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Home » Indian Sabji Curry » Assamese Aloo Pitika – Mashed Potato in Mustard Oil

Assamese Aloo Pitika - Mashed Potato in Mustard Oil

Published: Dec 2, 2017 Modified: Oct 15, 2020 By Sujata Shukla This blog generates income via ads. This post may contain affiliate links. PepperOnPizza may earn a commission for purchases made after clicking these links. View our disclosure policy for details

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Venturing further into North Eastern Cuisine, I made Assamese Aloo Pitika, the delicious Aloo Chokha look alike. Simple, very easy and with the mustard oil giving its unmistakable fragrance and its unique character to the dish, I can't understand why I have not been using mustard oil more often in my kitchen. Its not that I am not used to cooking with it, as we regularly made aloo chokha aka mashed potatoes, with mustard oil and the stuffed red chilies from my husbands village in Eastern UP, and it tastes awesome.

A large scoop of mashed potatoes, yellow on the left with mustard oil. Fresh coriander leaves and slices of green chili and onion and a scatter of salt are heaped up on the potoatoes. Some coriander leaves and onions scattered around
Assamese Aloo Pitika

The Assamese Aloo Pitika is, as I said earlier, really simple with just 6 ingredients including oil and salt! I have followed the recipe from The Essential North East Cookbook by Hoihnu Hauzel. This book is  a treasure and I want to try more of the recipes from here. I am getting intrigued by North Eastern cuisine and am hoping to make a foodie trip there soon.

This is my 4th post on the food blogger group, Shhhhh Cooking Secretly Challenge . The Group runs like this: Every month each of us is paired up with another blogger, and a theme for the month also decided. Each of the participants name 2 ingredients for their partner, and we have to make and post a picture of the dish using these 2 ingredients.

The remaining members of the group have to try and guess the secret ingredients. Its a lot of fun and ever since Amrita Iyer suggested we take up each of the Indian States by turn for the theme, it has become really interesting.

The theme for November was Assamese cuisine and my partner for the month, Poonam Bachhav, gave me the names of 2 ingredients as the secret ingredients – mustard oil and potatoes which fit perfectly in with the Assamese Aloo Pitika.

Alu Pitika - mashed potatoes in a bowl with cilantro garnish and a book just visible at the edge
Assamese Alu Pitika

Poonam blogs at Annapurna.  Do visit her blog, she has a variety of healthy and tasty food recipes including 'no onion no garlic' recipes and eggless bakes too. I love the way she posts images for each step of the process so that the recipe is easy to follow.  For Poonam, I suggested pumpkin and mustard oil as the secret ingredients, and she made this delicious looking Pumpkin Oambal, a chutney that showcases Assamese cuisine.

This is the first time I have attempted Assamese food and I did some reading including the lovely detailed descriptions in each chapter of the Essential North East Cookbook, before I selected the Assamese Aloo Pitika (or Alu Pitika)  as my dish of the month. As in many regions in India, the food is based on the locale.

There are different tribal settlements across Assam and the cuisine has developed from each of these. Rice has traditionally been the staple food. The cuisine has become influenced by Thai cuisine and hence ingredients like bamboo shoots, coconut milk and lemongrass are used in some parts of Assam.

The people of the Asomiya tribe lived along the banks of the Brahmaputra, and fresh fish became part of their regular diet. For those like the Bodos, Karbi, Rabha and Mishing peoples living more inland, dried and fermented fish became the norm as fresh fish was not readily accessible.

Basically the food preparations are simple, as can be seen in this recipe for Assamese Aloo Pitika. Some oil is used, usually mustard oil, unlike most other North East cuisine where oil is rarely used, but here too it is kept to a bare minimum. Very few spices are used in the cooking. Mustard seeds and methi (fenugreek are used), as well as green chilies and ginger.

