On Friday this week, it will be three years since my dad passed away.  Fittingly for him, he died in the Wimbeldon fortnight (his last words to me were “Federer, Federer” ) as he was obsessed with sport and food.

People might find it funny but his unfulfilled wish was to be at Centre Court with a bowl of strawberries and cream and maybe a hot dog with a beer to wash it down; then another hot dog for when he felt weak with hunger, some more beer and strawberries – all this rounded off with a bowl of Dal soup and a poached egg on top when he got home.

My sisters and I were always greeted at airports with “What did you eat on the plane?” – with me having the dubious distinction of almost reducing him to tears because I  got off a 12-seater plane once and told him that I was too sick to eat the mushroom roll that was given to us and wasn’t thinking clearly enough to pack it for him.

His eating habits were somewhat eccentric : I remember him eating dal and rice with ornate chopsticks for a couple of years; chips had to be served to him and us in a newspaper cone so that we could all benefit from an authentic chip eating experience; and  meat had to served for Sunday lunch. When we were younger it was lamb – my dad would park outside the butchery and blow the horn. A minion would come out, take our container, fill it up with meat and return it to us, thereby saving us from the blood and gore of the butchery.

As my dad grew older it was chicken on Sundays (same method used in the butchery) and then towards the end it was a good potato curry made by my mum – all the meat eating saved for trips abroad when he visited us.

The potato curry recipe has now been passed to Vimal, my mum’s oldest helper who has been with us for almost fifty years. This is also the first thing we eat when we go home to India as it is one of the husband’s favourites. Here is how she makes it::

Vimal’s potato curry recipe

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Serves	4
Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	15 minutes
Total time	25 minutes

A very simple and delicous curry made of potatoes, lots of onions and lots of tomatoes.

Ingredients

• 6 Potatoes (cut into small pieces)
• 2 Onions (finely chopped)
• 8 small tomatoes (finely chopped)
• 2 cloves garlic (cut fine)
• 1 small piece of ginger (chopped)
• 1 tsp. turmeric
• 1 tsp. chilli powder
• 2 tsp sunflower oil
• 1/2 cup (hot water)
• Salt to taste
• Coriander to garnish

Note

The secret of this dish is within the gravy - so always ensure that you use loads of onions and tomatoes, and also that they are fried very well.

Directions

Step 1

Heat the oil in a small saucepan and when it is hot, add in the ginger and garlic.

Step 2

Fry until the garlic is brownish but not too brown.

Step 3

Add in the onions and fry till they are soft and brown.

Step 4

Now add in the tomatoes, turmeric, chilli powder and salt. Fry for quite a while until the mixture is homogenised and you can see the oil separating from it.

Step 5

Now add in the potatoes and fry for a bit, mixing thoroughly.

Step 6

Add the water and cook on simmer until the potatoes are cooked.

Step 7

Garnish with coriander and serve hot with chappatis or rice.