Makes 20-24
Ingredients
700g floury white potatoes (such as Maris Piper or King Edward)
4 spring onions, thinly sliced from root to tip
2 teaspoons garlic granules
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 large carrot, peeled, coarsely grated and any juice squeezed out and discarded
2–3 generous handfuls of green cabbage or kale, tough stalks discarded, roughly chopped
2 hot green chillies (not jalapeño), finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped thyme
1 tablespoon nigella seeds
5 tablespoons plain flour
vegetable oil
sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
ready-made date and tamarind sauce or sweet and spicy relish, to serve
Method
Cook the potatoes with their skins on in a large saucepan of boiling water for 20–25 minutes. When cooked, plunge them immediately into a bowl of cold water to arrest the cooking process. Leave to cool, then transfer to a large mixing bowl.
Roughly crush – not mash or purée – the potatoes using a fork. Add the spring onions, garlic granules, turmeric, carrot, cabbage or kale, chillies, thyme, nigella seeds and 2 tablespoons of the flour. Season generously with salt and pepper and mix well.
Line a tray with a sheet of baking paper. Divide the potato mixture into 40g portions and form each portion into a disc with a diameter of roughly 5cm and a thickness of 1cm. Lay these on the prepared tray and refrigerate for 30 minutes to firm them up before frying.
Spread the remaining flour in a shallow dish. Drizzle a little oil into a large frying pan and heat it over medium heat. Remove the potato cakes from the fridge. When the oil is hot, dust the potato cakes in the flour and fry for 6–8 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Reduce the heat if they colour too quickly or start to blacken. Serve immediately, sprinkled with salt flakes. Date and tamarind sauce or sweet and spicy relishes complement these potato and vegetable cakes very well.