Indian Cooking 101: Know your Spice (Jeera Alu)

In my quest to dismiss the myth that Indian cooking is not for the faint-hearted and to help spread my knowledge on some simple and traditional Indian food recipes, like this Jeera Alu, I have started this series called Indian Cooking 101. To make it more interactive and as helpful as I can for my readers, I welcome you to email me any questions that you may have in the process. I will try and respond to the questions personally through email, or in the next part if it’s connected to what I have already planned to discuss.

Before I start to talk about cooking Indian food, here are a few tips that I think would help make the process a tad bit simpler, followed by a quick and easy recipe for Jeera Alu (Cumin Potatoes). While I already have a Quick-Start Guide on my homepage, this list is minimal for those who want to start slow.

SPICES: If you’ve never cooked Indian food before, and the only spice even remotely connected to Indian cooking ever to step into your spice collection is curry powder, then don’t fret. Start with the basics. Here is a list of the most standard spices that would help you cook many delicious Indian meals without making you go all out and splurge on many exotic flavours that you may be clueless about.

– Cumin Seeds
– Mustard seeds
– Turmeric powder
– Red Chili powder/Cayenne
– Coriander Powder
– Garam Masala

Once you have these staples and are confident about playing with them, then go a step further and try out a few more new to you. Slowly, but surely, you’ll have your own collection of spices that you’re fond of and those that you know would enable you to cook meals that you like.

UTENSILS: While certain dishes require certain traditionally designed equipment, a good start would be to invest in a few simple utensils that you already may or may not have.

– a non-stick wide pan
– a deep heavy-bottomed pot
– a kadhai, or wok, preferably non-stick or aluminum

When it comes to cooking simple Indian food, like this Jeera Alu, you would only need to be familiar with a few spices and the flavours that go with them. As a self-starter, it’s very easy to lose yourself in the wide selection of spices. True, they may seem intimidating at first, but then as you go along and acquaint yourself with the robust flavours they have to offer, you can’t help but get excited at the prospect of shopping and stocking your spice racks with some of your favourites.

As a first in this series, I thought I’d start with this recipe of Jeera Alu which is so simple, yet so flavourful, that would help you identify its distinct taste and aroma. Most Indian cooking would begin with a tempering, simply put, it’s just a process where spices like cumin or mustard seeds are added to hot oil and allowed to sizzle. Doing so adds plenty of flavour to the oil, which then helps in penetrating through the dish during the cooking process. Tempering, or tadka, is also a common way of adding a burst of flavour to a subtly spiced dal.

The one thing I like about this Jeera Alu recipe is how the cumin dominates in taste. Another reason for adding it to the menu today is to allow you to experiment and play around with some of the flavours you already love, or some that you wish to try. Potatoes are a wonderful vegetable to use when you need to experiment with a certain spice. Since they lack a strong flavour themselves and carry out others with ease, I’d suggest you use not more than a combination of 2-3 spices, to begin with. This would help you identify the flavours and also enable you to decide whether or not you like the mingling of them together.

Print Recipe

JEERA ALU (POTATOES FRIED WITH CUMIN)

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time20 mins

Total Time30 mins

Servings: 2

Author: Meena, www.hookedonheat.com

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp light cooking oil
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 2-3 potatoes cut into cubes
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• salt to taste

Instructions

• Heat oil in a large non-stick pan and saute cumin seeds till they begin to sizzle. Add potatoes and stir-fry for 10-15 minutes on medium-high heat till potatoes start to soften.
• Sprinkle red chilli powder, turmeric, and salt, and mix well to combine. Cook covered for a few minutes till potatoes are completely cooked through.

Some other alterations to try with this recipe would be:

• Decrease the amount of cumin seeds in half, substituting the other half denomination with coriander seeds. Sprinkle a pinch of dried fenugreek leaves a few minutes before the potatoes are done.
• Add about a cup and a half of bite-size cauliflower florets along with the potatoes to make Alu Gobi.
• Add a cup of frozen peas and cook covered for an extra 5 minutes once potatoes are tender to made delicious Alu Matar.
• Add a small onion, finely diced, before adding the spices. Follow the remaining method and add a chopped tomato towards the end of the cooking process. Let it cook covered till tomatoes soften and pulp.

Tried this recipe? Leave a Comment and let me know, also Rate it by clicking the number of stars on the recipe card. Want to share your version with me? Tag me on Instagram @hookedonheat

MORE POSTS ON INDIAN COOKING 101

• Kitchen Essentials
• Part 1: Know your Spice
• Part 2: A Lesson in Lentils
• Part 3: Pickles and Chutneys
• Part 4: Indian Street Food
• Part 5: Cooking Curry for Beginners
• Part 6: Quick Cooking Tips for Indian Food
• BONUS 1: How NOT to Cook Indian Food
• BONUS 2: How to Cook Indian Meals in 20 Minutes

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