Bengali Salt and Pepper Potatoes with Scrambled Eggs

Name: Rukmini Iyer Bengali Salt and Pepper Potatoes | Easy Brunch Dish
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: Serves 2
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 500g potatoes, peeled and cut into 2cm cubes; 1 tsp black peppercorns; 2 tbsp oil, butter or ghee; 1 tsp sea salt flakes; 20g butter; 4 medium free-range eggs; Generous pinch of sea salt flakes; freshly ground black pepper; ½ tsp chilli flakes; 2 heaped tsp crème fraîche

by Rukmini Iyer from India Express: Simple and Delicious Recipes for Every Day

Just four ingredients make up this simple crispy potato dish, which is the perfect side for any easy lazy weekend brunch.

Vegetarian Gluten-Free Family Friendly Quick

Serves 2

Total 30 min

Prep 10 min

Cook 20 min

Easy

Introduction from Rukmini Iyer

This four-ingredient potato recipe is a Bengali classic. Known as aloo morich, it’s a dish of simply fried cubed potatoes, seasoned with just salt and freshly ground black pepper – incredibly moreish, as well as easy to make. As the pepper is the key ingredient, you do want to grind peppercorns from fresh in a pestle and mortar, rather than using a pepper grinder. Serve with lightly scrambled eggs for the perfect brunch dish.

Ingredients

For the potatoes:

500g potatoes, peeled and cut into 2cm cubes

1 tsp black peppercorns

2 tbsp oil, butter or ghee

1 tsp sea salt flakes

For the eggs:

20g butter

4 medium free-range eggs

Generous pinch of sea salt flakes

freshly ground black pepper

½ tsp chilli flakes

2 heaped tsp crème fraîche

Essential kit

You will need: a pestle and mortar.

Method

Cook the potatoes in plenty of boiling water for 6 minutes until just tender when prodded with a fork (you don’t want to overcook them). Drain well and leave to steam-dry for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, grind the black peppercorns quite finely in a pestle and mortar.

Heat the oil, butter or ghee in a large non-stick frying pan; when hot, add the potatoes, half the ground peppercorns and half the salt. Toss well to coat the potatoes in the fat, then fry over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, turning the potatoes or shaking the pan occasionally, until they’re a pale golden brown and crisp all over.

When the potatoes have got about 5 minutes left, heat the butter for the eggs in a medium frying pan. Break the eggs into a bowl with the salt, pepper and chilli flakes and beat very briefly with a fork just to break up the yolks. Cook the eggs over a very, very low heat for 5 minutes, using a flat-edged wooden spoon to scrape the set eggs from the bottom of the pan. Once they’re just looking set, turn off the heat and stir through the crème fraîche. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.

Add the remaining salt and black pepper to the potatoes, taste and adjust as needed, then serve alongside the scrambled eggs.

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