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Batata Harra

The garlic and coriander go in off the heat, after the potatoes are already crisp.

Vegan.

Ingredients

Method

  1. THE GARLIC AND CORIANDER GO IN OFF THE HEAT, AFTER THE POTATOES ARE ALREADY CRISP. Not fried with them. Six cloves of crushed garlic and a large bunch of chopped coriander are stirred through the pan once it has come off the flame, so the residual heat cooks the rawness out of the garlic in about thirty seconds without browning it, and the coriander wilts without turning dark and grassy. Garlic put in at the start of a fifteen-minute fry is burnt and acrid long before the potatoes colour, and coriander cooked that long tastes of hay. The whole character of the dish is raw-sharp garlic and fresh coriander against hot crisp potato.
  2. THE POTATOES ARE PARBOILED AND THEN DRIED BEFORE THEY ARE FRIED. Six minutes in salted water, drained, and left in the colander to steam dry for five. Straight from raw they need so long in the pan that the outsides harden before the middles cook; parboiled and dried they crisp in ten minutes with a fluffy interior. Wet potatoes steam in the oil instead of frying and never crisp at all.
  3. THEY ARE WAXY POTATOES AND CUT TO TWO CENTIMETRES. Waxy, so the cubes hold their edges through parboiling and frying -- a floury potato disintegrates into the pan. Two centimetres gives enough surface to crisp and enough inside to stay soft.
  4. THEY ARE NOT MOVED FOR THE FIRST FEW MINUTES. Into the hot oil in a single layer and left alone until one face has set and browned, then turned. Stirred constantly from the start they shed starch, stick and break up.
  5. THE PAN MUST NOT BE CROWDED. A single layer with gaps. Two batches if necessary. Crowded, they release steam faster than it can escape and the whole lot softens.
  6. THE LEMON GOES ON AT THE VERY END. A squeeze, off the heat, with the herbs. Added earlier the acid stops the surfaces crisping.
  7. The potatoes cut into 2 cm cubes and PARBOILED in salted water 6 MINUTES.
  8. DRAINED and left in the colander to STEAM DRY 5 MINUTES.
  9. The olive oil heated in a wide pan and the potatoes added in a SINGLE LAYER, in batches if needed.
  10. LEFT UNMOVED 4 MINUTES, until one face has browned, then turned and fried 6 to 8 MINUTES more until crisp all over.
  11. The red pepper and chilli flakes added for the last 2 MINUTES. Salted.
  12. THE PAN TAKEN OFF THE HEAT.
  13. The crushed garlic, chopped coriander and lemon juice stirred through the residual heat.
  14. TESTED: the garlic should smell sharp rather than sweet, and the potatoes should still be crisp. Browned garlic means it went in too early.
  15. Served at once.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Lebanon · All recipes