Saute 2 cloves minced garlic in 4 Tbsp vegetable oil. When fragrant, add peeled, sliced potato rounds (½ inch thick from 4 Yukon or 2 Idaho potatoes) and sauté. Add 2 Tbsp tomato purée, ½ tsp turmeric, 1 sliced and seeded jalapeno, a dash of salt and black pepper, and ¾ cup water (see Note below). Let simmer until 8-10 mins until potatoes are cooked. Separately mix 1 cup plain yogurt (I used Greek low-fat) with 1 minced garlic clove and a little salt. Smear yogurt mixture on the bottom of a plate, then pile on the potatoes. Serve immediately. The yogurt provides a nice textural contrast to the potatoes’ tomatoey warmth and jalapeno kick. This recipe is from Afghan Cuisine by Nafisa Sekandari. (Feb. 2014)
Note: We have never found tomato puree, so we figured out a shortcut: 8 oz tomato sauce is essentially equivalent to 2 Tbsp tomato puree + ¾ cup water. So we use canned no-salt tomato sauce instead of the tomato puree and water. We added tomato paste in prior versions of this recipe, but no longer feel the need. (Aug. 2019)
Cooking Adventures 