Sweet Potato Curry with Nigella Seeds

Perfect for Vegetarian alternative for a curry night. This sweet potato curry is also a great side dish for your Indian Banquet as an alternative to Bombay Potatoes.  We had this lovely dish with a really hot & spicy Beef Madras, steamed rice, lime pickle & lots of Naan to mop up all the sauces.

Ingredients to serve 3/4 portions or more  as a side dish

1lb/ 450g of sweet potatoes peeled and chopped into large dice
2  onions diced
2 chillies red or green (De seeded) finely chopped
Fresh Coriander (cilantro) around 2tbsp chopped
a spring onion to garnish chopped
1 tbsp vegetable oil
lemon juice to finish

The spices

5 curry leaves

½ tsp of each of the following spices
dried red chilli flakes (optional)
powdered cumin
turmeric
black onion seeds
fennel seeds
mustard seeds
Nigella seeds ( toasted & reserved to sprinkle over)

Par boil the sweet potatoes in salted water for around 8 mins until starting to go tender
Add the oil to a frying pan, heat till very hot add the curry leaves & chilli flakes and cook very quickly to a golden brown, turn down the heat  
Add the chopped onions, fresh chillies, fresh coriander and all the other spices.
Cook on a medium heat until the onions are soft
Add the par boiled sweet potatoes with a 3/4 tbsp of water
Turn the heat to it's lowest setting and continue cooking for around 10 minutes.
Turn out onto a serving dish, squeeze a little lemon juice over & scatter over the spring onions & toasted Nigella seeds.









 

Sweet potato & red pepper pakoras with mango chutney dip

 

 I would love to hear your comments. It can be quite lonely writing a blog when you get lots of views but very few comments. 

 

I love to have canapés with drinks before a special meal. These little pakoras are just the perfect thing. They are simple to prepare and can be made in advance & reheated in the oven. They also freeze perfectly if stored in a zip bag. They can be served with minted yoghurt, sweet chilli sauce or as I have here with a mango chutney dip. You could make larger ones if you prefer and serve them as a delicious starter.

Now these are my own take on a Pakora and not a traditional recipe by any means. The end result I promise you is delicious.

The recipe below will make approximately 40 mini pakoras

1 large sweet potato peeled & grated
1 medium baking potato   peeled & grated
1 medium red pepper finely diced
1 large red onion finely chopped and sauteed in a little oil until soft
1 red or green chilli, seeds removed and finely diced
2 tsp of grated fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
2 tsp Garam Masala
2 tsp Madras Curry Powder
2 tsp Black onion seeds
1 tsp Turmeric
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 egg whites
around 4 tbsp Gram/Chickpea Flour
a frying pan and enough oil around 1" for shallow frying
Mango Chutney to serve

So simple,

Whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until frothy.
Simple add everything into the bowl and mix well together.
You should have a thick mixture with a good dropping consistency
If the mixture is a little thin add a little more gram flour  too thick then a little sparkling water will loosen it up.

Heat the oil gently on a medium flame.
Just test a little of the mixture, it should cook quite quickly, flip it over, drain and check to see if the seasoning is correct before continuing.
I used roughly a level dessert spoonful for each pakora
Fry these in batches of around 6 at a time, each side should only take a minute or so turn them over and when golden brown drain onto some kitchen towel.
Repeat until you've used all the batter.
Keep warm if you are using them straight away or cool and either refrigerate or freeze.

For the Mango Chutney Dip

Place around 2 or 3 tbsp of Mango Chutney into a little food processor
Add around 3 tbsp of boiling water and whizz until smooth
You could pass the chutney through a sieve if you don't want to process it.

Place the pakoras onto a serving dish along with a bowl of the mango chutney for dipping and serve.