My Mummy's Mashed Potatoes

This is my all time favorite mashed potatoes dish that my mother makes. It's essentially an Indian side dish usually eaten with chapatti, thosai and as an addition to rice meals. Its made similar to mashed potatoes but with the addition of lots of spices like turmeric, mustard seeds, cumin among others. It also contains carrots and peas for the lovely tri-color and nutrition as well. There is really no hard and fast measurements for this, as with most dishes, so feel free to experiment. I made a huge portion of it because we kept it for the next day to be a sandwich filling as well. So feel free to reduce the quantity.

Indian Style Mashed Potatoes

950g potatoes, peeled and diced

1 teaspoon salt 

4 cloves garlic, peeled

1 tablespoon oil

90g onion, sliced

2 sprig curry leaves

2 teaspoon mustard seed

1 teaspoon cumin

2 red chilli, sliced (optional)

100g carrot, peeled and diced

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 can of green peas, drained

Salt to taste

Method

1) In a pot, boil the potatoes, salt and garlic until soft.

2) Drain most of the water (reserve some) and mash the potatoes and garlic coarsely. If it is too dry add some of the reserved liquid. It should be a moderately wet (like thick porridge)

3) In a wok, add oil. Once warmed add mustard, cumin, onion, chili, curry leaves and cook until fragrant. 

4) Add the diced carrots and continue to cook until the carrots turn a deep orange. 

5) Add the turmeric powder and cook it for about a minute. 

6) Pour the aromatics and carrot mixture onto the mashed potatoes. Add the green peas. Mix well.

7) Add salt according to taste and warm the mashed potatoes one more time until it is thoroughly heated. 

8) Serve.