Spicy roasted potato goodness with a tangy vegan coriander and chilli mayo

My first experience eating Bombay potatoes was during a long boozy girls lunch at Tedesca in the Mornington Peninsula a few years ago. It actually turned out to be my last meal out before COVID hit us and changed everything. So for many reasons this was a very memorable meal and goes down as one of my top five best food experiences ever.

Now back to the potatoes. Tedesca's chef and owner Brigitte Hafner is a goddess and her potatoes were to die for. I am not silly enough to think that I could recreate something so wonderful like she made, so rather I set out to make my version of Bombay Potatoes.

I am pretty familiar cooking potatoes coming from a massive potato loving family with Irish roots. When we found out my brother out-of-law didn't like potatoes we nearly kicked him out of the family. What's wrong with him? How on earth can you not like potatoes? Whilst they are plain by themselves, the list of yummy things you can do to the humble potato is endless. I'm going to be honest here and say if it wasn't for potato wedges I don't think I would have survived my first pregnancy. Really, we should have called our daughter Potato instead of Fig!

I tried making this dish both in the oven and pan fried and have to say I like it both ways. So I have decided to give you both options and you can choose how you like them best. But whatever you do, don't forgot the green chilli and coriander mayo! By themselves the potatoes are nice, but the tangy and fresh mayo really compliments the rich and spicy potatoes. The mayo is what really bring this dish all together and makes in yummy. If you can't be bothered making the mayo, just mix some chopped coriander, green chilli and a squeeze of lime through some Greek yoghurt instead.

This would be a great side dish with some rice and dahl. Or if served with some fresh naan and a light salad you could easily make these potatoes the hero dish. Or as I have done, you can turn it into an Indian nann pizza! Fry some naan in a hot pan, top with the mayo, pile on the potatoes and garnish's and it looks a lot like a pizza.

Simple Bombay Style Potatoes

Cooking time: 45minutes or 120 minutes if you roast the potatoes

Serves: 4 people as a side dish

Dietary guide: This recipe is vegan and gluten free. See the end of the recipe for FODMAP friendly version of this dish.

Ingredients

800g of potatoes peeled

1 teaspoon of turmeric powder

1 Massel “chicken” flavoured stock cube

3 tablespoons of vegetable oil or coconut oil

1 brown onion peeled and thickly sliced into crescents

1 teaspoon of crushed garlic

1 teaspoons of finely grated ginger

1 teaspoon of yellow mustard seeds

1 ½ teaspoons of whole coriander

2 teaspoons of curry powder

½ a teaspoon of ground cumin

½ a teaspoon of salt

½ a cup of roughly chopped coriander

1 tablespoon of chopped spring onion

1 green chilli thinly sliced into rounds

For the chilli and coriander mayo

1/4 cup of soy mill

1 teaspoon of sugar

3 teaspoon of strained lime juice

1 teaspoon of American mustard (or Dijon)

1 large clove of garlic

1 teaspoon of salt

½ a teaspoon of caster sugar

½ a cup of roughly chopped coriander (well washed)

2 teaspoons of chopped spring onion

1 long green chilli de-seeded (keep them in if you like it hot)

220 ml of mild tasting vegetable oil

Method

First boil the potatoes. Roughly chop the potatoes into large bite sized pieces. Place in a medium sized saucepan and cover with cold water. Add the stock cube and turmeric, cover with a lid and bring to the boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook for about 20-30 minutes or until the potatoes have just become soft. Add the chopped onion and cook for another five minutes. Drain the potatoes and onion into a colander and let sit for a few minutes to dry a little.
Whilst the potatoes are cooking, make the mayo. “Cream” the garlic by grinding the garlic clove and the teaspoon of salt up into a rough paste using a mortar and pestle (or you can use the back of a spoon and a chopping board). Add a teaspoon of the vegetable oil and mix together until it resembles a rough paste – this process helps make the raw garlic more palatable. Scrape this mix into a 2 cup capacity jug along the soy milk, sugar, lime juice and mustard and emulsify for 30 seconds using a stick blender*. Add the coriander, spiring onion and chilli and blend for another 30 seconds with the bar mixer. Add the oil in 4 batches, emulsifying well after each a addition. It should thicken up and by the last addition start to resemble mayonnaise. Note it will runnier than normal mayo. Taste and adjust for seasoning. Store in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving to help thicken it up.
Whilst the potatoes are drying out, fry the coriander and mustard seeds in the vegetable oil for a few minutes (until they just start to change colour) over medium heat. Pour the oil and seeds into a large mixing bowl and add the curry powder, ground cumin, crushed garlic, grated ginger and salt. Using a rubber spatula, gently mix the potatoes and spices until evenly distributed. At this point you can either pan fry or roast the potatoes.
To roast, pre heat the oven to 180 degrees. Place the potatoes in a large roasting pan and roast for about 90 minutes tossing at the halfway mark. They are ready when they have gone nice and crispy
To pan fry, place the potatoes back in the fry pan you toasted the seeds in. You will need to cook the potatoes in two batches if your fry pan is small. Fry the potatoes for about 10-15 minutes stirring often but not constantly – you want to give the potatoes a chance to brown a little. Add a little bit more oil if needed. Take off the heat when the onions have gone crispy and the potatoes have gone darker in places.
To serve the potatoes (from either of the above methods), spread a good amount of the mayo on the bottom of a large serving dish. Spoon over the warm potatoes, season with some more salt and scatter with the green chilli, spring onion and coriander. Enjoy warm though it still tastes yum cold.

*a stick blender is best for the job, but if you don't have one you can use either a small food processor or a bowl and a whisk.

FODMAP friendly adaptation: Omit the brown onion and garlic and replace with 2 teaspoons of garlic infused oil. Make sure you use the green part only of the spring onion.