Purified potato coins come out fit for a king
Gholam Rahman
The potato is a pariah no more. With its nutritional ancestry scrubbed clean, or at least cleaner, of some lowly connections, it has been allowed to join the fold.
And I can empathize with it; in my erstwhile home on the Indian subcontinent, I have seen the injustice of low-caste ostracization. Welcome back potato, a veggie I have always loved.
Potatoes were given a bad rap for the company we forced it to keep — deep-fried in french fries, loaded with butter and cream in the mashed mode, and all those “delicious” but “disreputable” characters that compromised the good name of the spuds — and our good health.
When these lowly inflfluences were driven out, the cleansed potatoes came out as fifit company for us to keep. However, in India no amount of cleansing and purging can make a low- caste “Shudra” fifit for the company of a high-born Brahmin, despite all the efffffffffffforts of the people of goodwill, as well as the government.
In the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent – which now comprises India, Pakistan and Bangladesh – potatoes are an essential ingredient in a variety of curried and other dishes, most of them requiring just a minimum amount of fat.
Shorn of bad fat and cream, potatoes have a lot of nutrients, including potassium, vitamins C and B6 and iron, as well as a lot of phytonutrients. It is also naturally low in sodium and fat. Using them with their skin on is a healthier option, since it not only enhances the nutrients but adds muchneeded fifibers.
Here is a recipe for a “healthier” form of french fries my wife Kaisari makes, balancing taste and nutrition. She makes the “coins” with white potatoes, but you can easily sub with rounds of the more nutritious sweet potatoes.