Baby Potatoes with Sesame and Peanuts

I adapted this recipe from an omnivore cookbook called something like Cooking Low Fat Indian Food For People With Diabetes. I got it from the public library and I neglected to write down the exact title. But I changed it up so it doesn’t really matter if I lost the title--the idea is there. It was just potatoes but I added some chickpeas to make it a meal.

 We’ve had this several times and it never fails to please. We’ve served it with the “half plate of salad” trick I mentioned in my last post as well as some roasted broccoli. I don’t know exactly what kind of “baby potatoes” I bought. Halsey’s Deli sells locally grown produce and so I got these slightly oblong new potatoes with thin skins and a creamy yellowish interior. They were more like waxy potatoes--like the kind that hold up best in salads.

Baby Potatoes with Sesame and Peanuts 

You 

400g baby potatoes

1 tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed and set aside (or be a smarty pants  and cook your own from scratch)

Cut potatoes into chunks and boil until soft and a knife can easily pierce them  and then drain. In the meantime, get all the spices ready. I like to put each Spice Mix in a separate ramekin to make it easy to tip in at the right time. There’s no time to faff about with this recipe as it cooks quickly so just do the spices up in little pots already.

 Spice Mix 1

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp red pepper flakes (or less…or more if you are really brave)

1 TB finely chopped fresh gingerroot

Spice Mix 2

3 cloves garlic, minced

Yes, I am aware that garlic is not technically a spice, but you have to add it separately so just humour me.

 Spice Mix 3

¼ cup roasted,salted peanuts (the original recipe called for them to be crushed, but I can’t be arsed and just add them whole and they are fine)

1 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp smoked paprika

1 TB desiccated coconut

1 TB sesame seeds

1 tsp garam masala

Several grinds of pepper

½-1 tsp (smoked) sea salt

 This is how you make it:

Heat 1 TB oil in a pan until hot.

Normally I would use considerably less oil--but this much really gives them a good crispy coating. The other half of the meal is veg so don’t try to skimp on the oil.

1. Tip in Spice Mix 1 and stir to coat with the oil for a minute or 2 and then add Spice Mix 2 (the garlic)

2. Tip in the potatoes and chickpeas and stir to coat.

3. Tip in Spice Mix 3 and cook for 5 minutes, stirring continuously.

 That’s it! We find it quite spicy with 1 tsp red pepper flakes so we like to add a blop of cooling greek-style soya yoghurt.

Here it is up close. Doesn’t that look yumilicious? It makes 3 good servings so there is some to have for lunch the next day.  Now go and make it.