Potato and spinach with poppy seeds (alo-palang posto)

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1½ kg potatoes, chopped
• 5 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, chopped
• 4 small chillies, chopped (a mix of red and green)
• 1 tbsp finely crushed ginger
• 1½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 150 g white poppy seeds (buy from Indian grocery shop)
• 3 bunches English spinach

Instructions

Peel and finely chop potatoes. Cover the base of a pressure cooker with olive oil and fry the fenugreek and mustard seeds, add the fresh ginger, chopped chillies, crushed ginger and stir.

Add the potato, salt and turmeric for colour and mix. Cook in pressure cooker until the potato is half cooked, for approximately 5 minutes.

Grind the poppy seeds to a powder and add to potatoes. Chop the spinach finely and fold into potato mixture, keep stirring until potatoes turn to pure and spinach reduces. Be careful not to overcook and loose the colour of the spinach.

This dish is a wonderful accompaniment with lamb curry.

Note

• If not using a pressure cooker, choose a saucepan with a firm lid over a low heat and cook potatoes until half cooked.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.