Aloo Pitika

A staple of the Assamese plate

Pitika simply means mashed in Assamese, and it covers a whole family of dishes made with potato, roasted aubergine, tomato, fish and more. Aloo pitika is the one that appears most often at the Assamese table, as a home-style side for an ordinary lunch of rice, dal and a fish tenga. It is also comfort food, the sort of thing that gets made for someone who has been unwell, or on a day when nobody wants to spend long in the kitchen.

Versions change from home to home. Some add roasted dried chilli for smoke, others stir in a boiled egg, mashed masoor or a little fried onion. The recipe here is the simple one, with green chillies and raw onion, and it is a useful starting point for the others. It belongs to the same broad family as baingan bharta and the Bihari chokha served with litti, though it keeps its own simple seasoning and no cooked masala.

The mustard oil is the point

This dish has five ingredients of any weight, and so each one needs to pull its share. Buy a mustard oil that makes your eyes water a little when you open the bottle, labelled kachi ghani or cold pressed. A blended or refined oil will not give the sharp heat. It should go in unheated, since heating is what mellows the pungency that you are trying to keep here.

Temperature matters more than people expect. Warm potatoes have an open, starchy surface that takes in oil and salt easily, whereas cold potatoes leave them sitting on the outside. Choose a floury variety, such as the ones sold as old or pahadi potatoes. Waxy new potatoes hold their shape and can feel sticky or gummy once mashed. Chop the onion and chillies as fine as you can manage, since they should give small bursts of heat and not big, raw chunks.

Common faults and how to fix them

Gluey mash has been worked too much, usually with a mixer or a wet potato. You cannot undo the texture, but you can shape it into small patties and pan-fry them in a teaspoon of oil until browned, and this gives a good crisp side instead. Too bland usually means too little salt, because potato needs more of it than you would think, or an old oil that has lost its bite. Add salt first and taste before reaching for more oil.

If it is too pungent or too hot for someone at the table, mix in a little more plain mashed potato or eat it with plenty of rice. If you have left it in the refrigerator and it has turned hard, let it reach room temperature, and work a few drops of warm water and oil through it with your hand. Water left over on the potatoes makes the mash wet, which is why the short steam-dry in the hot pot is worth doing.

Substitutions and small additions

There is no real substitute for mustard oil if you want this dish as it is known. If you must, a neutral oil with a small amount of freshly ground mustard seed or a little prepared mustard gives some of the sharpness, though that is a shortcut and it tastes different. Spring onion can replace onion for a milder taste. Stirring in a spoon of mashed cooked dal adds some protein without changing the character too much. A lightly boiled egg mashed in is a common home addition, though this makes the dish no longer vegetarian.

To make it lighter, there is little to take out. You can keep the oil to a tablespoon and rely on chilli and salt for flavour. NNWA's healthy eating essentials course is a good place to read more about how a starchy side fits on a balanced plate.

Serving it the Assamese way

The classic plate has steamed rice, a thin dal, aloo pitika on the side and perhaps a green vegetable or fish. Assamese meals often begin with an alkaline dish, and a spoon of khar on rice alongside this is typical of the region. Aloo pitika also goes well with plain khichdi on days when you want something gentle, and with parathas for breakfast.

Storing leftovers safely

Pitika is best the same day. Cover and refrigerate any leftovers within 2 hours and eat them within a day. Cooked potatoes left warm for hours are a real food-safety concern, particularly when sealed or wrapped, so do not keep it at room temperature overnight. You can eat it cold or warm it in a pan with a teaspoon of oil until piping hot, then add a few fresh drops of mustard oil and raw onion to bring back the bite.