One of the first blog posts I wrote was “Cooking a Life Less Ordinary” … when meals get mundane, mix it up. This is precisely how today’s dish came about. We had some potatoes left over and I wanted to cook a side dish with a bit of spice to it. Aloo Jeera was the perfect answer.

Make a really tasty and simple side dish at home with this easy recipe.

Continue reading“Aloo Jeera – Potato with Cumin Seeds”→

Equipment

• Sharp knife
• Chopping board
• Large saucepan
• Saute or frying pan with a lid

Ingredients

There are many recipes for aloo jeera available (some refer to is as jeera aloo), the ingredients below are the ones I chose after reading a few and experimenting with flavours and cooking techniques.

Some traditional recipes use a pinch of asafoetida. I tried it, wasn’t for me. If you want to add this, I recommend trying it first to see whether it’s to your personal taste.

I use rapeseed oil, it gives the dish a little extra flavour. The amount of cumin seeds and chili powder is personal preference, I went with the lower end for the heat level I was looking for (relatively low).

Method

1. Thinly slice and dice the ginger and shallot. Seed and thinly slice the green chili. Peel the potatoes and cut them into bite-sized cubes.
2. Par boil the potato chunks in a large saucepan for 6-7 mins until they are soft, then drain and set aside.
3. Heat the oil in a saute or frying pan over medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and fry for 10 secs. Then add the shallot, ginger and green chili pieces, stir fry for 1 min.
4. Add the coriander, turmeric, chili and tandoori masala powders and salt to taste. Stir fry for a few seconds, then carefully add in the potatoes. Stir fry for 2-3 mins, ensuring that the potatoes are coated with the spices.
5. Add 150 ml of water, put the lid on the pan and simmer over low heat for 20-25 mins until the potatoes are fully cooked through. Check every few mins, if the potatoes have completely dried out, add a little more water.
6. Serve as a side dish, garnished with coriander. Or with some fried eggs as an entire meal.

Hints, Tips and Pictures

1. Check out the Cooking a Life Less Ordinary post for how to re-imagine meal times.
2. Leftovers can be served with fried eggs for breakfast the next day.
   
3. To get extra flavour into the potatoes, gently rock the drained potato chunks around in the saucepan to rough up the edges a little.
4. Check out the Goan Imports blog for loads of excellent recipes of this genre.