Zeera Aloo is a delicious & flavourful vegetarian dish made with boiled potatoes, spices and herbs. Zeera or Jeera is the Hindi name for cumin seeds & Aloo is the word for potatoes. So zeera aloo is boiled potatoes cooked in cumin seeds. A flavourful potato dish which needs only a few ingredients and a few minutes to cook. It is a side dish that can be eaten with rice dal, roti, chapati, poori or paratha.
Table of Contents:
1. About the recipe
2. Ingredients
3. Step-by-step method
4. Tips
1. About the recipe
My recipe for Zeera Aloo will give you a super flavourful, easy and delicious potato dish. It has a punch of flavours from whole cumin seeds, ground cumin, red chilli powder and amchur powder. The great part of this recipe is that you can serve it as a side dish, roti or dal rice and as an appetizer.
My mother made this zeera aloo regularly because my father loves potatoes. Potatoes were one thing we always had in our kitchen, so a simple stir fry with potatoes or this zeera aloo with Paratha or Poori and our meal was sorted.
For me, it’s one of those dishes that you can make and be sure that everyone is going to eat, and the best part is that it’s so easy to make. Usually, zeera aloo is made very simple without adding many spices. But my version does use them for a burst of flavour. The secret that makes this dry zeera aloo so delicious is the use of special homemade zeera masala. A lightly roasted mix of spices gives boiled baby potatoes a perfect dhaba-style flavour, which is totally irresistible.
What is so special about Zeera Aloo
- Perfect dish for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
- Vegetarian Recipe.
- Simple, Easy and Quick.
- Budget Friendly.
- Perfect for lunch box.
- It can be customised according to your preferences.
- Vegan, gluten-free, Paleo recipe.
- Versatile – can be served as a snack, side dish, appetizer or mains.
Let’s start cooking!
Serving Suggestions: 3 to 4
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 7 minutes
2. Ingredients
For Zeera Masala
- 1 ½ teaspoon of cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon of coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds
- 4 to 5 whole dry red chilli
- 1 teaspoon of amchur powder
For Zeera Aloo
- 500-gram potatoes ( boiled and peeled)
- 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon of mustard seeds
- 2 green chillies ( chopped)
- ½ teaspoon of turmeric powder
- ½ teaspoon of red chilli powder
- ½ teaspoon of hing ( asafoetida)
- 1 teaspoon of grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon of oil
- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
- Chopped coriander leaves
3. Step by Step method
- I am using boiled baby potatoes for this recipe, but feel free to use regular boiled potato cubes here. Some people like to cook the potatoes and spices without boiling them first for this recipe. Some even fry them.
- As for me, I like zeera aloo with boiled potatoes, so I am used to making it this way. The majority of time taken for this recipe is to boil the potatoes. Once the potatoes are boiled, it takes less than 10 minutes to cook them all together.
Preparation of Zeera Masala Powder
- In a small pan, dry roast cumin, dry red chilli, coriander seeds, and fennel seeds on medium flame until fragrant.
- In a blender, blend all the roasted spices to a coarse powder. The Zeera Masala is ready to use.
Preparation of Zeera Aloo
- Heat oil in a kadhai or pan on medium flame. Once the oil is hot, add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, chopped green chillies, hing, and grated ginger. Saute for a few seconds.
- Then add turmeric powder and a little red chilli powder. Keep the flame low to avoid burning.
- Add boiled baby potato salt and mix it well Cover and cook on low flame for 3 to 4 minutes.
- After cooking boiled potatoes for a few minutes, add prepared special zeera masala powder and amchur powder and mix.
- Cook on low flame for 2 minutes, not more than that; cooking for too long may burn the masala.
- Add lemon juice and chopped coriander leaves and toss.
- Serve hot with Poori, Paratha, Rice, and Dal.
4. Tips
- Do not skip zeera masala steps; it will give amazing flavour to this zeera aloo subzi.
- Heat the oil well and then simmer the heat before adding cumin seeds. The hot oil on simmering heat will infuse the cumin flavour into the oil without burning it.
- Do not overboil the potatoes. Otherwise, it will get mushy.
- After adding special zeera masala powder to the potatoes, do not cook for too long. Otherwise, they will get burned, and the taste will be compromised.
- Red and green chillies can be adjusted according to your preferences.
