Bhapaa Aloo

 Still missing Payel in her world travels, I made bhapaa aloo for Julie Lay's holiday potluck. It actually was a huge hit and was completely eaten. I had to take a lot of liberties because of ingredients, but I think I hit the spirit of the thing, and once again, stayed true at least to the name "bhapaa aloo," which just means preboiled potatoes. 

Skin 3 potatoes and cut them up into big chunks. 

Then put them in a pot of salted, boiling water. Boil for about 8 minutes, until a fork goes through the potatoes, but there is still some resistance. Then take out the potatoes and put them in a large bowl.

In a pan, briefly cook cumin, anise seed, some dried chilis, and stone ground mustard (or mustard seeds if you have them) in oil. Then scoop out the mixture into the potato bowl.

Next in another bowl, I combined some yogurt, coconut milk, turmeric, chilli powder, and salt. I think this was much thicker than most bhapaa aloo marinades, but it was quite good. After mixing it up, I poured it on the potatoes and mixed everything together gently.

Then cook the potatoes in a generous amount of oil to finish cooking an make them nice and crispy. I also added some truffle oil to the cooking, which tastes really nice, but probably isn't necessary. After they're ready, add salt and lime to taste (and more chilli powder for Payel).