Potato Sagu, though a popular potato based curry from Karnataka, is popularly referred to as Bombay Sagu!!! Unlike other curries from Southern Indian cuisine, this dish doesn’t involve coconut or grinding!!! For the same reason, without any second thoughts, it gets into the quick recipe list.
The name “Bombay Sagu” is still a mystery. This dish is commonly served in the darshinis and other vegetarian restaurants across Karnataka. Just my guess, on why it would have been named so – in the former days, lot of families from South Karnataka moved to Bombay in search of better prospects and almost all of them were into the hotel / food business. Sagu was a popular dish from the South Indian cuisine prepared out of different vegetables. Potato ‘Baaji’ is a popular dish from the Maharashtrian cuisine which goes along with chapathi, roti, poori etc. Potato Sagu, which too goes well with the likes of chapathi, poori, rava idli and idli, is the nearest Southern counterpart to the local Maharashtrian ‘Baaji‘. And over time, it got quite popular among the localites and probably then, came into being called by a more catchy name – Bombay Sagu. As I said, it is just my guess. If you know the exact reason, please feel free to write back to me. I am very curious to know 🙂
This goes very well with Oats Corn Idli
Few interesting curry recipes : Curries
Few interesting breakfast recipes : Breakfast Recipes
Other Oats recipe that might interest you is here.
Well, lets quickly look into the recipe:
Ingredients:
Potatoes: 3 (Medium sized)
Onion: 1 (large)
Tomato: 1
Green chillies: 2
Ginger: ½ inch
Oil: 1 tbsp.
Channa dal: 1 tbsp.
Urad dal: 1 tsp.
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp.
Turmeric powder: 1/4th tsp.
Asafoetida: a pinch
Besan Flour: 1 tsp.
Salt: to taste
Method:
- Pressure cook potatoes, peel and roughly mash them. Keep aside
- Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. Once splutters, add channa dal, urad dal and saute until golden
- Add onion and saute until translucent
- Next, add green chillies, ginger and saute. Add tomatoes and saute for about 2 minutes under medium heat or until the tomatoes turn mushy
- Then, add turmeric and asafoetida to it and mix. Add besan and saute for a minute.
- Next, little water and let it boil
- Now, add mashed potatoes and salt. Mix well. Adjust with water and salt as per your taste. Gravy should be neither too thick nor too liquidy. Continue cooking for about 5 to 10 minutes.
- Garnish with coriander leaves
Bombay Sagu stories:
This happens to be my mother-in-law’s mastered dish, which she prepared usually on special occasions, or when someone came visiting us. Poori – Potato Sagu, as she called it, is something which has never failed her till date. It is a festival time for us, when someone comes visiting, as it would be our favorite, Poori – Potato Sagu, to binge.I recent years, she has slightly tweaked the combination, in order to make the breakfast more healthier and tastier – rava idli and potato sagu. She specifically uses the MTR Rava Idli Mix along with it, which too tastes heavenly.
You may call it a pro or a con, but every time I eat something which is store bought, the first thing that comes to my mind is, how can I make this at home? With lot of trials and errors, I believe now I have finally mastered at making rava idli at home, from scratch!!! Oats corn idli, happened next, by following a similar technique and now there is no looking back
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