{"id":26,"date":"2010-01-10T07:38:38","date_gmt":"2010-01-10T14:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/therealfoodchronicles.com\/?page_id=26"},"modified":"2016-04-23T19:50:46","modified_gmt":"2016-04-24T01:50:46","slug":"bangers-and-sweet-potato-masala-mash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stormysweitzer.com\/recipes\/bangers-and-sweet-potato-masala-mash\/","title":{"rendered":"Bangers and Sweet Potato Masala Mash"},"content":{"rendered":"

My favorite spice shop is a hybrid of convenience store and Indian market located down the hill from the University of Utah.\u00a0 It seems to cater primarily to soda-loving, potato-log eating folks and homesick students.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t fall into either of these categories, you\u2019d hardly know what a gem of a store it is.\u00a0 I was lucky enough to live around the corner from them for a while, but even then it took at least a year before I knew what was in the store I walked by every day.<\/p>\n

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There are three reasons I go to this shop:<\/article>\n<\/section>\n

1.\u00a0 The spices, pulses, and flours.<\/strong> I can buy large quantities of cumin, coriander, and other spices, a rainbow of lentils, as well as chickpea, rice, and corn flour for a fraction of what I\u2019d pay at a regular or natural foods grocery store.\u00a0 I also consume these in large quantities, so this is one of my must-go shopping locations.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 The spice blends.<\/strong> If I go to Whole Foods, I can find packets of pre-blended spices for tandoori or tikka sauces, for example, and they cost about $4.00\/pack.\u00a0 At the Shop N\u2019 Go, as it\u2019s called, they are about $1.50 to $2.00.\u00a0 Throw them in the blender with a can of diced tomatoes or plain yogurt, pour over saut\u00e9ed veggies and\/or meat, simmer, and you have a delicious Indian meal in 15-20 minutes.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re great for people who think Indian cooking is too complicated or don\u2019t have a lot of time to cook.\u00a0 Parampara (whose website is a bit memory-sucking, so I won\u2019t link to it) makes my favorite one-meal packets, though Khazana<\/a> and MTR<\/a> brands are also good (these are multi-meal packets).\u00a0 Caution<\/strong>: while these blends are primarily vegetarian, some contain dairy ingredients, and nearly all are processed in plants where cross-contamination with wheat or nuts is a possibility.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 The samosas.<\/strong> Like most convenience stores, the Shop N\u2019 Go has warming trays filled with deep-fried \u201cstuff.\u201d\u00a0 Where they depart from such stores is in their delicious vegetarian samosa offering.\u00a0 They are delicious.\u00a0 And not being able to eat the wheat pastry means I will sometimes buy them and scoop out the filling \u2013 which is what happened yesterday.<\/p>\n

So, today, I decided to make samosa filling as a side dish and see how it turned out.\u00a0 I referred to a recipe for spicy potatoes from the International Vegetarian Union (IVU)<\/a> for the spices I\u2019d need, but ended up just throwing things in.\u00a0 I\u2019m not certain of quantities used, but the following is a rough estimate:<\/p>\n

You could make this with larger-cut potatoes that were cooked just right \u2013 the concept of bangers and mash came up as an after-thought, once I realized I\u2019d cooked the sweet potatoes to the point of disintegration.\u00a0 It was a great side to a chicken sausage.\u00a0 The mash was yummy, and definitely something to repeat.\u00a0 In fact, the leftovers would be great for pakoras\/fritters\u2026just heat a little oil and cook them as patties the next day.<\/p>\n

You could make this with larger-cut potatoes that were cooked just right \u2013 the concept of bangers and mash came up as an after-thought, once I realized I\u2019d cooked the sweet potatoes to the point of disintegration. It was a great side to a chicken sausage. The mash was yummy, and definitely something to repeat. In fact, the leftovers would be great for pakoras\/fritters\u2026just heat a little oil and cook them as patties the next day.<\/p>\n