Family recipes, the recipes that have been cooked for decades and some even for centuries, are the most treasured ones and are close to my heart. Our tastes, preferences may change with time but these recipes tie us to our roots and memories. One such recipe which is very authentic to Udupi-Mangalore region is what I am sharing with you all today. Ceremonial feasts of Brahmin community in this region always include this “GASI” as one of the rice side dish served mostly just before the main Sweet.
Since many months this signature recipe was in my mind to post here, but little voice inside was warning me saying “you have not mastered the recipe yet”. Yes, I wanted to make certain about the recipe, spices and their measure. It got materialized when I spoke with a famous COOK in Udupi during recent visit to my beloved home town. With boosted confidence I cooked this potato pea curry (popular as GASI) twice last week, every one admired and gave green signal to post here.
Warmth of raw spices, sweetness of coconut and jaggery, hint of sourness from tamarind and spice kick from red chillies infused in to crumbly potatoes and peas made this Potato pea curry as an all time hit as chapati/rice side dish. The bright orange color with drizzled mustard seeds seasoning of potato pea curry was so photogenic and I loved the photos to the hearts content. Taste is still lingering….. I hope you too are tempted to recreate the same magic.
Potato Pea Curry | Batani Gasi Recipe | Chapati Side dish
Ingredients
- Peas- 3/4 cup
- Potato - 1 medium sized
- Grated coconut- 1 cup
- Red chillies- 2 nos.
- Coriander seeds- 1 tsp
- Cumin seeds- 3/4 tsp
- Split black gram lentil urad dal- 3/4 tsp
- Salt- 1 to 1.5 tsp
- Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
- Tamarind- Lemon sized
- Jaggery- Small lemon sized or 1.5 tsp
Seasoning Ingredients
- Cooking oil- 1 tsp
- Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
- Curry leaves- few
Instructions
Preparation
- Soak peas in enough water for about 6 hours or overnight.
- Soak tamarind in water for about 10 minutes and extract it's thick juice extracting residue.
- Wash potato under running water and chop it in to small cubes. Keep them immersed in water till use to avoid discoloration.
Method
- Cook peas in immersing level water till peas are half done.
- Now add thick tamarind extract, jaggery, turmeric powder and chopped potato cubes. Let it cook in low flame till peas and potato cubes are soft.
- Meanwhile dry roast split black gram lentil(urad dal) till lentils turn slightly brown.
- Combine grated coconut, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, red chillies and roasted black gram lentils in to mixer jar and grind them together in to fine paste. Add this ground paste to cooked potato peas of step 2.
- Now cook potato peas curry with ground masala in medium flame. Add salt to taste and little water. Bring it to boil and switch off.
- Heat seasoning pan adding oil, mustard seeds and curry leaves, when mustard seeds pop up transfer it to potato peas curry.
- Relish this potato peas curry with chapati or rice. It tastes extremely good with each of them.
Note
- None of the spices(coriander seeds, cumin, red chilly)require roasting except urad dal.
- Cubed potatoes are added only after peas are half cooked. This is because peas take longer time to cook than potato. If you cook both of them together potatoes would get mushy by the time peas are cooked.
- You can use pressure cooker also to cook the vegetables, but make sure they are not overcooked. This curry tastes good when peas and potato are soft but not mushy.
- Adjust salt and red chilly as per your taste buds.
- The gravy has to be slightly thick than normal curry, so include water accordingly.
Meet you all with one more interesting recipe. Till then bye.
Thank you very much for these wonderful recipes. I am a fan of Udipi cooking. Your recipes have really nurtured this. I was wondering if one can make Gasi with any other veges or is it just peas and potato. What other veges can we use?
Thanks once again for this wonderful site.
This is a popular combination of making Gasi. You can use other vegetables like ivy gourd, plantain with peas or black eyed beans for making the same.
Well thank you for posting recipe. Can we use frozen peas instead of soaking hard peas overnight
Hemalatha, you can use frozen peas as well.
Thanks to this recipe ill try this. Fan i love the udupi food…..
Kotthambari beeja, jeerige, ona menasu rubbuva modalu adannu huriyabeka?
Illa, avugalannu huriyade hakabeku.
Can I make this recipe with cauliflower and green peas.
Cauliflower doesn’t look like an apt veggie for this recipe Amitha. You can try elephant yam.