In October 2019, in a master stroke of campaigning genius the federal NDP let Jagmeet Singh out of the cloister of earnest policy pronouncements and righteous indignation with Punjabi Poutine. A short video about how to make a brilliant fusion of South Asian and Québecois cuisine.
It’s been a staple at my house ever since.
But the recipe, is scribbled on a napkin and shown only in the video. Cute though that is, it’s far from helpful.
So when I told my friends on our weekly video conference what was for dinner, they asked for the recipe. I decided to key it in. Here you go. My bowlderized version of it anyway.
Ingredients
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Cardamom pods
- Ground Cumin
- Ground Coriander
- Ground Tumeric
- Cayenne
- Garam Masala
- Salt
- Onion
- 1 x 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes or equivalent fresh. Fresh is better but more time consuming and it’s best if you peel them and who the fuck wants to do that.
- Two to three mid sized sweet potatoes
- 1 bag of cheese curds
- Mild vegetable oil and/or ghee
The exact proportions of these spices are a matter of experimentation and personal preference. You’d have to be really good at cooking or have it be part of your cultural heritage to be concerned about exact quantities; so for me to tell you you must have exactly 1/4 tsp of Garam Masala is pretentious at best.
I don’t know if you need to know this, but, of the above, it’s the cayenne that provides the heat. So go easy on it if you’re not big on hot food.
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350F
- Cut the sweet potato into consistently sized chunks that you can fit in your mouth without unhinging your jaw or opening your mouth in a socially awkward way.
- Roll them in a bit of vegetable oil and spread them out on a cookie sheet
- Put them in the oven until they are cooked but not squishy.
- Dice the onion garlic and ginger together as finely as you can possibly stand.
- Heat some mild vegetable oil in a frying pan with high-ish sides. You’ll be preparing the dish and serving it from this.
- Sauté the onion, garlic and ginger until the onion is translucent. Add salt if your health and/or partner will allow it
- Add the spices and sauté some more until the whole neighbourhood knows what’s for dinner.
- Add the tomatoes and turn the heat down a bit. The effect you’re looking for here is gravy, so simmer long enough that the tomato bits get really mushy and sauce-like. Let it reduce so that it’s a thick, sumptuous gravy, like the social programs the NDP would produce, not the slimy thin gruel we see from teams blue and red.
- When your gravy is close to ready or when your family is starting to gnaw on their arms from hunger, slide the potato bits into the gravy and let them get used to their new home.
- A minute or two before serving, drop the curds in.
- The longer you leave it cooking after that point the more likely it will be that your curds will become an amorphous mass of goop like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. But tasting like curry. If that matches your aesthetic go for it but I like like my curds as discrete blobs of warm, slightly gooey goodness. It puts me in mind of social justice.