Yellow mustard oil added to mashed potatoes from a red container
Adding mustard oil to the potatoes

More North East India Veg Recipes

  • Mizo Bai / Mizoram Rice Vegetable Stew
  • Oying Vegetable Stew From Arunachal Pradesh
  • Khasi Black Sesame Radish Salad: Meghalaya Salad
  • Aloo Badi Manipuri/ Bori Thongba/ Potato Lentil Nuggets
Assamese Aloo Pitika - a brass bowl with mashed potatoes, cilantro, mustard oil, green chillies and onion on a mat, with green chillies and cilantro alongside

Assamese Aloo Pitika - Mashed Potato in Mustard Oil

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 2 cups
Author: Sujata Shukla
Easy Assamese Aloo Pitika - mashed potatoes in mustard oil, with onions and hot green chillies. Vegan, gluten free, this is a simple North East Indian dish
Print Recipe

Ingredients

  • 2 Potatoes - or about 2 cups when peeled and sliced
  • 1 teaspoon mustard oil
  • ½ cup sliced onions
  • 2 Green chillies - or 2 teaspoons of sliced chillies
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • coriander leaves - for garnish

Instructions

  • Set the potatoes to boil. I used a pressure cooker and cooked till 3 whistles so the potatoes became soft and fully cooked. The timings above are based on the same.
  • Meanwhile prepare the other ingredients: Slice the chilies, onions (small pieces) and mince the coriander leaves
  • When the cooker is ready to open, peel the potatoes and then mash them as you would for chokha. Check that there are no chunks of un-mashed potato
    3 small potatoes, boiled and peeled , in a bowl with a blue checked cloth on one side
  • Add salt, chilli, onion slices and mustard oil. Mix it all well. Either mix in the coriander leaves (which is what I did) or use them as garnish. Serve with rice and dhal or with roti, whatever you please!
    Mustard oil being added to mashed potatoes from a red spoon

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Previous Post: « Oying Vegetable Stew From Arunachal Pradesh
Next Post: Bhojpuri Baingan Badi Sabzi: Brinjal Spinach Curry »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ronnie N Sunayana Sarma says

    January 11, 2018 at 3:03 pm

    Aww Sujata I missed your post on Assamese food. And I am delighted to see my favorite pitika, you know my mom adds fresh olive to this during winters and its a yummy treat....sunayana

    Reply
    • Sujata Shukla says

      January 11, 2018 at 3:18 pm

      What an interesting idea Sunayana! I can imagine the contrast in flavours, olives, potatoes, mustard oil! I will make it again this way and add to the post ( with credit to you, of course)!

      Reply
  2. Sumith says

    December 06, 2017 at 6:24 pm

    Delicious six ingredient recipe. Loved the use of mustard oil aswelll!

    Reply
    • Sujata Shukla says

      December 06, 2017 at 6:47 pm

      Thank you Sumith! These traditional recipes are so good!

      Reply
    • Sujata Shukla says

      December 11, 2017 at 9:41 am

      Thank you Sumith! These traditional recipes are so full of flavour!

      Reply
  3. Shyamala says

    December 03, 2017 at 1:46 pm

    Ma'am should we use mustard oil raw or should we heat it till smoking point and add it to the mashed potatoes?

    Reply
    • Sujata Shukla says

      December 03, 2017 at 2:44 pm

      Raw, Shyamala. Just add with the other ingredients and mix. Great for Delhi winters!

      Reply
      • Sujata Shukla says

        December 03, 2017 at 8:44 pm

        Better to use a little and check the taste and then add more, if you are not used to mustard oil

        Reply
  4. Seema says

    December 03, 2017 at 4:36 am

    Such a lovely simple preparation.... I am sure going to try this.

    Reply
    • Sujata Shukla says

      December 03, 2017 at 8:53 am

      Thank you Seema! The mustard oil made it special!

      Reply
  5. Aruna says

    December 02, 2017 at 9:36 pm

    Such a simple recipe. I am a very very recent convert to using Mustard Oil and am still getting used to it. I will try it in this Aloo Pitika.

    Reply
    • Sujata Shukla says

      December 02, 2017 at 10:10 pm

      It tastes so good, Aruna! I loved it!

      Reply
  6. mayurisjikoni says

    December 02, 2017 at 8:05 pm

    Its so good to learn a bit more about Assam through your post. I too should use mustard oil more often, though I don't really like the smell. Will try out this aloo pitika recipe.

    Reply
    • Sujata Shukla says

      December 02, 2017 at 8:42 pm

      When I first taste food cooked in mustard oil, in my mother in law’s kitchen, I didn’t like it either. But the taste grows on you over time and I loved it in the Aloo Pitika!

      Reply

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Hello from Sujata Shukla, the Author, Owner, Head Cook and Bottle washer at PepperOnPizza.com. The recipes I share with you are from fresh produce, vegetarian except for the occasional egg, usually made from scratch. Traditional Indian, specially Tamil recipes are my forte, along with a slew of Salads and Soups for a healthy lifestyle. Check out my Author Page!

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