Emergency potato sandwich(es)
There will be carbs
Hey there! My name is Apoorva Sripathi. I’m a writer, editor, and artist. This week’s paid subscriber newsletter contains two recipes for a potato sandwich that uses up leftover boiled taters or mash. If you’d like to support my work, please consider a paid subscription. Thank you.
Earlier this week, we had news that the city would receive extremely heavy rainfall as a result of cyclonic circulation developing over the Bay of Bengal, and Chennai was set on orange alert. There was heavy downpour in several parts of the city, but the severity of it wasn’t like last year with Cyclone Michaung that flooded parts of Chennai and caused power outages throughout the city. I’ve long been used to this situation: growing up, I remember studying by candlelight when it was pouring rain around me. I also remember having to fill up water (before 8 am) in buckets for our family of 6, and learning to take a shower in as little water as possible. I still shower this way, carefully regulating water to about half a bucket or less. And I’m still one of the lucky ones as the cracks in both our and the Earth’s resilience are only deepening.
A day before the low pressure rainfall was set to hit, my mother and I went out in search of some essentials to stock up, but we were too late. So we decided to make do with what we had already: bread in the freezer, rice, potatoes, yoghurt, spices, paneer, and a few odds and ends of vegetables. This recipe is a result of that: a continuation of what I wrote in my last recipe newsletter about the best meals coming “from those that came before them” and also a deeply satisfying and substantial (read: double carb comfort) dish.
I’m not going to romanticise this recipe1 because it is essentially just a toastie, but I will say that it is quick to make, nourishing, and very good to hold when everything around you is cold and wet. Maybe I’ll say this instead: this is intelligent eating in that potatoes are worth their weight in gold when it comes to kitchen staples – you can probably make 20 different types of dinners with them. As always, there are no rules here; you can substitute the potatoes for another winter vegetable that lends itself to mash. This is a recipe to make when all you have are basic ingredients and not a lot of time or resources on hand.