Internal structure of antennae of cockroach has.…90% of bird species are monogamous… Uranus orbital axis is tilted at 90 degrees.. red blood cells have no nucleus… “It doesn’t get anymore useless than this…how is this information going to be of any use to me mom?” The question my son asked me while preparing for his term exams the other day.
I didn’t give much thought back then, but realized that this is a common topic of discussion among many parents I meet during school hours. “Our children spend years gathering useless information they’ll never use again” is the common complaint from many parents.
I do agree that most of the text book information we gather during our school days may not help us in real life. But then, you may never know. After forty plus years of schooling, I am now making full use of my text-bookish knowledge clearing doubts my children raise during study hours.
“Any information that you get from text books can never become obsolete, just that it may be of no use to you at this stage of life. You may never know when you need it in life.
And you should always remember that school life does not end just with mugging up lessons and clearing exams. Your school life extends much beyond the backpack you carry, to some of the supportive friends you make for lifetime, creative lessons you learn from your teachers in studies and sports to the self esteem you gain in school.” is my motherly advice to my children. 
Coming back to the recipes, anything with baby potatoes in it is a favorite dish at home. Mom used to make these baby potato pops during parties with mint leaves. I used the curry leaf powder I prepare and store for my quick curry leaf rice recipe. These potato pops make a perfect appetizer.
1. Baby Potatoes in Minty Coconut Gravy
Ingredients;
20 baby potatoes
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup shelled peas
1 onion
2 green chillies
2 tbsp. mint leaves
1 tsp. rice flour (optional)
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp. oil
Salt to taste
Method; Wash and boil baby potatoes and fresh peas in water for 10-12 minutes till they turn soft but not mushy. Cool the boiled potatoes and peel the skin. Prick the potatoes with a fork to let the spices seep into the vegetable easily.
Peel and finely dice the onion. Shell fresh peas or use frozen peas as I used in this recipe. Pluck mint leaves and wash in clean water.
Grind mint leaves, cumin seeds and green chillies with one tablespoon of water. Take the ground paste in a bowl, add rice flour and pour coconut milk in it. Stir the ground paste to combine all the ingredients.
Heat a non-stick pan, add fennel seeds, finely diced onion and sauté for 2-3 minutes.
Pour the ground mint leave and coconut milk paste and sauté for 2 minutes on medium heat. Add boiled baby potatoes, peas, salt and warm water to the curry and bring to boil. Take the pan off heat and serve the curry with plain chapattis or rice.
2. Baby Potato Pops
Ingredients;
20-25 baby potatoes
1/2 cup curry leaves
1 tbsp Bengal gram
1 tbsp. coriander seeds
1 tsp. sesame seeds
2 dry red chillies
1 tbsp. oil
1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
A pinch of asafetida powder
Salt to taste
Method; Wash a boil baby potatoes in water for 10 minutes till they turn soft but not mushy in texture.
Cool and peel the baby potatoes. Wash and pat dry the curry leaves.
Heat a non-stick pan and dry roast Bengal gram (channa daal) till it turns golden brown in colour. Add coriander seeds in the same pan and dry roast on medium heat for 2-3 minutes.
Take out the roasted ingredients in a separate bolw. Add 1 tsp. of oil in the same pan and fry curry leaves till they turn dry and crisp, for about 5-6 minutes.
Grind roasted gram, coriander seeds, curry leaves, red chillies into coarse powder.
Heat rest of oil in non-stick pan, add sesame seeds and let it splutter.
Add asafoetida powder, turmeric powder, salt and the ground powder in the same pan and mix all the ingredients well.
Add peeled baby potatoes in the pan and stir to coat each potato with the ground spice mix.
Take the pan off the heat.
Insert a tooth pick to each spice coated baby potato and serve as a healthy party snack.
Reduce the spices and pack these baby potato pops in your kids lunchboxes. Tr y these baby potatoes;
Slow cooked Baby Potatoes in yogurt gravy
Baby Potatoes in Green Gravy
Notes;
Replace curry leaves with fresh mint leaves to make the potato pops recipe.
Do not overcook the potatoes and make them mushy. It will be difficult to hold them on the toothpick.
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