Spicy fingerling potatoes

Since our president insists on this time change thingy, I cannot seem to get my sleep and waking up patterns going smoothly. To top it off, me and A have had sore throats and coughing fits. You know those nites when you keep tossing and turning because you can't breathe from one side and then have to turn to the other? Ya, one of those. Then my phone was off by an hour. So by the time I got to sleep it was time to wake up. I was dressed and ready for work at 6am. WTF? Should I go in early? ya right.

Needless to say, I had an extra hour on my hands. I figured I might as well put it to use by cleaning up a bit and getting dinner semi-prepared. I soaked some brown basmati rice and washed about a pound of fingerlings. I also washed about 7-10 thai chili peppers, peeled 2 cloves of garlic and got out a knob of ginger and crushed these in my mortar with some sea salt and a sprig of curry leaf.

When I get home I will only have the actual cooking left to do since almost all the prep work is done. Just quarter the fingerlings and saute them in a bit of oil and then cover for about 10 min, stirring in between. Then add the crushed mixture and 1/2 - 1 cup of water. Keep covered and stir once in awhile until the potatoes are cooked thru. Squeeze in half a lime. Before you start on your potatoes though, put your rice on to cook so it will be done around the same time. Oh ya, I probably should have told you that first - my bad.

Serve with a tomato & onion salad. And write to your congressman/woman and tell them how you really feel about time change. after all, if you're not with me, you must be against me :)

For you folks spoiled by the written word,

Serves 2-3
Prep time: 10min
Cook time: 20 min

The VIP's:

• 1 lb fingerling potatoes
• 7-10 thai chilies
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• knob of ginger
• sprig of curry leaf - optional
• sea salt
• half lime/lemon
• 2 tbspn oil

The play:

1. wash and quarter the potatoes
2. saute in oil and cover, while you pound in a mortar: chilis, garlic, ginger, salt, curry leaf
3. after 10 min, add this crushed mixture and 1/2 - 1 cup of water to the potatoes
4. cover and stir once in awhile for another 10 min or until potatoes cooked thru.
5. check seasoning and squeeze lime over potatoes

NOTES:

• sweet potatoes would be a good substitute for those of us trying to steer away from bad carbs.
• garnish with cilantro if you have it on hand
• serve with roti, naan or rice
• for a more pronounced indian flavor - after the oil is heated, add the following and allow to pop: mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds and fenugreek seeds and cook on.