Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Ala Thel Dala (Fried / Tempered Potatos)

This is a every famous dish in Sri Lanka in both occasions and day to day meals. If you are a vegetarian prepare this dish without Maldive fish, I´m sure you´ll love it. One of my family´s favorite menu is, yellow rice, parippu (dhal) curry, chicken curry with ala thel dala (tempered potatoes). Try this meal with yourself, hope you also like it very much just like us :-). Good luck with the recipe.





INGREDIENTS:
3 boiled potatoes – cut into chunks
1 onion – sliced
3 – 4 garlic cloves - sliced
4 – 5 teaspoons Maldive fish – optional
1 ½ teaspoons mustard seeds
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons chili pieces
½ teaspoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon turmeric
4 – 5 tablespoons oil
1x1.5cm cinnamon piece
5 – 6 curry leaves
salt to taste

DIRECTIONS:
In a medium bowl, mix all the ingredients (onion, garlic,Maldive fish, lime juice, chili pieces, chili powder, turmeric & salt) except the potatoes and oil. Heat a pan in medium heat & when it´s hot add the oil. When oil is ready add mustard seeds and let it pop up (nearly 2 – 4 seconds), then add cinnamon and curry leaves and let it fry for 1 – 2 minutes. then add the onion mixture & mix it well with oil. Keep it on heat for 5 minutes. After that mix it again and keep it again for another 5 minutes.
When the onion mixture is nice brown & also you can smell a nice smell, that´s the time you have to add potatoes into onion mixture. Mix onions and potatoes well but don´t break potatoes into small pieces. Keep it on heat nearly 2 – 3 minutes. Taste for salt.

SERVING:
Mainly goes with every kind of rice. you can have it with bread & roti too.(My favorite :-) )

NOTE:
1.If you don´t have Maldive fish, you can use dried prawns also. Break it to small pieces.
2.If you want you can add lime juice at the end, no problem you can do it that way also.

ENJOY!!!

14 comments:

  1. Good job! I enjoyed watching your clear directions. I want to try ala-thel-dala now!
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  2. i make foods as you teach,every body say,it,s good.so im very happy.thanks akki.and i want to know,how can make accharu
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  3. i cooked today this potatos and it is great. thank you!!
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  4. Thank you everyone for the comments and the encouragement. I will fulfill your requests as time permits.
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  5. I made this today....it came out perfectly! thankx
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  6. Mmmm, I could not find masterd seeds and curry leaves in Japan so I used a masterd paste with seeds. But it was a bit sour and tast was not which I expected... I will try it again!
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  7. @ Anonymous: you are welcome, glad you like the dish... :-)

    @ Gangafish: mustard paste is not the same as mustard seed, so I think it's good if you try the recipe without mustard paste, (if you really can't find mustard seeds.)
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  8. Thank you very much for your suggestion! By the way, I really would like to have "kola kanda" these days... Please update how to make it in the future!
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  9. I used to stir fried boiled potato chunks with very little oil,(before mixing the onion mixture) then potato become crispy & taste good, if like try..

    upeksha
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  10. Hi Chamari,

    I am a guy in NZ and I made this as daané for a Sri lankan temple here. Thank you so much for your clear instructions; I followed them and the outcome - the smell, the taste and the sight was amazing! Here is a pic of it:
    http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/5843/dscn0580z.jpg

    Thanks very much and bohoma ping for you too :)
    Waruna
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  11. Thank you so much for this recipe. This is the best version of ala thel dala out there. My husband loved it and he almost cried eating it! :) Thank you very much again and I look forward to trying out the other recipes on your site.
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  12. Thanx alot for the help its so helpful
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  13. I am a guy with less cooking experience. Just tried this and it went well. Thank you very much.
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