Hing Jeere ke Aloo

Boiled potatoes fried with asafoetida, cumin, turmeric, and green chilli and sharpened with dried mango powder: the everyday potatoes of north Indian homes

Origin: Uttar Pradesh & Delhi, North India

From the journey of Asafoetida.

Hing jeere ke aloo are potatoes with asafoetida and cumin, and the name lists the seasoning before the vegetable because the seasoning is the point. Boiled potatoes are fried in a little oil or ghee in which cumin seeds have crackled and asafoetida has bloomed, coloured with turmeric, heated with green chilli, and finished with amchur, dried green mango, for sourness. It is a dish of home cooking, eaten with puris, parathas, or chapatis, or beside dal and rice, and it is the sort of thing a north Indian cook makes without thinking about it. It is also the sort of thing an exile thinks about constantly. Madhur Jaffrey, who grew up in a large Delhi family, went to London in 1955 to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and met the food of post-war Britain. 'There is this pea-green smog that comes in at 3 o'clock and you see nothing', she told The Hindu in 2020. 'This was just after the War, and the food was simply awful. I was dreaming of hing jeere ki alu or bhara hua karela while having some watery cabbage mess or transparent roast beef at the canteen.' Out of desperation she began writing to her mother for recipes, and the cookery writer began there. The asafoetida goes into the hot fat for no more than a few seconds before the potatoes, which is enough to turn its raw, sulphurous smell into the deep, oniony savour that makes the dish.

Ingredients

Potatoes

  • 600 g waxy potatoes

Tempering

  • 3 tbsp vegetable oil or ghee
  • 1.5 tsp cumin seeds
  • 0.25 tsp compounded asafoetida
  • 1 green chilli, finely chopped

Spices

  • 0.5 tsp ground turmeric
  • 0.5 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp salt

To finish

  • 1 tsp amchur (dried green mango powder)
  • 2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped

Method

  1. Boil the potatoes in their skins in salted water for 15 to 20 minutes, until just tender. Drain, leave them to cool until they can be handled, then peel and cut them into 2 cm cubes.
  2. Heat the oil or ghee in a wide frying pan over a medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle and darken a shade, which takes about 30 seconds.
  3. Add the asafoetida and the green chilli and stir for five seconds, then add the potatoes at once.
  4. Sprinkle over the turmeric, chilli powder, ground coriander, and salt, and turn the potatoes gently to coat them. Fry for 8 to 10 minutes, turning now and then, until the edges are golden and lightly crisp.
  5. Sprinkle over the amchur, turn once more, scatter with the coriander leaves, and serve.

Notes

Serve with puris, parathas, or chapatis, or as a side dish with dal and rice. Compounded asafoetida usually contains wheat flour; use a gluten-free brand or pure resin if you need to. A squeeze of lemon can replace the amchur.

The Gastrographer

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