sixteenth century. Jiminez de Quesada’s forces had entered a village in what is now Colombia. In the Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson writes that the inhabitants had fled and the Spaniards found maize, beans and what they thought were “truffles”. ‘Later accounts describe them as “of good flavour, a delicacy to the Indians and a dainty dish even for Spaniards”. These “truffles” were potatoes.’
Then for many years potatoes were not welcomed in Europe, the reasons being the small size, wateriness and bitter taste. Also, the climate of the northern latitudes was unsuitable. But the most interesting reason was the reaction of Protestants in Scotland and the north of Ireland, who refused to plant the potato because it was not mentioned in the Bible. The Catholic Irish dealt with this qualm by sanctifying the potato: they sprinkled seed potatoes with holy water and planted them on Good Friday. Potatoes became such an integral part of Irish life that now they say Only two things in this world are too serious to be jested on, potatoes and matrimony.
Potatoes came to India much later, and by about 1830 potatoes were grown on the terraced slopes near Dehradun, where the climate was considered most hospitable. Over the years potato cultivation has spread to several non-traditional states. According to some sources the annual diet of an average person – across the world – includes about 33 kg of potato. Obviously they’re being eaten everywhere.
And yet, despite my lifelong relationship with potatoes, the other day I met one that I failed to recognise. At a fair for folk arts and crafts from the North East the Assam stall had a basket with oblong red “pebbles”. Each was about two inches long, with smooth, shiny skin the colour of red grapes, a rusty magenta. In fact they could have been mistaken for oversized grapes, the imported kind that are available year-round, on and off season. So I bought about a kilo and made them – very simply – not peeled, just halved lengthwise and sauted with whole cumin seed and salt. They tasted like regular potatoes, but the texture was more dense and tight and the naswari colour, repeated in veins running through some of them spectacular.
BASIC ALU PLUS
Traditional Baniya recipe from Delhi
Serves 2
– 1 tbsp vegetable oil
– 1/2 tsp whole zeera (cumin)
– 6 large potatoes, boiled and peeled
– 2 tsps coriander seeds
– 1/2 tsp saunf (aniseed)
– Salt
Heat oil and fry cumin till crisp. Cut the potatoes into small pieces and saut with zeera till beginning to change colour. Stir in salt. Coarsely pound coriander and aniseed and add to potatoes. Cook, covered, till the flavours of the spices are absorbed into the potatoes. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching.
Vasundhara Chauhan is a food writer based in New Delhi.
Email: [email protected]
