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Sunday, August 18, 2024

Jeera Aloo: A Taste Of India


Potatoes with cumin seeds in a bowl, vegan

Are you a fan of exploring recipes from different cultures? I know I am! One of my go-to sources for Indian cuisine recipes is the blog Simple Gluten Free Kitchen.  The talented Balvinder offers a delightful array of all kinds of recipes, many of which are inspired by her Indian heritage. Of course all of her recipes also meet gluten-free standards.


Potatoes Small Potatoes

Recently, I came across an interesting recipe for Jeera Aloo (cumin potatoes) on her blog. We love potatoes and enjoy Indian spices, so I  had to give this tempting recipe a try!


Spices Shelf photo and picture


Indian cooking often relies on a wide array of spices. While I had many of the spices for this recipe on hand (cumin seed, turmeric, coriander seed, chili powder, fresh cilantro, and fresh ginger ), there was one particular spice I didn’t have.


Amchur dried mango powder in a container

Balvinder explained on her blog, 

"My recipe calls for Amchur powder, if you can not find it use lime powder or may be just lemon juice but it won't match the depth of flavor that you get from dry mango powder. "

I’d never encountered "amchur" before, which is dried mango powder. I found a container of organic amchur on Amazon for under $9. The flavor was quite intriguing, and I'm glad ordered it. I'm excited to find more recipes that use this unique ingredient.

I did make a few tweaks to Balvinder’s recipe to suit our own taste preferences. I omitted the coriander, as it’s not a favorite of mine, went easier on the green chili, swapped out the oil for vegetable broth to keep the recipe oil-free, and added additional freshly squeezed lemon juice because we’re big lemon lovers.

We enjoyed this spicy potato side dish. It was both easy to prepare and delicious.  Thanks Balvinder!

 You can find Balvinder's beautiful photos of this recipe as well as her recipe here at:   Jeera Aloo: (recipe link) She used the little round potatoes which was quite pretty and uniform. Some of my potatoes were bigger and not uniform , so her suggestion was to cut them in half, which I did.


Do you like Indian food? Do you ever cook it? 

I very seldom use a recipe in my cooking of food as opposed to baking which I always use a recipe. I usually have a main ingredient or two and my creative juices flow and I make it into a recipe. Thus starting a blog to actually record and remember my own recipe creations.  But this is not the case with Indian cooking. I'm not that familiar, so I usually need to follow a specific recipe. 

Here are some of the Indian cuisine recipes that I have made and posted in the past. Not being able to tolerate a lot of "heat" , I tend to go easy on the chilis. 

Aloo Baingen, potatoes and eggplant
Photo of Indian Aloo Baingan

Tomato Onion Dal  

Vegetable Pakora Appetizers  ( baked, easy, delicious, oil-free)

Cauliflower Aloo Gobi - Instant Pot and Stove Top

Indian Aloo Baingan - Potatoes and Eggplant 



Tomato Soup Indian Style  (great with ripe summer tomatoes)

Ayurvedic Tea with Indian Spices  (soothing and relaxing)

Mango Cardamom Lassi  ( A healthy sweet summer treat)

26 comments:

  1. I always forget to think about potatoes when I want to cook something from another country's cuisine. These look delicious, I think I would add the additional lemon as well.

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    1. Potatoes are my favorite. Love potato recipes

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  2. I've always wanted to try Indian food. Yes, I like exploring foods from different heritages, especially some of the Greek dishes that are close to my heart. That is really something that you have cooked Indian food before. I like that blue placemat. It looks like the Pioneer Woman collection?

    ~Sheri

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    1. It took me a long time of eating Indian food before I ever tried to make my own. It was intimidating in the beginning.

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  3. An Indian classic...if one loves potatoes, this is definitely something one will enjoy.

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  4. Balvinder has some great recipes. This potato curry or variations are ones I make often when I want a spicy side dish. I'm sure you will get good use of the amchur.
    Tandy | Lavender and Lime https://tandysinclair.com

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    1. Yes, the amchur is new to me but I like it.

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  5. Indian and Middle Eastern food are favorites in our house. I love the warm spices and flavors. That's the good thing about cooking versus baking, you can usually go whichever direction you want and not follow a specific recipe. Baking, not so much. Have a wonderful Monday.

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    1. Middle Eastern and Indian are some of my favorites. I agree, I follow a baking recipe to the tee.

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  6. I am so happy you have shared your Indian recipes. I love Indian food. Unfortunately my husband is not so keen on spicy food, so I have to watch how much I add each time. I have also never heard of "amchur".

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    1. I don't like heat but I do like spice. The pakoras are good without being spicy.

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  7. Wow, Judy, what a great start to the week for this testimonial. Your version of Jeera Aloo looks wonderful. Thanks a whole big bunch for trying out and giving a shout out. I am honored.

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    1. You are welcome! You have a great blog!

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  8. I haven't had Indian food in years. The spices are not my favorites.

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    1. The spices are not what we a accustomed to and may need to develop a taste for them.

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  9. I'm not a fan of Indian food and never cook it, but I have to say those potatoes look delicious!

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    1. I was introduced to Indian cuisine at a local Indian restaurant that uses mild spices. I do like it.

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  10. I wouldn't say Indian cuisine is one of my favourite, mostly due to the use of some spices I'm not a huge fan of. But these potatoes though? They sound delicious! Saving it to give it a try in the winter.

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    1. If you don't like these spices, not sure how you would enjoy the recipe. It's spice up for sure

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  11. I do love the fabulous spice blend you used in this recipe... especially the dry mango powder. This would be such a fun spice to play around with in other recipes!

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    1. Mango powder was totally new to me- I'll be looking for recipes to use it in.

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  12. We eat quite a lot of curry, but I can't tolerate a lot of hot spices, so we reduce those. Dahl is a favourite here.

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    1. I'm with you. The heat is a bit much for me too.

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  13. I LOVE Indian food. I make saag aloo a good bit. It’s great for breakfast. This looks yummy. Thanks.

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  14. I've never heard of amchur, a.k. a. dried mango powder, before either. I do love mangoes, though, so I'm intrigued. And I too am a lemon lover! 🥭🍋

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Your comments are appreciated. I love knowing who is stopping by to read my posts! Have a great day.