The Best Way to Eat Potatoes

Your new favorite snack: Honey Chili Potatoes

I love potatoes in all forms and this has to be my favorite version. It's crispy, sweet and spicy and is perfect with an ice cold glass of beer or any other sparkling beverage of your choice.

I really enjoyed making the dish. Watch the video here.

Prep

This dish requires a bit of chopping but it comes together really quickly after that. I look at it as an opportunity to get better at my knife skills. I wish I could go as fast as Gordon Ramsay but safe is better than fast, as he would agree.

The aromatics I use in this dish are the usual suspects with one unique ingredient. There’s ginger, garlic, scallions, green chilies and cilantro stems. The cilantro stems add an intense cilantro flavor that stands up to the other bold flavors in this dish.

A Special Recipe

This recipe is special because it brings back fond memories from the first time I traveled to India with my husband. We went to the infamous Leopold Cafe in Mumbai where he enjoyed his first Kingfisher beer with these potatoes and YMCA playing in the background. I can't wait to see how close I get to the ones we had there.

There is a stereotype about Bengalis that they add potatoes to everything because they are diehard potato lovers. I wholeheartedly embrace that stereotype.

The fact that a seemingly boring, humble vegetable can be transformed into something with a completely different texture and exciting flavors, is wondrous to me.

Quick tip: I boil the potatoes for just a few minutes before frying them. I do this to make the interior fluffy which provides a lovely contrast to the crunchy exterior.

Double Frying

If you know me, you know I love deep frying.

Typically, cornstarch is used in this dish. I use potato starch because it creates a lighter crunch which I prefer.

The key here is to add as little water as possible while making the batter. This ensures that the coating gets as crispy as it possibly can.

This dish is all about contrasts. I double fry my potatoes because I want them to retain their crunch even after they're coated with the sweet and spicy sauce.

Double frying is a process of frying something twice. The first fry is at a low temperature and it sets the shape of the batter. The second fry is at a higher temperature and it develops the crunch and the golden color.

Stir Fry

Once the potatoes are fried, it comes together very quickly.

A stir fry can seem like a frantic dish because everything cooks at high heat and you have to move fast. The way to make it less frantic is by having all the ingredients prepped out and laid out in front of you.

I heat the oil and add in all the aromatics. Once I smell the familiar aroma of the cooked ginger and garlic, I add in some water, soy sauce and some vinegar.

I thicken the sauce with a little bit of cornstarch slurry and turn off the heat before I add the honey and the fries. I don't want these fries to cook any longer. I just want to slather them in this flavorful, glossy sauce.

This dish is called honey chili potato and it's served as an appetizer in restaurants. You can also find it on the streets of India. Either way, it's a dish you have to try.

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