Mahanandi

Living in Consciousness ~ Indi(r)a’s Food and Garden Weblog

Banana Pepper – Baby Potato Curry

Vegetables which are at normal prices at our local grocery store now are banana peppers and baby red potatoes. Banana peppers are mildly hot and the new crop, baby red potatoes are mildly sweet. These two are cooked in tomato gravy thickened by the addition of creamy-white, rich poppy seed (khus-khus, gasa gasalu) paste. The taste of the curry is like that of made with almond paste.

Banana Pepper, Baby Potato and Khus khus (gasa gasalu)
Banana Pepper, Baby Red Potato, Poppy Seeds(Khus Khus, Gasa Gasaalu)

Recipe:

Heat in a big saucepan, over medium-low heat:
1 teaspoon of peanut oil

Toast to do the popu or tadka:
1 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, minced garlic and few curry leaves

Add and Saut�: (listed in order)
1 onion – chopped
4 juicy tomatoes- chopped
8 baby red potatoes -peeled and cubed
4 banana peppers – cut into small rings crosswise

Stir in:
¼ cup poppy seeds(gasa gasalu)-finely powdered using a spicemill/coffee grinder
1 tsp of ginger-garlic-coriander paste
2 tsp of cumin-coriander seed-clove-cinnamon powder
1 tsp of salt
½ tsp of red chilli powder and turmeric

Add 2 cups of water and mix well. Cover and cook on medium heat for about 15 to 20 minutes, stirring in-between. When the gravy reaches the consistency you desire, turn off the heat. Let the curry sit for 10 minutes and serve warm.
Tastes superb with chapatis or with rice.

Banana Pepper- Baby Alu Curry with Chapatis
Banana Pepper- Baby Alu Curry with Chapatis ~ Our meal today

Posted by Indira©Copyrighted in Baby Potatoes,Banana Pepper,Poppy Seeds (Friday April 21, 2006 at 2:37 pm- permalink)
Comments (15)

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15 comments for Banana Pepper – Baby Potato Curry »

  1. Indira: pictures are astonishing and looks great combo. Let me give it a try when i find these banana peppers.
    I simply love these pictures and they look stunning as always 🙂

    Comment by Karthi Kannan — April 21, 2006 @ 2:43 pm

  2. Wow!! A new invention!! Looks yummy and sounds yummy! Last time when I was at the grocery store, I had the tendency to buy some banana peppers, then gave up the idea. Hmmm….. next time.

    Comment by RP — April 21, 2006 @ 2:43 pm

  3. hi Indira,
    Looks very tempting to me,I like all kinds of peppres. I haven’t tried any curry with banana peppers, after seeing your recipe I too feel like making someting with them . Will definetly try your recipe.
    Thanks for such wonderful recipes and pictures…I learn something new each time I visit your site.

    Comment by Madhu — April 21, 2006 @ 2:47 pm

  4. Hi Karthi, this curry I’d recommend whole heartedly, give it a try. It tastes like the one prepared with cashews, that rich.
    Thanks!

    RP: Our local grocery shop carries banana peppers at a low price all the time. The local Italian population seem to like them, they are always in full stock here in this town. So they are always in my shopping bag. 🙂
    Give it a try, the khus khus gravy is good one for midly hot banana peppers.

    Hi Madhu: Banana peppers are aboundant and cheap in my small town, so I’m always trying something new to cook with them.
    Give it a try, I am sure you are going to like this combination. Thanks!

    Comment by Indira — April 21, 2006 @ 2:48 pm

  5. chala bavunayiIndira mi recipe and snaps.

    Comment by Lakshmi — April 21, 2006 @ 3:27 pm

  6. Never thought of cooking potatoes and banana peppers together……
    Innovative as always Indira…

    Comment by Santhi — April 21, 2006 @ 4:18 pm

  7. Its like potatoes with red bell pepper…only here it is banana peppers. I love the big anahiem peppers…maybe they’ll go well with it too. The gravy combo sounds interesting..although I’m not a big fan of cashewnuts..I do like the taste of poppy seeds in certain curries.
    As Madhu said earlier, I learn something new everytime I see a new recipe posted here. I tried your peanut chutney last night and boy oh boy!!!! it was WONDERFUL! Thank you sooo much.

