Before my potato hash obsession, I often thought of making ravioli filled with savory Indian dishes – Chicken Curry (Murgh Karee), Butter Chicken (Murgh Makhani) or another favorite, Potatoes with Mustard Seeds (Sookhi Bhaji). My head was filled with day dreams of the exotic ravioli magnate I would become, that is until Ratatouille’s evil mini-chef, Skinner, stole my idea!
Undeterred and now potato hash-manic, I kicked it into high gear to combine my love of Indian cuisine with a food ring presentation, inspired by last weekend’s stellar hashcapade at Hall Street Grill. Surely Madhur Jaffrey’s Sookhi Bhaji could anchor my culinary experiment at Chez Clark!
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| Chicken Curry & Potatoes with Mustard Seed Hash |
Surprised to see the finished product so soon? I’m channeling Christoper Nolan, the superb director of, among many movies, Memento. Nolan sliced the movie into several 10-minute segments and then started the film with the start of the last segment and worked his way backward to the end…of the beginning. If you loved that show, leave a comment, backwards of course, and I’ll forget what you wrote until yesterday!
So, down to business. What’s this concoction that Clark’s devised? What keeps it together? What is the chopped green stuff? Why did I just lick the screen? The foundation of the hash is the aforementioned Sookhi Bhaji or Potatoes with Mustard Seed. Be prepared to buy lots of spices as the list is rather long, but the flavors that develop are worth every penny!
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| Buy Stock in Spice Islands Before Embarking on this Hashcapade! |
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| Sookhi Bhaji (Potatoes with Mustard Seed) |
Basically, it starts with heating up some spices, tossing in onions, then more spices and potatoes. Then, I shredded some rotisserie chicken, added spices, combined with potatoes and cilantro, and added a curry yogurt mixture to bind. Finally, I plated with a garam masala yogurt mixture on the bottom, used a 4″ diameter, 2″ high food ring to pack in the hash and garnished with cilantro and more garam marsala yogurt.
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| Chicken Curry & Potatoes with Mustard Seed Hash – Close Up |
After several food fashion shots, I eagerly tried my first bite, keen to discern all the flavors. First came the creamy/tangy garam masala yogurt, followed by the cumin-cilantro flavor of the potatoes. Next came the classic curry powder flavor of the chicken, but with a surprising pop of sweet crunchy flavor from the crystallized ginger I had added. Wow! I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Please send comments on your favorite Indian dishes and perhaps another delicious sub-continent hashcapade will ensue!
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Happy Hashcapades,
Clark
This looks amazing; I can't wait to try it! I am devoted to Penzey spices though. They are fresher and usually less expensive than grocery store spices. Maybe we can carpool out to their Clackamas store sometimme. It would be worth it to watch you do a gleeful gig.
Thanks, Sassy! I've never been to Penzeys Spices. Looks like they have one in The Pearl too. I'd be up for a "spicecapade"!
Wow, this looks soooo yummy. You know I'm tempted to veganize it, right?
Thank you, it was very tasty. Please veganize to your heart's content! I just made a Mole Amarillo con Pollo, Patata y Chayote (Yellow Mole with Chicken, Potato and Chayote). I always thought a sans chicken version would be tasty. 🙂