Potato in coconut curry(Batate Song)
If I claim I have a Konkani food blog, anybody will ask the question “have you blogged about our great Batate Song??”. If my answer is “no”, then I definitely can’t claim of having a Konkani food blog. All I meant to say is, batate song(do not confuse this song with English ‘Song’) is a very very famous dish and every Konkani person is a great fan of it.
I still remember, when I was a kid, we visited my maternal grandmother’s house in Sirsi(A place near the Sahyadri mountain range, very famous for its Marikamba temple) during every summer vacations. My grandmother was a great cook. I still wonder where our older generations learnt so many great recipes. She always prepared this for us. This dish tastes great when made real spicy. It is usually beautiful red in color as if somebody has prepared it only using chillies.
This dish is prepared more than one ways, this version is what aayi follows. Here is the version without coconut.
Ingredients:
2 cups boiled and chopped potatoes
1/2 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup fresh/frozen coconut
1/2 tea spns tamarind extract or 2-3 pieces of tamarind
7-8 red chillies (Add as much as your taste buds can tolerate)
Oil
1 tea spn coriander seeds
Salt
Method:
Cook potatoes, peel them and cut into big pieces. Chop onions into medium size pieces.
Fry coconut(without oil) till it turns just reddish. Grind with coriander seeds, red chillies and tamarind to a very smooth paste.
Heat oil and fry onions till they turn translucent. Add potatoes, ground masala and salt. If required, add a bit of water and let it cook till the masala is completely cooked and gravy is thick.
Serve hot with rice or alayle pita rotti.
Serves : 3-4
Preparation time : 25min
You are right Shilpa, batata song is batata song
I make it slightly different but your looks yummy as well. Why didnt you get the color? Which chillies do you use?
Shilpa,
Please accept my whole-hearted sympathies for not getting the authentic red color of batata song. I know how frustrating it can be. What bugs me even more is that my hubby is adamant about the color of the gravy rather than the taste, so I add a dash of food coloring only to this dish(something I’m not proud of!!)
Ashwini, I used ‘red whole chillies’ of ‘Lakshmi’ brand. There were only two red chillies available in the market where we had gone. The other was round in shape. So I thought of buying these. I knew for sure that it wont give me the desired color and taste. Next time I will check in authentic Indian store for ‘kashmiri chillies’.
). Last time, I kept on adding chilli powder hoping to get the color. Finally the dish was not edible and still it had the hopeless color 
.
Preeti, yours and my situations are same(In our case, I am the one who is adamant about both color and taste). But I haven’t yet tried to put food color. Thats the funniest idea
Love your recipes and your blog. Helps a bachelor to cook and stay healthy
I am a konkani too and your recipes make me feel at home though I am miles away.
Cheers
Thanks Ashish.
Keep visiting.
hey shilpa
this is truly a konkani recipe and lovely too. I made it today and my hubby couldnt stop praising!!!
Hi Shilpa,
I chanced upon your site yesterday. And I simply love it! Very nice work. Thanks so much for putting this site together. Your Batata Song recipe is different from what we make at home. We do not use Coconut in our Song. The recipe you mentioned above is what we call Batata Vaag. You can also find it listed in the Jaya V Shenoy Recipe book.
Hi Shalini, Thanks for this info. I know there are a lot of different names for the same recipe. As far as I know, this recipe is called as ‘batate song’ in North Kanara. But I had found a bit of difference in a book, still I shared the recipe which has come from generations in our house
.
hi shilpa, ur song was tasty. even i do without onion. btw i am happy to know hat ur from northkanara. i too hail from kumta. would like to b friend? more talk after ur reply. bye.
hi all 2 get that reddish orange olour 4 ur batate song stop using narla in it i bet u’ll relish it we usually prepare it without using narla batate song tastes best with sheeta & jir irya kadi
My grandfather used to say, it is aptly called “Song” because after you eat it you start to “Sing”… becos of all the red chillies. Yes, we make it differently. Although my mom used to add a little narlu to give the gravy some body, the authentic “song’ does not contain narlu. However, the onions are cooked in coconut oil and omit the coriander seeds. The best way to do this is to grind the red chilllies and tamarind together and add to the fried onions-cooked potatoes mixture !!! Viola, and then you eat it with rice and Dali Toi and then sing…..
Shilpa,
I almost asked the question “Do you have batate song recipe” and I’mglad that I checked all your recipe database before I asked you. I get Kumta chilly/byadagi chilly here and color is no problem. However, you can use paprika available in mainstream groceries to bring the rich red color to the dish. Try it out.
Hi Shilpa,
Made this today & like it very much. Its so flavourful & easy to make. Thanks for sharing.
Tried this yesterday … had it with buttermilk and chapattis. It was great! Tx – again!
Hi shilpa,
try using byadagi chillies the colour will be wonderful.
Hi Shilpa: I make Song the same way except instead of the red chillies I use Reshampatti Mirchi Powder. It gives you both the spice and the color. I use it for making shrimp pannaupkari and all the other Amchigale recipes. I love your website. You have tremendous patience.
hi shilpa,
have you tried making bread pudding?
I remember having it long long ago and even the thought of it now makes my mouth water
Could you post the recipe if you try it.
thanks,
neetu
Hi Shilpa,
I had seen your website a long time back when i was hunting for eggless cake recipes for a fussy friend. I was in India then, now I am in the US. I do wonder about one thing though. Which brand of mixer/grinder do you use, the one we have at home dosen’t grind as well, even after adding tons of water and i hate adding water when grinding unless necessary. I really miss my sumeet which is at home in India.
I really like your website and make sure I recommend it to all my other friends who are here.
Keep up the good work.
Regards,
Synuae
Shilpa: I have Sumeet with me. I bought it online here in US.
This seems like an interesting one. How long does it take to cook generally?
Oh, yum!
Dear Shilpa, years before i had tasted potato song at my konkani friends home.am v.glad to get d recepie.will make soon.thanks.
hi dear shilpa, i had always liked this receipe, as i used to eat it at my friend’s place as she hails from kumta, i am also a GSB but from Goa, so for me it is a new receipe. but i used to always visit her home to eat this special batata song made by her mother, which was veryyyyyy yummy. thxs a lot dear.