Aloo Pyaz ki Bhujiya: Potato Onion Dry Sabzi

Staple, durable veggies – potatoes and onions – join forces to give us this easy dry sabzi: aloo pyaz ki bhujiya. It’s vegan and very light on spices, just right for the lunchbox or a shared picnic basket.

The lone shining spice in this recipe is fenugreek (methi). With methi, a little goes a long way. If you aren’t familiar with its taste, I suggest giving it a trial run with only a few seeds the first time. Not everyone warms up to fenugreek’s bitterness: if you are among them, feel free to substitute fenugreek seeds with cumin.

You Need:

• Potatoes – 4 medium
• Onions – 4 medium
• Dry red chilies – 2-3
• Salt – to taste
• Fenugreek seeds* – 1/4 teaspoon
• Mustard oil – 2 tablespoons

*If not using fenugreek seeds, go for 1/2 a teaspoon of cumin seeds instead.

How To Make Aloo Pyaz ki Bhujiya:

Peel the potatoes and onions.

Chop the potatoes into bite-sized pieces.

Heat two tablespoons of mustard oil in a skillet or kadhai.

When the oil is hot, add to it 1/4 teaspoon of fenugreek seeds. As soon as the fenugreek seeds turn dark, add broken dry red chilies and chopped potatoes to the pan.

Stir and cook covered on medium flame for five minutes.

While the potatoes cook, chop the onions into similar-sized pieces.

Toss the potato pieces – they would have started getting gold-edged by this time.

Spread a layer of chopped onions on top of the potatoes. Let it cook covered for two minutes.

Uncover the pan and give it all a good stir.

Continue to cook covered on low heat till the vegetables are done. This should take about 15 minutes.

How to check that the vegetables are done: Use a toothpick or fork to prick a piece of potato. If it pierces the potato easily, it is time to stop cooking. [Beware: if the potato crumbles on contact, it is overdone.]

Aloo pyaz ki bhujiya is ready.

Serve hot or warm, on the side with any Indian meal. Goes especially well with parathas or khichdi.

Pictured below with rice, dal and fresh mooli:

Notes:

Have leftover aloo pyaz ki bhujiya after dinner? Use it as sandwich filling the next morning.

Recommended for potato fans: potatoes in garlic sauce, Holi-special potato curry, jhatpat aloo with lime and spices, offbeat potato recipes for dinner.

You *do* like fenugreek seeds? You must try these recipes then: methi dahi, green eggplant in mustard-fenugreek masala, sarson methi kadhi, papad ki sookhi sabzi.