There are millions of things you can do in the kitchen with potatoes. I've still got a long way to go before I write them all up, but I'm working on it. Here's potato recipe number forty-something...
I think I invented this recipe. I was certainly working on creative impulse, inspired by the discovery that the dried lemon grass and lime leaves I had picked up actually tasted of lemon grass and lime leaves. Sometimes they don't. Once I bought some and they tasted of nothing at all. This time I was lucky. Of course, if you could get them, fresh lemon grass and lime leaves would probably be better. You could follow the recipe in the same way.
This will serve three or four people.
About a kilo of potatoes
1 onion
1 or 2 tomatoes
A bunch of spinach
1 lemon
A few sticks of lemon grass
A few lime leaves
A third of a teaspoon of cumin seed
A half teaspoon of coriander seed
A couple of dried red chillies
A third of a teaspoon of turmeric powder
Salt
Olive oil
Peel and chop the onion. Scrub the potatoes (or peel them if they are particularly grotty) and cut them into cubes about 2cm square. Wash and roughly chop the spinach (or leave it whole if the leaves are particularly young and fresh). Slice the tomato thinly and cut the lemon into eight wedges (scrub it under hot water first to remove any wax).
Fry the onion in oil with the cumin seeds until it begins to brown, then add the potatoes and fry for another few minutes. Sprinkle the turmeric and some salt over the potatoes, then crush the chillies and throw them into the pan along with the lemongrass, lime leaves and coriander seeds. Pile the spinach on top and cover the pan. Cook for about five minutes then arrange the tomato slices and lemon wedges on top and cover the pan again. Cook for a further two or three minutes and the dish is ready to serve.