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Greek mainland patates yahni is the plain potato pot that proves ladera cooking: browned onion, ripe tomato, and good olive oil, simmered until the sauce clings to every edge.
On the Greek mainland, patates yahni is the potato pot of the fasting table: potatoes stewed in tomato, onion, and olive oil until their edges soften and the sauce turns red and glossy. It is ladero, one of the olive-oil dishes, and it feeds a family with bread, olives, and whatever greens the season gives.
The one step that decides it is the onion. Brown it patiently in the oil before the tomato goes in. If the onion only sweats, its raw sweetness follows the whole pot; once it takes a little color, the sauce tastes cooked before the potatoes ever enter. That's the whole trick.
Cut the potatoes large, keep the water just shy of covering, and don't stir them to pieces. Shake the pot and let the starch thicken the tomato into a sauce that clings. I keep this version plain in my notebook because that is how the dish earns its place: Λίγα και καλά, a few things, and good ones.
Yahni entered Greek through Ottoman Turkish yahni, a word for a stewed dish, and in Greek homes it became a method as much as a recipe. The potato was promoted in the new Greek state under Ioannis Kapodistrias in the late 1820s, then settled into mainland ladera, olive-oil vegetable cooking, as a cheap and filling pot. Patates yahni belongs to the nistisima table, the Orthodox fasting repertoire where tomato and olive oil carry the work that meat usually would.
Quantity
1kg
peeled and cut into 4cm chunks
Quantity
80ml
divided
Quantity
1 large, about 200g
finely chopped
Quantity
2
thinly sliced
Quantity
20g
Quantity
450g
grated, or use 400g canned whole tomatoes, crushed
Quantity
500ml
plus more as needed
Quantity
1
Quantity
7g, about 1 1/4 teaspoons
plus more to taste
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
Quantity
10g
chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| yellow potatoespeeled and cut into 4cm chunks | 1kg |
| extra virgin Koroneiki olive oildivided | 80ml |
| yellow onionfinely chopped | 1 large, about 200g |
| garlic clovesthinly sliced | 2 |
| tomato paste | 20g |
| ripe tomatoesgrated, or use 400g canned whole tomatoes, crushed | 450g |
| hot waterplus more as needed | 500ml |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| fine sea saltplus more to taste | 7g, about 1 1/4 teaspoons |
| freshly ground black pepper | 1/2 teaspoon |
| flat-leaf parsley (optional)chopped | 10g |
Peel the potatoes and cut them into large 4cm chunks. Keep them chunky, because small pieces collapse before the sauce has time to thicken. If they sit while you start the pot, cover them with cold water, then drain them well before they go in.
Warm 70ml of the olive oil in a wide heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onion and a pinch of the measured salt, then cook for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring often, until it is soft and golden at the edges. This is the step that gives the pot depth: brown the onion first, or the tomato and water trap it pale and the yahni tastes flat and raw.
Stir in the garlic for 30 seconds. Add the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute, then add the grated tomatoes, bay leaf, remaining salt, and black pepper. Let the tomato bubble for 6 to 8 minutes, until it darkens a little and the oil gathers in red-gold beads around the edge.
Add the drained potatoes and turn them gently through the tomato base so every side is stained red. Pour in about 450ml hot water, enough to come just below the top of the potatoes. Do not drown them. Yahni should finish with sauce, not broth.
Bring the pot to a low bubble, cover, and cook for 25 minutes. Uncover and cook for 15 to 20 minutes more, shaking the pot once or twice, until a knife slides through the potatoes and the sauce coats a spoon. Stir only from underneath if you must, because rough stirring breaks the potatoes before the sauce is ready.
Take the pot off the heat and let it rest for 10 minutes. Discard the bay leaf, taste for salt, and spoon over the remaining 10ml olive oil. Finish with parsley if using. Serve warm or at room temperature with bread and olives; feta belongs beside it only when you are not keeping the fast.
1 serving (about 400g)
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