Classic south Indian dosa potatoes that are typically used to fill masala dosas (thin, large savory crepes). They are deeply savory and perfect alongside any egg dish or stuffed into breakfast burritos.
To try dosa, is to love dosa. There is no in-between.
Huge crispy crepes made of fermented rice and lentils stuffed with all sorts of delicious savory fillings and condiments for dipping.
What is there not to love?
That is, unless you’ve ever tried to make dosa at home.
As someone who has utterly failed at making dosa on many many occasions…I can say for sure that I do NOT love making dosa. Pretty sure I don’t have the right kind of pan or patience or wrist flexibility. Something like that. To be fair, I have this issue with all crepes no matter their ethnic background. We just don’t get along.
To my great relief, Priya Krishna published a recipe for dosa potatoes (ie the classic filling for dosas) in her Indian-ish cookbook and OMG it is saving my life on so many levels. Now I can have at least some of the great flavor of dosas at home but without any of the crepe-making stress.
Bonus that these are so easy to make. Boil up some russet potatoes and you are halfway there. Give them a brief saute in some spices and curry leaves, and you’re in the home stretch.
Serve them as breakfast potatoes (my personal favorite) with eggs, stuffed into burritos with other Indian-ish fillings, or as a side to, well, anything.
- 2 large russet potatoes, boiled and cooled
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp black mustard seeds
- 3-4 sprigs fresh curry leaves
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- ¼ tsp asafetida
- 1 small onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 3 dried red chiles de arbol
- ¼ tsp kashmiri chili powder
- Break or roughly cut the potatoes into ½-inch pieces. Set aside.
- Warm the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the black mustard seeds. Once they begin to pop, remove the pan from the heat and add the curry leaves, stirring to completely coat them in the oil so they crisp up a bit. Add in the turmeric, asafetida, and onion. Return the pan to medium-high heat and saute for 4-5 minutes, or until the onion is translucent.
- Add in the potato pieces, salt, dried chiles, chile powder, and ¼ cup water. Stir to combine. Cover the pan and cook until the potatoes are soft and the flavors have melded, about 4-5 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
An awesome combination of flavors and textures. YUM!