Alu Methi Curry with Sesame Seeds powder

VeganMofo Day 21: Organizers of VeganMofo have planned some very interesting contests for this month. Iron Chef Challenge is one of them, they announce the secret ingredient on Friday and the dishes using these secret ingredients are then compiled and posted on the site. 

Ingredients for this week's challenge are "Potatoes and Sesame Seeds". With the baby in the house nothing happens on time or as planned, so even the post is late by about 7 hours.

I used the secret ingredients in a South Indian style curry with Potatoes and Methi cooked with sesame - chili powder. 

Ingredients:

Potatoes - 4 medium, boiled, peeled and chopped

Methi - 1 cup, chopped

Onion - 1 medium, chopped

Sesame-Chili powder - 3-4tbsp (recipe follows)

Mustard seeds - 1tsp

Cumin seeds - 1tsp

Dry Red Chilies - 2

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - 6-8

Salt - to taste

Method:

• Heat 1tbsp oil in a saute pan; add mustard and cumin seeds and once they start to splutter add onions and curry leaves and cook until onions are lightly browned around the edges.
• Add the cooked potatoes and methi leaves; cover and cook until the leaves are wilted and cooked. Add turmeric and salt (keep in mind that sesame-chili powder has salt in it), cook for 2 minutes.
• Add the sesame-chili powder; turn off the heat and serve with rice and dal of your choice for a complete meal.

Sesame-Chili Powder (Nuvvula Podi):

Ingredients:

Sesame seeds - 1cup

Dry Red Chilies - 5-6

Salt - to taste

Method:

• Dry roast sesame seeds and red chilies on medium-low flame until sesame seeds turn light brown.
• Grind the seeds along with salt into a coarse powder. Make sure not to over blend the mixture, because that will make it into a paste rather than a powder.
• This can be served along with rice or idli or dosa or as a seasoning for curries.