Small potatoes survive the winter rain, and braised with scallions or pan-fried, they are simply delicious.

Editor's note: 

Yesterday NewsMarket received a letter from a farmer with the Friendly Earth Alliance, mentioning that last year the potatoes were ravaged by winter rain, causing a severe crop failure, and the surviving potatoes were rather small and could not be sold smoothly on the market. To encourage the farmers, we ask everyone to come together and support these little potatoes. At the same time, the author of "The Anthropologist in the Kitchen: 'Actually, Everyone Wants to Cook'" - Chuang Tsu-yi - learned of the farmers' situation and specially provided a delicious "pan-braised baby potatoes" recipe, so that everyone can easily make a delicious dish with small potatoes.

Organic small potatoes are 50 yuan per Taiwanese catty (600 g); shipping is free for orders of 1500 yuan or more, otherwise please share 100 yuan of the shipping fee (refrigerated home delivery). Friends who are interested, please contact: Friendly Earth Organic Alliance Miss Huang. Phone: 06-5795775 Fax: 06-5795583. e-mail:[email protected]

Last year's winter rain caused severe potato crop losses; please support these little tubers

Although the potato is not a traditional staple food in Taiwan, because Western food culture has had a considerable influence on modern Taiwanese eating habits, the potato has slowly become a common food on the dining table and even a staple food for us. Demand creates production, and the dry, cold winter of southern Taiwan happens to suit the growth of certain potato varieties, so winter is the production season for root and tuber crops in Taiwan.

In November 2011, an inexplicable winter rain fell over central and southern Taiwan, lasting for several days in a row. Many root and tuber vegetables were flooded and ruined, causing severe agricultural losses in Taiwan. The farmers gritted their teeth and replanted, so this year Taiwan's potatoes arrived almost a month later than the potatoes of the year before.

Rain has a great impact on potatoes. From the end of 2011 to 2012, Taiwan's winter was abnormally wet and cold, and the potatoes of the southern organic growers Geng-Xin and Shang-Zhan Organic Farm developed late blight. The originally lush green potato fields quickly turned into a withered expanse, causing the farmers great losses.

With great difficulty, some potatoes survived the natural disaster. Although healthy, they are only one third the usual size. Potatoes of this size cannot enter the market, and the farmers' hearts begin to bleed... Please give your support so the farmers can feel everyone's warmth and keep working hard this year!

A delicious dish made with small potatoes -Pan-Braised Baby Potatoes (French vs. Ningbo style)

Text by Chuang Tsu-yi (author of "The Anthropologist in the Kitchen: 'Actually, Everyone Wants to Cook'")

A few years ago I saw on television the famous French chef Jacques Pépin demonstrating a Potatoes Fondantes dish that he often ate at home as a child. The name means "melting potatoes," and the method is extremely simple, with both good looks and good taste. This dish uses especially small new potatoes, washed and laid with their skins on in a frying pan, with a little butter and rosemary added, covered with chicken stock, and simmered over low heat with the lid on until soft. Then take a cup and gently press each potato in the pan flat with the bottom of the cup, letting the remaining chicken stock seep in. After removing the lid, raise the heat to reduce the liquid, keep browning the bottom side, then flip and fry again, and finally sprinkle with coarse salt and fine scallions. The whole process takes less than thirty minutes. It tastes browned and crisp with butter on the outside, and rich and tender with chicken juices on the inside, just as if it had "melted." The first time I tried making it I fell in love with its simplicity and deliciousness, and from then on I have had a special fondness for tiny potatoes.

Since moving to Shanghai, I had been searching and searching but could not find small "potatoes." I asked my amah and only then learned that this is a seasonal product here, available only in June and July. Last week in the market I was delighted to see bag after bag of in-season new potatoes, and I immediately bought a catty to take home. As I set about cooking them, my amah watched from the side and said: "Hey, this is about the same as how Ningbo people do it! Just press them flat like this, pan-fry them, sprinkle a little chopped scallion, and I can eat a big bowl by myself!"

You should know that in China, "potatoes" are generally not treated as a starchy staple food, but as a "dish" to go with rice, such as Sichuan's "vinegar-sauteed shredded potato," Yunnan's "old granny's potatoes," and the Northwest's "potato stir-mash." Every time my amah eats a big bowl of Ningbo-style braised baby potatoes (she means a big bowl), paired with a full bowl of rice, her belly must surely be stuffed to bursting. She said that one summer, after eating them several rounds, her waistline had swollen by several sizes, so now she "just hides far away whenever she sees baby potatoes for sale and pretends not to see them. Otherwise once she starts eating she can't stop, it's frightening!"

After my earnest pleading, yesterday my amah demonstrated for me the baby potato cooking method she learned from her husband's family, and indeed it is remarkably similar in spirit to Pepin's Potatoes Fondantes, only with even simpler ingredients: just boil the potatoes in plain water, then lift them out and press them flat with the back of a knife, then return them to the pan and fry until crisp, and finally sprinkle a handful of chopped scallion and coarse salt. Once plated, each pressed-flat potato looks like a mini scallion-oil pastry, exquisite and cute between the fingertips, and once you put one in your mouth you really cannot stop. I barely managed to save two for Shu-Hai, and ate all the rest myself, then in the afternoon went to the market again and bought a bag of baby potatoes. This July, I definitely will not be able to wear a bikini.

Ningbo-Style Braised Baby Potatoes
Ingredients:
Baby potatoes with skins (amount is flexible, as long as they fit in the frying pan)
Salad oil
Salt
Chopped scallion
Step 1: Wash the baby potatoes and boil them in clear water until soft

Step 2: Press each cooked potato flat with the back of a knife

Step 3: Pour a thin layer of oil into the frying pan and fry the potatoes until golden on both sides over medium heat (about ten minutes needed)

Step 4: Sprinkle with salt and chopped scallion, and once you smell the aroma of scallion oil, it is ready to plate and remove from the pan

*It is best to choose a non-stick frying pan

Friendly Earth Organic Alliance small potatoes are 50 yuan per Taiwanese catty (600 g); shipping is free for orders of 1500 yuan or more, otherwise please share 100 yuan of the shipping fee (refrigerated home delivery).

Friends who are interested, please contact: Friendly Earth Organic Alliance, Miss Huang.

Phone: 06-5795775 Fax: 06-5795583.

e-mail:[email protected]

Friendly Earth Alliance blog: http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/shui-ling