Sweet & Sour Potato | Indo-Chinese Starter | Vegetarian | Step Wise

Hi All!!

Last few days were interesting in my life, I bought an interesting bunch of spice plants amongst which is an all spice plant too. All these plants are occupying a small space in my balcony. I met food blogger friends of my city, and chit chatted with them over lunch. It was indeed a humbling experience to be surrounded by such immensely talented people. I attended a friend’s surprise birthday party too who will be undergoing a heart surgery soon and I was overwhelmed to see the joy on her face. On top of such pleasant things happening around me, it’s also raining here and I’m loving the cloudy days, the dip in the temperature.

I forgot to mention a very important thing earlier that I’m reading  books too amongst all this, loads of books...actually cookbooks to be precise and my old recipe diaries that I’ve been filling for ages. My bed is full of books these days which I keep flipping through the day, and later at night stand as a heap of books next to my bed..so much for the late night cleaning!!!

While I was flipping through my old diaries…okay before telling you this, I want to tell you something about myself which probably I have mentioned earlier too..nevertheless..I grew up with books like Grihashobha, Manorama and later on Meri Saheli too. My mom, grand moms, aunts would read these books. While the elders in the family were interested in reading stories, articles, stitching and sewing, my sole interest in these books would be the cookery section.

I would read the recipes religiously and I didn’t care whether I understood their procedure or not. I would ask someone to explain them to me. And one fine day when my grandfather gifted me a diary I started noting down recipes in it. I must have been in 9th or 10th. Since then I’ve filled many diaries with recipes that I read here and there. If I didn’t have a diary in my hand and I came across a good recipe, I would jot it down in pieces of paper, behind bills and memos and later on transfer them into my diary. I might be sounding a fanatic to many people here, but friends this is what I was and I am. I love reading recipes, and even if I may not try all of them in reality but I learn from each of them and apply the knowledge, technique, skill, elsewhere in my cooking. For me that’s called an inspired cooking!!

Anyways, coming back to I flipping through my old diaries… I came across a small recipe with few ingredients, scribbled in a page of 2007 diary. After reading it I was inspired to try it instantly. Yes, rains do wonders on me. Fortunately I had all the ingredients at home (did I tell you that my MIL believes I could open a grocery store with the ingredients I have in my pantry). The outcome of the recipe was an awesome starter which I thought I could finish the entire plate but then I literally controlled myself and saved half for the kid and I was so happy that S was travelling and both of us got more to eat. The kid loved, loved, loved it!! Yes, this was the reaction I got from him and he wanted me to make more, which I promised him, that I would soon.. The only thing I was unhappy about was the dark color of the dish, which I know will be lighter in color the next time I make…I do have a solution to it! Also, the next time I make this, would love to add a few red chilies to add more color and also top it with roasted sesame to add crunch.

Preparation Time:25mins | Marination Time: 1hr | Cooking Time: 5mins | Serves: 2-3 | Difficulty Level: Easy

Ingredients

250gms boiled & peeled, baby potatoes

10garlic flakes, finely chopped

3tbsp each of honey, red chili sauce, tomato sauce and soya sauce

1/2tsp black pepper powder

salt to taste

5-6tbsp spring onions, finely chopped

2tbsp oil ( I used a mix of vegetable oil + Chinese sesame oil)

A glimpse to the recipe written in my diary..

Method

Prick the potatoes and marinade them for an hour in a mix of all the sauces and half the garlic. I used a dark soya sauce but will use light one next time.

Heat oils in the wok and brown the remaining garlic. Be careful as the wok heats fast and if one is not careful,  one might burn the garlic.

Tip in the marinated potatoes along with the sauces and sauté on high flame. Chinese cooking is always done on a high flame, so use the biggest burner of the stove.

Once the sauces start to thicken, add pepper powder, half the spring onions, salt to taste and give a final toss.

Serve hot, garnished with remaining spring onions.

Sending it to my event ‘Only’- Cooking From Cookbooks guest hosted by Gauri.