Who does not like potato? You must have eaten potatoes in hundred of different ways, but today’s potato stir fried recipe is very simple and very authentic Bangladeshi recipe, which is mostly known as Alu Bhaji (Alu=Potato, Bhaji = Stir fry). However, in Bangladesh, this is mostly eaten in breakfast with hand made flat bread (ruti or porota), but there’s no rules that you cannot eat this for lunch or dinner! This is my must go dish for Khichuri and a great addition to any meal!

The recipe is very simple and quick. You just need potatoes, onion and turmeric and the rest is optional.
Start your preparation with slicing onions first. Then heat vegetable oil in a large fry pan over medium heat. Add whole cumin seed when oil is warm and wait until they start bubbling.

Add thickly sliced onion quickly in bubbling cumins as they burns so quickly. That’s why you need to slice your onion first.
Saute onions until they are golden brown. I like to slice onion slightly thick, as they add extra texture to Potato stir fry. If you do not like onion, you can skip this step and just cook potato with cumin seed and turmeric!

While the onions are getting nice and golden, slice the potatoes in thin long stripes. The key feature of this Alu Bhaji is thin long strip shaped cut of potatoes, as you can see in the picture below. You can cut them in any shape you want, but make sure they are not too thin or thick. If potatoes are too thin, they will stick to each other and if too thick, then they won’t cook properly, as there’s no use of extra water in this recipe!

Wash potatoes after slicing them and strain with colander to get rid of extra moisture. This helps to remove the excess starch too and prevents them to sticking with each other.

The onions are slightly golden now, so add potatoes, turmeric powder, salt and chili. Adding salt in this step will help in release water from potatoes and aid in thorough cooking.

Mix everything well and stir fry potatoes for about 10 to 12 minutes on a medium heat. Make sure they don’t break or burn from bottom.

You can see in the picture how roasted the potatoes look like. They also should give a really nice aroma of fried cumin and turmeric!

After roasting potatoes, cover them and cook them for 10 more minutes under low heat. If you are unsure, you can add water just in tiny amount! Stir in between to prevent burning.

Uncover the pot after 10 minutes. Potatoes should look translucent and should be nicely cooked by now but check if there’s any uncooked potatoes left.

Stir fry two more minutes to get rid of extra moisture.

Now, its nicely and thoroughly cooked. Turn off heat and garnish with some fresh coriander leaves if you like. You can eat this Potato stir fry aka Alu Bhaji as a side dish with rice, or make some wraps or rolls with flat breads or tortillas with sauce and sliced cucumber inside!

Recipe: 4-5 Servings Prepping time: 10 minutes, Cooking time: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients: 6 Big Potatoes Spice and Condiments: 20ml Vegetable Oil (Olive/Mustard/Coconut oil, anything will do) 1 medium Onion 1tbs fine Salt 1tsp Turmeric powder 1tsp whole Cumin seeds 2-3 Chili (optional)

Instruction: 1. Slice onion First. Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat, put whole cumin seeds. When they starts to bubble, add sliced onion and fry them until golden brown. 2. Meanwhile slice potatoes thin, long and wash with cold water and strain in colander to leave excess water. 3. Add potatoes, turmeric, salt and Chili. Stir fry them for 10- 12 minutes until potatoes are slightly roasted. 4. Cover the pan and reduce heat to low; cook them for 10 minutes until potatoes are soft. Add very little water if you want. Check salt and add more if needed. 5. Uncover pot, check if potatoes are soft and cooked through. Cook for 2 more minutes until excess moisture evaporates. 6. Turn off heat and take Alu Bhaji and garnish with coriander leaves as desire. Enjoy with rice or flat bread or tortilla!