Side dish

Dishoom's Gunpowder Potatoes recipe

Name: Dishoom's Gunpowder Potatoes
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 500g baby new potatoes; ½ tsp cumin seeds; ½ tsp coriander seeds; ½ tsp fennel seeds; 1 tbsp vegetable oil; 25g butter, melted; 6 spring onions, finely sliced; 5g coriander leaves, chopped; 3 green chillis, chopped; ½ tsp sea salt flakes; 30ml lime juice; 1-2 tsp kabab masala (see below); 10g dried fenugreek leaves; 22g chaat masala; 2g deggi mirch chilli powder; 1g garam masala; 1g fine sea salt

Jump to recipe

Crispy, charred potatoes, tossed in butter and spices then finished with salt, lime and more spices.

Prep15m
Cook25m
Total40m

dishoom indian lunch starter vegan-adaptable vegetarian

Dishoom’s Gunpowder Potatoes are a great side dish for any Indian meal or you could just eat them for lunch with some raita like I did. It was one of the nicest lunches I’ve had in ages.

The flavours of the different spices are unusual and punchy. I was concerned that the dish might taste of raw spring onion but the heat from the melted butter and potatoes is enough to take away any pungency.

The recipe uses kabab masala which involves roasting fenugreek leaves and mixing various spices. Once you’ve made a batch it'll keep for a while (I think longer than the two weeks specified in the book) and the potatoes will be quicker to make next time.

I found chaat masala, one of the ingredients for the kabab masala, from a local Asian supermarket.

Notes

Replace the butter with vegetable oil to make this dish vegan.

Recipe credit

Dishoom: From Bombay with Love (affiliate link)

Recipe

Dishoom's Gunpowder Potatoes

Prep15m
Cook25m
Total40m

Serves: 2

Ingredients

Gunpowder potatoes

500g baby new potatoes
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp coriander seeds
½ tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp vegetable oil
25g butter, melted
6 spring onions, finely sliced
5g coriander leaves, chopped
3 green chillis, chopped
½ tsp sea salt flakes
30ml lime juice
1-2 tsp kabab masala (see below)

Kabab masala

10g dried fenugreek leaves
22g chaat masala
2g deggi mirch chilli powder
1g garam masala
1g fine sea salt

Method

Kabab masala: Heat your oven to 100°C (80°C fan) and add 10g of dried fenugreek leaves to a foil lined baking tray. Roast for 20 minutes then remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
Add 22g of chaat masala, 2g of deggi mirch chilli powder, 1g of garam masala and 1g of fine sea salt to a spice grinder (or pestle and mortar) and add the cooled fenugreek leaves.
Blitz or crush the spices together until they become a fine powder then transfer to an airtight container and store in a cool, dark place. Use within 2 weeks for maximum freshness.
Gunpowder potatoes: Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add 500g of baby new potatoes. Cook for 12-15 minutes or until the potatoes are just tender.
While the potatoes are cooking, add ½ teaspoon each of cumin seeds, coriander seeds and fennel seeds to a hot, dry frying pan and toast for 2 minutes. Keep an eye on the pan to make sure that the seeds don’t burn. Once toasted, crush in a pestle and mortar and set to one side.
Heat the grill to a high heat.
When the potatoes are ready, drain them and let them sit in a colander to steam for a few minutes until dry. Tip onto an oiled baking tray and drizzle with a little more vegetable oil. Grill for 5-7 minutes until the potatoes have browned then turn and repeat until the other side has also browned.
Melt 25g of butter in a large bowl then add the crushed toasted seeds, 6 sliced spring onions, 5g chopped coriander leaves and 3 chopped green chillis. Stir well.
When the potatoes are crispy and browned all over, break each potato in half then add them to the large bowl containing the butter and spices and toss until the potatoes are well coated.
Add ½ teaspoon of flaky sea salt, 30ml of lime juice and 1 teaspoon of kabab masala. Taste to check the seasoning, add more kabab masala if needed, then transfer the potatoes to a dish. Serve with raita if you like.