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My favorite restaurants always manage to impart the flavors of the various spices used to the potatoes, rather than only having the potato's own flavor. However, when cooking curries on my own, I find that my potatoes retain their natural taste, and the spices do not override the natural flavor. Are there methods that can be used to make sure that the flavor is imparted properly throughout the whole potato? Also, I find it very hard to get a consistent, pleasant texture; some portions of the potato are too soft, and others too hard. What is the best way to prepare the potatoes, so that they both have enough flavor, and also the right texture?

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    The title sounded like your question will have to be closed, because the answer would be "spice according to taste, period". It seems from the text that you indeed have a concrete problem of the type we can help you with, so I will edit it instead of closing. If I strayed too far away from your original intent, you can clarify it further.
    – rumtscho ♦
    Jan 14, 2014 at 18:01
  • Perfect, much appreciated for the clean cuts in the editing rumtscho. :)
    – CaseyJones
    Jan 14, 2014 at 23:47

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You don't need to precook the potatoes just put them in and let them cook through (30-40 mins high heat). The real trick I've found is then letting the curry cool completely and leave in the fridge overnight. The next day the potatoes have a lovely soft texture and have absorbed lots of curry flavour.

Other tips are make sure you don't add acidic ingredients early on (lemon, lime, yogurt ect) as this prevents the potatoes softening. Also make sure the curry has plenty of spice and salt to work with bland potatoes.

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Rather than boil, steam until almost done, then add to your curry and cook for around 5 minutes. Obviously smaller potatoes will suck up more of the spicy goodness.

Are we talking Bombay Aloo or Kari Ayam here? Treatment is somewhat different with a very wet curry like the Malaysian Kari Ayam ...

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  • I wasn't sure what you meant by "add cook", so I hope I made it more clear. If not, feel free to edit it further.
    – SourDoh
    Jan 16, 2014 at 11:28
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    I am thinking along the lines of bombay aloo, jeera aloo, keema aloo. I'm not familiar with the "ayam" variations. One thing though that isn't exactly what I'm trying to achieve, is a very wet potato curry. Bombay aloo here is made using a highly reduced base sauce with a good quantity of oil tempered in spices (ground or whole)
    – CaseyJones
    Jan 16, 2014 at 14:39
  • and thanks for your answer btw, but I would be looking for a more hands on advice. I know indian restaurants in UK don't steam potatoes. My failures have been trying to follow the restaurant's way.
    – CaseyJones
    Jan 16, 2014 at 15:28

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