As the popular saying goes, "Cooking is just like Sex. The more you practice, the better you get at it."
Which is why I suck at cooking.
But nevertheless, there are a few basic dishes that I do cook, and I'm putting them on my blog in this series of updates I call the "Bachelor dish" series.
I call it the Bachelor series because it is the perfect dish to cook if you are living alone by yourself. You can easily make it in a couple of minutes, and it does not require any complex culinary skills nor does it involve an assorted variety of condiments that are difficult to pronounce, as you are not cooking to impress anyone; it is just for you and your lonely soul alone. Hence, bachelor.
First up for this post, is my favorite - Bachelor Potatoes!
Really easy to make, and all my friends love it because of the simplicity.
All you need are just 1-2 onions, 5-6 potatoes, turmeric powder and salt, that's it!
First, peel the onions and potatoes, and slice them into thin pieces.
Heat around 5 tbsp of oil on a frying pan at high flame. Once it is heated, throw in the onions. Stir and wait for it to turn slightly brown. Add 1 tbsp of turmeric powder and stir again.
Finally, throw in the sliced potatoes and make sure you mix them really well, and that they are all covered by the oil.
VERY IMPORTANT: Keep the flame at low/simmer immediately.
Stir for some more time and then cover the entire frying pan with a lid.
Every 3 minutes or so, open the lid to stir. Stir gently in order to not mash them up. And make sure you bring the bottom part above so that they don't get burnt and stick to the pan. Apply salt once it is almost cooked and mix again. Thaadaaa, your "Bachelor potatoes" are ready!
You can spice it up a bit by adding Naga King Chillies.
Yummmmm!
You can also add chopped green chillies along with the onions at the beginning.
Ham and Salami also make really good add-on compatriots.
There are various other ways of modifying it, like adding ginger-garlic paste or zeera or dhania etc., but this is the very base. And all my friends especially my colleagues at work love it because it is "something they have never tasted before", simply because it is so simple that nobody actually makes it this way. No additional masala or gravy, just the pure and raw power of a potato :)
BONUS - Here is another potato recipe you can try out, which is also extremely simple to make.
For this, you will need the same ingredients as above, along with tomatoes.
Slice them onions and tomatoes into thin slices and then add the onions to a heated frying pan as above.
Throw in the sliced tomatoes once you add the turmeric powder.
You'll have to cook the tomatoes for a longer time to make it into a paste or gravy like. Make sure you cook it at low flame and with a lid on the frying pan.
You can also add some "tomato puree" to make it more gravy-ish. Finally, add the chopped potatoes. You don't need to slice them into thin pieces, just small pieces will do.
Keep stirring every 3-4 minutes, and thadaa, your potato dish is ready.
And so, these are my wonderful and tasty "Bachelor potatoes". Hope you like them. I will be updating my blog with other bachelor dishes as well, so stay tuned. If you have any comment or feedback, feel free to have your say. Until then, cheers everyone! :)
