Of Soo Ra Sang and something between aalu dam and something else

This weekend has been good and bad in terms of food. Last night we went to Soo Ra Sang. I am not qualified to review it because my taste buds aren't evolved enough to really like Korean food. But the place is rather cute. Sit down meals, and korean barbequeue tables, and excellent service. It was the kind of politeness that makes you want to kick yourself for hating their food and not being able to finish it. And the amount of food they serve is a little overwhelming, because most of it comes free. The pic says it all.

And I watched Jail. Yes. Now. At home. Badly made, loved Neil Nitin Mukesh. He's really good! Don't have any strong feelings for the movie, so not even sure if I am fit to comment on/ review the movie here.

Coming to the better part about this weekend, I never thought I would say this about myself but here it is - I LOVE COOKING! It's so exciting to take a bunch of things that one wouldn't even think of eating one at a time, and you mix it all in random amounts, and the concoction turns out something you relish. Because it's also something you never thought you could do, something you never thought was as easy as it seems now. Come to think of it, cooking IS a lot like analytics - random data that all adds up into something that makes so much sense! Only it's a lot less challenging than analytics because the control entirely lies with you. YOU decide what you want, and what you need to get where you want, and how you can improve. And it's a little bit more exciting that the kind of analytics we know, because you can experiment just when you want to. Without worrying too much about the consequences. Because it's only food. LOL!

So today I experimented. I don't have a name for what I made, but it tasted heavenly. At least to R and me it did.  I had started out wanting to make aalu dam, but it clearly turned out something else, because I did my own thing in the kitchen :P Here's what you need-

Baby potatoes
Chopped onion
Jeera
Haldi powder
Garlic
Ginger
Green chillies
Curd
Dry red chillies
Clove
Daalchini
Tej patta
Pepper
Powdered garam masala and red chilli powder

Not mentioning the amounts, because I really don't know. Let's just say I added the amount of masala one normally puts in these curries.

Peel and partially slit the potatoes and keep them in a bowl of salt water. Then marinate the potatoes in a cup of curd, salt, and a just pinch of garam masala and red chilli powder. Refrigerate it for about half an hours. Grind ginger, garlic, one green chilli, and a few pieces of onion.

Once the marinade is ready, heat mustard oil in a kadhai. Heat tej patta, dry red chillies, and jeera till the mixture starts to pop. Then heat onion on medium flame till it turns golden brown. Add clove, daalchini, pepper, and the ground masala till the masala starts to separate from the oil. Put the marinade into this mixture and fry for about 5-7 minutes. Pour some boiling water into the kadhai and mix it all well. Let the potatoes cook completely on low flame. Let me warn you, this will take almost forever, and you really need to obsessing over it or checking it every 2 minutes. Just let it be! So in the meantime catch up with people on the phone, argue with husband over whatever comes to mind, check you emails and facebook, put the clothes into the washing machine. All that. Just when the potatoes were well cooked, add some salt to it. At this point R decided to get a little creative and added a pinch of sugar. Garnish it with coriander. Let it cook for another 5 minutes. And it's done!

Goes really well with rice/ pulao and coriander chutney. I just had it... I am in bliss!