Chettinad is a region located mainly in the Sivaganga district ruled by Ramnad kingdom of Pandya Nadu and has a small portion extending into the Pudukottai District of Chola Nadu in Tamil Nadu, India. This region is also home to the Nattukottai Chettiars or Nagarathar who are a prosperous prosperous banking and business community and many in this community have migrated to various parts of south and southeast Asia in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The region is associated with gorgeous and palatial homes as well as a lip-smacking spicy cuisine.

I used to make a shallots and baby potatoes curry from Sanjeev Kapoor many years back, so last week when I found myself with both shallots and baby potatoes in the house, I decided to try to make this curry, but this time tried a spin on the classic chettinad masala. Now this is not an authentic masala as I only used a fraction of the ingredients usually used, but the result was equally yummy and the whole curry disappeared in no time!

This recipe can also be made with normal onions and potatoes, just cut them up to the size of shallots and baby potatoes and you can continue to make it the same way.

Chettinad Style Shallots and Baby Potatoes Curry

Ingredients:

• 1 cup shallots, peeled
• 1 cup baby potatoes, washed and scrubbed
• 1 green capsicum, cut into 1 inch squares
• ¼ tsp black peppercorns
• ½ tsp fennel seeds
• ½ tsp coriander seeds
• ¼ tsp cumin seeds
• ¼ tsp fenugreek seeds
• 4-6 dried red chillies
• 4-6 curry leaves
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp oil
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Heat a pan on low-medium flame and when the pan becomes warm, add all the whole spices – pepper corns, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds and the dried red chillies and dry roast them till they are crisp, but not burnt. You should be able to smell the fragrance of the spices. Switch off the gas and when cool, transfer to a spice blender and blend to a fine powder.
• Cut those shallots which are big into half or quarters and keep the others as they are. Do the same with the scrubbed potatoes. Those which are big can be halved or quartered. Cut the green bell pepper or capsicum also into the same size pieces. The intention is to keep all pieces roughly the same size so they cook at the same time. Keep everything aside.
• In the same pan, heat the oil and when the oil is warm, add the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds start to pop, tear the curry leaves and add it to the oil. Stir for a couple of seconds and then add the turmeric powder.
• Now add the shallots and stir for a few minutes. When the shallots start to turn translucent, add the capsicum and baby potatoes and cook covered until they are 50% done.
• At that point, add salt and the ground masala and stir well, making sure to coat all pieces of shallots, baby potatoes and capsicum with the masala.
• Let the vegetables cook completely and when done, serve hot as part of any south Indian meal.

Enjoy a delicious and yummy curry!