I was at the grocery store, and I saw a pre-packaged dish called Bombay potatoes and chickpeas. Its an Indian dish where the potatoes and chickpeas are cooked in a rich tomato sauce. It looked so good, but of course the sodium was 28% of the recommended daily allowance, so I passed it up. (Not to mention all the added preservatives and whatnot that are also lurking in it!) But I had to try it, so this is my attempt to make bombay potatoes. Amchur powder is a bitter mauve powder made from green mangoes, and it goes really well with potatoes. The chili pepper that I used is from Kashmir (hence the name), a place in Northern Indian. It is VERY hot, so only use a pinch of it in recipes, or exclude it completely if you don’t like spice. So I have no idea if this dish tastes anything like actual Bombay potatoes and chickpeas, but its really good regardless. To my credit however, I did research a bit before attempting to make this and found many different recipes. The basics are all here, cumin, coriander, turmeric, garlic, ginger and onions….if anyone has ever had this dish before I’d love to hear from you to see if I hit the mark!
Waxy potatoes are always better to use then regular russet potatoes because they are less starchy, plus their glycemic index is less.
Bombay Potatoes and Chickpeas:
- 4 tbsp vegetable broth
- 3 garlic cloves, diced
- 1 inch of ginger, grated
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 tbsp cumin
- 2 tbsp coriander
- 1 tbsp turmeric
- 1 tsp Kashmir chili pepper
- 1 cup crushed tomatoes
- 2 tsp amchur powder
- 3 waxy potatoes, diced
- 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- salt
In a wok heath the broth till it steams, then add the garlic, ginger and onion, cover and cook for 4 minutes. Uncover it, add the cumin, coriander, turmeric and chili pepper, stirring constantly, cooking another 2 minutes or until its fragrant. Add the crushed tomatoes, and the amchur powder, and stir it up so the sauce mixes with the spice mixture. Add in the potatoes, cover it back up and cook 30 minutes over medium-low heat. The smaller you dice the potatoes the less time it will take to cook. They are done when they are easily pierced with a fork. After 30 minutes add the chickpeas, stir it up, and cook, covered, another 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt.
This dish would be really good with some chutney and naan bread.