    Comment by Nabeela — April 21, 2006 @ 4:31 pm

  8. I like this combination. Ive just had banana peppers once. And here i dont find them in stores here. They have only 3 variety of peppers. Will any other pepper taste good for this curry. The idea of grinding Khus Khus in coffegrinder is great, i always find it difficult to grind khus khus. And for the coriander/cinnamon/clove/cumin, will one clove and a tiny bit of cinnamon work ?
    And thanx for updating my blog link.

    Indira replies:
    Hi Priya, round cherry peppers, cubanelle peppers also taste good cooked in this way. They are midly spicy hot but not like chilli pepper hot, and when cooked they will turn into sweet things just like red bell pepper.
    This CCCC powder, I prepare it in large amount for a 2 weeks worth and I’ll add it to all types of gravy masala curries. It is the garam masala. Make a small batch and keep it in a jar for convenience, Priya. I’ll give the measurements here for a small batch – 1/4 cup of coriander seeds, 1 tablespoon of cumin, 6 to 8 pices of cloves and 1 small stick of cinnamon, I usually dry roast them first, once they are cool, I’ll grind them to smooth powder. You can add this powder to all types of meat and vegetable curries.
    Hope this helps. Have a great weekend. 🙂

    Comment by priya — April 21, 2006 @ 4:51 pm

  9. Hi Indira,
    I never tried “Bananapeppers” with Potatoes.Nice recipe and I think it will be a nice combination with rice also.
    Indira ,Iam having a small doubt -when we have to add these grinded powder before adding 2 cups of water or after adding water ?
    Thank You.
    Vineela

    Indira replies:
    Really don’t make a difference, Vineela. Just for convenience I wrote it like that. You can add the powder before or after adding the water. This is just like our regular pulusu curry preparation.
    Banana peppers, though they are called peppers, they are very mild and when roasted and cooked in this way, taste sweet. Try it, Vineela, I am sure you are going to like it. Thanks!

    Comment by vineela krishna — April 21, 2006 @ 5:03 pm

  10. Never tried to cook these two together,To try new combinations only indira can do that great job:)

    Comment by tanuja — April 21, 2006 @ 7:17 pm

  11. Hi Indira,

    Thanks to you I am opening up to new veggies…Brussel Sprouts(I made it last week and we loved it; thanks for the recipe) and now this…

    I used to believe that nothing, absolutely nothing is free in this world…if it is, then there is a catch to it. And then I discovered your site, now you tell me, what should I believe? 🙂

    Thanks for sharing all these wonderful recipes with us.

    Indira replies:
    I enjoy posting recipes online and appreciate your interest and input on my recipes.
    Thanks Pavani for your nice words.

    Comment by Pavani — April 22, 2006 @ 1:15 am

  12. Today i was planning to make chapatis for dinner. After seeing your recipe, i decided to try it with your curry. It turned out very well. I am a huge fan of gravy curries and whenever i see a new post from you in that category i get really excited. Thanks for such a lovely recipe.

    Indira replies:
    We like this curry with chapatis, and am glad you tried and liked it too.
    Thanks for letting me know.

    Comment by Kiran — April 22, 2006 @ 1:23 am

  13. Hi Indira, I think you have changed the way of describing your recipies. It is quite easy for me to write in my cook book. Usually I write the recipes from the blog.It is handy for me when I am cooking instead of looking at the comp now and then. The recipe is very interesting. I have never tried the combo of banana pepper and potato. Will try soon:)

    Indira replies:
    Just trying out something different from my regular ingredients, preparation style of recipe writing.
    What did you think of this style of recipe writing?

    Comment by Priya Balabhaskaran — April 22, 2006 @ 1:45 am

  14. Hi Indira, just wanted to let you know that I followed your tip today about heating the oven for a few minutes and then keeping the dosa batter inside to rise…in my case I put my pizza dough inside to rise…and oh boy!!!! it almost overflowed within an hour! and my yeast behaved very well today too. Thank you for the wonderful tips you gave us.

    Indira replies:
    Glad it worked for you Nabeela.
    Thanks for helping out at the ‘questions’ section.

    Comment by Nabeela — April 22, 2006 @ 11:33 pm

  15. hi Indira,
    I just tried out this recipe yesterday and it came out very well.Just wanted to thank you for the wonderful recipe.

    regards
    shalini

    Comment by shalini — November 21, 2006 @ 4:02 am

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