For the March 2012 Secret Recipe Club, I had the privilege of cooking from The Novice Housewife.
Shumaila blogs about (and takes beautifully photographs of) a wide variety of recipes, but I was immediately drawn to the vast collection of dishes that reflect her Indian heritage. I settled on her Jeera Aloo: potatoes cooked in Indian spices.
It’s been a while since I cooked potatoes in an entirely new way; generally I mash them (my kids’ favorite), or prepare them like this for breakfast. I loved the idea of blackening them in a spice mix with cumin seeds leading the charge, however, and made only a few very small adjustments to Shumaila’s recipe.
I ate these potatoes topped with a gently fried egg for breakfast: I’m so overrun with eggs from my hens these days, I eat just about everything with a fried egg on top! They’d definitely be a great addition to a home cooked Indian meal, though, or serve them as a flavorful side next to just about any meat, fish, chicken, or vegetarian entree.
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I am adding these Indian spiced potatoes to Creative Culinary’s “IndianFoodPalooza” event!
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Recipe for Jeera Aloo (Indian Spiced Potatoes)
Ingredients
- *5 potatoes boiled for 20-25 minutes, until a fork pierces through (you want them to be soft but not too soft that they crumble when chopped into small pieces); I used medium sized organic red potatoes
- *2 teaspoons ghee plus 2 teaspoons organic coconut oil (if you don't have ghee you can use coconut oil alone or use olive oil
- *1 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- *1/4 white onion peeled and chopped
- *2 garlic cloves peeled and minced
- *2 green chillies chopped (optional); I used red chilies because that's what I had on hand
- *1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
- *1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- *1 pinch garam masala
- *1/2 teaspoom turmeric powder
- *pinch chaat masala/aamchoor dried mango powder; I couldn't find this...I used asafoetida powder instead (just leave out if you can't find any of these ingredients)
- *sea salt- to taste
- *1/4 cup chopped coriander/cilantro leaves
Instructions
- 1. Peel the potatoes (I actually didn't peel mine, since they were organic), and cut into medium sized cubes.
- 2. Heat ghee and coconut oil in a pan.
- 3. Add the cumin seeds. Once they start to crackle, add the onion, garlic, and chilis, and ginger and fry for a minute. Add potatoes and fry for a minute more.
- 4. Add all of the dry spices and mix well.
- 5. Add salt and continue to fry until potatoes are crispy brown. The trick is not to stir too frequently, so that a crust can develop.
- 6. Add the chopped cilantro. Mix and remove from heat.
