Chilagada Dumpa-Mirapakaya Pulusu (Sweet potato sour stew with Jalopeno Peppers)

Here is one more dish, which I am trying it for the first time. As I am not really a fan of sweet potato, I don’t cook it often. I had leftover sweet potato, which we got for our friend’s daughter, Rishika’s baby food. In order not to waste it, I wanted to prepare something with the root. I was browsing for some of its recipes and also its nutritional values and found some really interesting stuff in the internet. Besides simple starches, sweet potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, beta carotene (a vitamin A equivalent nutrient), vitamin C, and vitamin B_6.  I used some Jalopeno peppers along with the sweet potato in the dish to make it little more spicier. After tasting it, I was totally surprised by its taste. Just loved it !!!

Ingredients:

Sweet potato – 1/2 large

Jalopenos – 6-7

Onion – 1 large

Tomato – 1 large

Green chillies – 3 to 4

Tamarind pulp – 3 tbsp

Chilli powder – 2 Tsp

Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp

Curry leaves – 2 strands

Turmeric – ½ tsp

Oil – 2 Tsp

Salt to taste

Preparation:

Wash and peel the sweet potato and cut it into 1 inch cubes and keep aside. Cut the jalopeno peppers into bite size pieces. Soak the tamarind and squeeze out the pulp. Now heat oil in a saucepan and once it is hot, add the cumin & mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds start to splutter, now add the fenugreek seeds and curry leaves and fry for few seconds and now add the onions  and green chillies, cut lengthwise and let them fry till the onions are transparent. Add the sweet potato cubes and sauté for 5 minutes on a medium heat. Now add the tomato puree (I have blanched the tomatoes in water for 5 min, peeled them and pureed them so as to have a thick sauce or else the regular canned tomato puree can be used). Add the turmeric, chilli powder, Jalopeno peppers, salt and the tamarind pulp and little water and close the lid and let it cook on  a low flame till the oil oozes out of the sauce. To have an extra flavour, add some fresh curry leaves and close the lid and cook for 5 more min. so that the all the flavours are absorbed by the sweet potatoes. Add some sesame powder at this point to the pulusu to give it a very nice added flavour and thick consistency for the sauce. Serve hot with rice and some chips or rice fritters.