Urulai Chettinadu

Ihad my cousin visiting our home! I usually invite him for weekends to have better food, as he is a bachelor! He should be hungry by the time reaches our home. I was not happy with just one subji for roti and just rice. I wanted to prepare something quick, then thought of potatoes! My cousins reads my blog and likes to taste some recipes from here. So, I always try to make something diffrent. One another reason is he is cooking with friends.
Well, I saw these chettinad potatoes were into most of the blogs, and this time I wanted to invite here! I have never tasted chettinad cuisine! But the mighty men liked the potatoes.

Chettinad cuisine is originated in the southern parts of Tamil Nadu state comprising of Madurai, Tirunelveli and Karaikudi regions. This cuisine is well known for its hot and spicy, aromatic non vegetarian dishes. Chettinad cuisine is so different from the traditional healthy vegetarian cuisine of the Tamil Brahmins.

Coming to the recipe,
You need:
Baby potatoes ( halved ) - 10-15 (I used regular ones, half cook and cut)
small onions/ pearl onions - 15 to 20
dried red chillies - 5
split black gram (urad dal) - 2 Tbsp
chana daal/ Bengal gram - 1 Tbsp
sesame seeds - 2 tsp
Turmeric a pinch
black peppercorns - 5- 10
mustard seeds - 1 tsp
curry leaves - 5 – 10
Salt to taste
Oil

Peel the onions, cut the stems and keep aside. Peel the potatoes and cut into halves.
In a small pan, dry roast the red chillies, channa dhal, sesame seeds, urad dhal and black pepper. Let this cool and grind to a coarse powder. (This powder can be stored and used for other curries as well.)
Heat a big pan and add oil to it. Add mustard seeds, curry leaves and let it splutter.
Add the small onions and saute till lightly browned and cooked.
Add potatoes, stir, add salt and sprinkle water. Cover and cook on medium heat check in between and sprinkle water as required and toss. This might take about eight to ten minutes for the potatoes to cook.
Now add the freshly prepared masala powder, turmeric and mix. Check for salt.
Cover and cook over low heat for about three to four minutes more till the potatoes are done.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot.