Matthe Ke Aloo

                                                                         
                                                                         

This would be a very familiar recipe to most people from UP and other parts of North India. Although we still tend to call this dish Matthe Ke Aloo, it is mostly made with dahi ( yoghurt) these days rather than mattha. It is one of those quickie dishes that comes handy when there are no veggies in the house or one is not in the mood to make anything elaborate or time taking.

Mattha, is what one gets after churning butter. Fresh cream collected from milk is set with  a starter of yoghurt and then churned to make butter.  The sour residue left, after removing butter, is what is called mattha. Butter of course is heated to make ghee.

Till some years back, when our family was still fairly large, with children and parents living with us, our daily milk consumption used to be a lot. We had a milkman, coming on a bicycle from a nearby village, who used to supply milk to us. The fresh milk was boiled and when it cooled, the thick cream that set on top was collected and stored in a container in the refrigerator. When the container was full, it was gently heated and set with a little yoghurt and later churned to make butter. So every few days there was mattha on hand that was utilized in various recipes like kadhi, jeera lassi etc or this perennial favourite, matthe ke aloo.

Ingredients: 

3 medium size potatoes, boiled
1 cup mattha or dahi (yoghurt)
1 tea spoon garlic, finely chopped or crushed
1 green chilly, finely chopped ( optional)
1/2 tea spoon cumin
1/2 tea spoon mustard seeds
Pinch of  hing (asafoetida)
1/2 tea spoon red chilly powder
1/2 tea spoon turmeric powder
1 tea spoon coriander powder
1 table spoon gur (jaggery)
Salt to taste
2 table spoon oil
Coriander leaves to garnish

Method:    Boil and peel potatoes. Keep one potato aside. Using your palms, break up the remaining two potatoes or cut roughly. Finely chop or crush garlic.  Whip mattha  or dahi (yoghurt). Chop green chilly and coriander leaves.

Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan and add cumin, mustard seeds and asafoetida. As it begins to crackle add garlic and green chilly ( optional). Stir. Add the cut potatoes and stir fry for a couple of minutes. Add turmeric powder, red chilly powder and coriander powder. Add 1/4 cup water and when it comes to boil, grate the whole potato kept aside and add. Cook for a few minutes and then add mattha or dahi. Can also add gur at this point. Stir continuously till mixture starts boiling and then lower flame and allow to simmer for a little while. Add salt, mix it in and close flame. Serve hot garnished with coriander leaves.

I like this dish to be of soupy consistency, not thick. If you like it thicker add a tablespoon of besan ( gram flour) dissolved in little water. The grated potato too helps to thicken the gravy. Just let it cook for longer till you get the consistency you want. Alternately, add warm water, if desired, to dilute the gravy. The gur  doesn't sweeten the dish, it just balances the flavours nicely, toning down the sourness.