Chai Time: Masala Potatoes

Meherwan Irani

8/12/2020

Chai Time is an ongoing series on Spicewalla’s IGTV featuring chef and Spicewalla founder Meherwan Irani cooking Indian dishes LIVE in his home and answering all your cooking qs. Check out the video for Masala Potatoes here to learn some tips and tricks that only an Indian mom or aunt could teach you! Follow us on instagram to tune in live and join the conversation.

For this latest episode of Chai Time, Chef Meherwan Irani asked his mom for her go-to masala potato recipe—she sent three. One is jeera (cumin) forward, one is dhana (coriander) forward, and this, Irani's favorite, is rai (mustard) seed forward. A little dash of ajwain and hing, a squeeze of lime, and some curry leaves to flavor the oil. Flavours similar to the ones Irani enjoyed back when he was skipping classes (shhh, don't tell his mom 🤫) in college in Ahmednagar, India (his hometown) and getting masala potato toasted sandwiches with Maggi ketchup at Royal canteen.

Ingredients

8-10 small yellow potatoes, diced
1/4 cup safflower oil
1/2 tsp Spicewalla Brown Mustard Seeds*
1 tsp Spicewalla Cumin Seeds
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 green chili, deseeded and diced
5-6 fresh or dried curry leaves (optional)
1/4 tsp Spicewalla Ajwain Powder (optional)
1/4 tsp Hing (asfoetida) (optional)
1/2 tsp Spicewalla Turmeric
Juice from ½ lime
Spicewalla Sicilian Sea Salt, to taste
Fresh cilantro, chopped, for garnish

*brown and black mustard seeds are interchangeable

Shop the Recipe

Sicilian Sea Salt

$8.04

Mustard Seed, Brown

$6.60

Cumin Seed

$6.90

Ajwain Powder

$7.20

Ground Turmeric

$8.93

Preparation

Boil potatoes until they are fork tender, about 40 minutes. It is your choice to peel the potatoes or leave the skins on. Set aside.
In a large pan, heat oil over high heat. Add the mustard seeds, when they start to "wiggle" turn heat down to medium. Add the cumin seeds, garlic, green chillies, and curry leaves. Stir and cook for about 2 minutes, until the garlic starts to brown.
Turn heat down to low, add ajwain powder, hing and turmeric. Stir and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
Turn the heat back up to medium and stir in the potatoes. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the lime juice and salt to taste, cook for another 1-2 minutes.
Remove from the heat and garnish with fresh cilantro, enjoy!