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Bombay potato curry (Bombay Bataka)

Bombay potato curry (Bombay Bataka)
    • Prep time:
    • Cooking time:
    • Total time:
  • Serves: 4

This Bombay potato curry recipe is one of my all time favourite curries. I love potatoes and this is packed full of them, and they're all bursting with amazing flavours. It's a glorious potato curry.

  • Gluten-free
  • Vegetarian
  • Vegan

Ingredients

  • 3 medium red-skinned (or other) waxy potatoes
  • 25g tamarind paste
  • 3cm root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 75ml sunflower oil
  • 2-4 dried red chillies, snapped in half
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp brown mustard seeds
  • ¼ tsp asafetida
  • 1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
  • 25g jaggery (or demerara sagar)
  • 1 tsp medium red chilli powder
  • 1 tbsp ground coriander
  • 1½ tsp turmeric
  • 1¼ tsp salt
  • 2 handfuls of fresh coriander
  • ¾ tsp garam masala

Method

If you want to try making this Bombay potato curry recipe, follow the below stages.

Stage 1

Boil the potatoes in their skins for 35-40 minutes, until a knife tip will slide in easily, then peel and cut into 2cm cubes.

Finely chop the ginger (or use blender) to make a fine pulp.

Stage 2

Heat the oil in a large pan for a minute over a medium heat and add the dried red chillies, cumin seeds and mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds start to pop, reduce the heat to low and stir in the asafoetida, tomatoes and jaggery. Stir over a low heat for a minute or so, until the jaggery has dissolved.

Stage 3

Increase the heat to high and stir in the tamarind water, crushed ginger, chilli powder, ground coriander, turmeric, salt, half the fresh coriander and 400ml of boiling water. Cover and cook for 10 minutes to bring the spices together and intensify the flavours.

The Bombay potato curry recipe (Bombay Bataka) cooking in a red saucepan over the hob.

Stage 4

Add the garam masala and stir well – this is a strong flavour and needs to be thoroughly mixed in before you add the dish’s main ingredient. Stir in the potatoes gently to avoid breaking them up, then remove the pan from the heat, sprinkle with the remaining chopped coriander and leave to rest, covered, for at least 10 minutes to allow the flavours to infuse.

Reheat over a medium heat until piping hot and serve on either a bed of basmati rice with some pitta bread as an aside, or serve over some warmed up flatbreads.

If you enjoyed following this Bombay potato curry recipe, check out a few of my other recipes.

Notes

Pick your potatoes wisely – The Choice of potato is very important for this dish. You want a waxy potato like a Désirée, not a floury potato like a King Edward or a Russet. If you want Bombay potato mash then try one of those, otherwise stick to waxy!