Rasawala Batakaરસાવાળા બટાકા
Boiled potatoes in a thin, tangy gravy, made without onion or garlic. That is why it appears on fasting days, at festivals and on long journeys, eaten with puri, rotli or bhakhri.
Ingredients
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- 4 boiled potatoes, broken by hand
- 2 tbsp oil, mustard seeds, cumin, asafoetida, curry leaves
- 1 tsp ginger-chilli paste
- 1 tomato (optional)
- Turmeric, coriander-cumin powder, 1 tsp jaggery, salt
- Lemon and coriander
Method
- Temper oil with mustard seeds, cumin, asafoetida and curry leaves, then add ginger-chilli paste.
- Stir in turmeric and coriander-cumin powder, add the tomato if using and cook 2 minutes.
- Add the broken potatoes and fold gently.
- Pour in 2 cups water with jaggery and salt and simmer 10 minutes; the gravy stays thin.
- Finish with lemon and coriander and serve with hot puri.
Tips
- Breaking the potatoes by hand gives rough edges that hold the gravy.
- Mash one or two pieces to thicken it naturally.
Storing and reheating
It holds five or six hours at room temperature and two days in the fridge. As it sits the potatoes drink up the gravy and it thickens, so add a quarter cup of hot water and bring it back to a proper boil when reheating. Refrigerated potatoes turn slightly grainy, which cannot be avoided, but boiling them again makes it far less noticeable.
What you can swap
- No tomato? Half a teaspoon of tamarind pulp or a pinch of amchur, added just before you turn the heat off.
- If you would rather not mash potato to thicken the gravy, whisk a teaspoon of gram flour into two tablespoons of water and stir it in, then simmer five minutes so the raw flour taste goes.
- Sugar can replace jaggery, but use half as much. Jaggery gives the gravy a darker colour that sugar cannot.
- No curry leaves? Leave them out and add a little extra asafoetida. Nothing else is needed.
What to serve with it
With hot puri this is Sunday morning food in Gujarati homes, and the classic thing to carry on a journey. It is just as good with thepla, bhakhri or parotha, alongside sweet pickle, papad and curd. The flavour settles as it cools, which makes it good tiffin food.
Mistakes to avoid
- Do not over-boil the potatoes. A knife should meet slight resistance. Potatoes boiled to collapse dissolve into the gravy and turn it pasty.
- Boil the potatoes in their skins and peel them while still warm. Peeled potatoes boiled in water take up water instead, and then will not take up the flavour of the gravy.
- Do not pour in water the moment the turmeric and coriander-cumin go in. Give the ground spices half a minute in the oil, or their raw taste stays in the gravy.
- Do not add all the water at once, and never cold. Pour in hot water a little at a time; cold water shocks the spices and the gravy ends up tasting flat.
Questions people ask
My gravy stays thin and will not come together. What now?
Mash two pieces of potato against the side of the pan, stir them through and simmer five minutes. The released starch thickens the gravy naturally. For a faster fix, whisk in a teaspoon of gram flour mixed with water and boil it long enough to lose the raw taste.
Can I use raw potatoes instead of boiled?
Yes, but it becomes a different dish. Saute the raw cubes in the tempering, add water, cover and cook fifteen minutes. The gravy comes out thicker and starchier, and because the cubes lack the rough torn surface of hand-broken boiled potato, the gravy clings less.
The curry tastes flat. What is missing?
Usually one of three things: not enough salt, not enough sourness, or not enough asafoetida. Fix the salt first, then squeeze in lemon. If it still feels incomplete, a pinch of asafoetida and half a teaspoon of jaggery will round it out.
