If you search for mashed potato recipes online you’ll find a ton claiming to be the best or more aggressively the BEST EVER mashed potatoes. So am I going to claim these too are the best ever? Perhaps, but I’ll let you make this and be the judge of that title!
Now, you might be wondering why mashed potatoes? Isn’t it too easy? Don’t people already know how to make it? And can you really go wrong with it?
The reason is simply because mashed potatoes are a universal favourite. Who doesn’t love it? It goes well with meat, fish, veggies and even tastes amazing on its own! It’s certainly an easy recipe, but only when done correctly. You might already know how to make mashed potatoes but this recipe will take it to the next level with some simple tips!
Mashed Potato Mistakes You Might Be Making
- Adding your potatoes to hot/boiling water – Adding the potatoes to cold water ensures the outside doesn’t cook faster than the inside. This results in evenly cooked potatoes.
- Not adding salt to the water – Seasoning at the start distributes the salt a lot more evenly. You can add a bit more later but it’s always best to salt at the beginning.
- Overcooking the potatoes – Overcooked potatoes absorb a lot of water and the resultant mash will be a soupy mess.
- Over-working the potatoes while mashing – Over mashing releases more starch in the potatoes, making your mash gummy.
- Not using the right equipment to make your mash – The right equipment makes all the difference!
Equipment
Jumping off the last point there, the equipment you use is super important. Which is why I’ve chosen to trust my Wonderchef Granite Wok. I got mine as part of the Granite Set consisting of the wok, a frying pan and a free dosa tawa. You can also use the Granite Casserole for this recipe but since I already had the wok on hand I made my mash in that! Wok or casserole, they’re both made with pure grade virgin aluminium that allow for quick and even heating. For recipes such as this creamy mash, it’s crucial that your pans heat evenly or some bits might stick to the pan or get crispy. I also use this Wonderchef Silicone Spatula to mix the potatoes. Using silicone spatulas with my non-stick pots and pans helps to preserve the non-stick coating.
My Top Tip For Perfectly Fluffy Mashed Potatoes
It’s time I let you in on my secret. These mashed potatoes are super fluffy because of my Idiyappam press! That’s right, an idiyappam press is basically a potato ricer. The benefit of using it over a traditional masher, fork or a stand mixer is that with these other methods you run the risk of overworking your potatoes. Overworked potatoes result in a gummy mash while using a potato ricer or an idiyappam press in this case, will leave the potatoes light and fluffy. While you may not have a potato ricer at home, most South Indian households have an idiyappam/murukku maker. If you don’t have one might I suggest the Wonderchef Stainless Steel Snack Maker? It comes with 12 different shaped plates that you can swap out to make a multitude of snacks. After you make mashed potatoes though!
In my opinion, if you’re going to eat mashed potatoes, you should always go all out! I’ve used a fair bit of butter but I have gone with milk instead of cream. Personally, I love the flavour that milk brings to the potatoes and I find that adding cream instead makes it a little too rich. I am a huge, huge garlic fan and as mentioned above, this is a garlic lovers’ mashed potato. Some recipes will call for steeping the garlic in milk or boiling them alongside the potatoes but that’s just not enough garlic flavour for me! Homemade garlic butter imparts the most amount of flavour and if you’re a garlic lover like me, you’ll definitely enjoy it. However, if you’re not a garlic fan, you can simply substitute the garlic butter with regular butter!
RECIPE CARD
Serves: 4 people
Time: 40-45 minutes
Ingredients:
For the Garlic Butter:
- ¼ cup Softened Salted Butter (about 56g)
- 1 large garlic pod
For the Mashed Potatoes:
- 2 medium Potatoes (approximately 500g)
- 1 litre Water
- ½ tbsp Salt
- ¼ cup Garlic Butter
- ½ cup Milk
Method:
- Begin by preparing the garlic butter. Use a garlic press to crush the garlic. You can also use the back of a knife to brush the garlic and chop it finely. Add the garlic to the softened butter and mix well. Keep it in the fridge until the potatoes are ready.
- Wash and peel the potatoes. Chop them into 2 inch pieces.
- Place the chopped potatoes into a large pot and cover with 1 litre of water and add the salt.
- Place the pot on medium high heat and allow the potatoes to cook for 15-20 minutes or until they are fork tender i.e. You should insert a fork without any resistance but the potatoes shouldn’t be falling apart.
- Drain the potatoes very well and let them stand in a strainer fro 5 minutes to cool down slightly.
- Fill an idiyappam press with the cooked potatoes. Hold it over a clean pot and press. This should result in little strands of potatoes. You will have to do this in rounds. The idiyappam press will filter out any uncooked pieces of potato that you can remove from the bunch.
- Grab the butter from the fridge and chop it into smaller pieces. Set aside
- Heat the milk in a microwave for 20 seconds. Set aside.
- Place the pot with the riced potatoes on medium heat and stir the potatoes around for 1-2 minutes. This should get rid of any extra moisture.
- Add the garlic butter a few pieces at a time to the potatoes. Mix well after each addition.
- Once all the butter is incorporated, add the heated milk slowly to the potatoes while mixing. You can add a little more milk if you want a looser mash.
- Check the potatoes for salt and add more if needed. I’ve used salted butter so I didn’t need any.
- Transfer the mash to a bowl and garnish with melted butter, cracked pepper and finely chopped parsley.
- Enjoy piping hot!
Author: Sneha Sundar is the creator of You Dim Sum, You Lose Some; a philosophy she adopts both in and out of the kitchen.
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