Thank you to Kathy Gori at The Colors of Indian Cooking for this delicious recipe!

A note from Kathy:

It’s been crazy up here in wine country. Actually, it’s crazy everywhere but since this is where I am presently this is my crazy. We’ve been laying low since I recovered from Covid. Meanwhile, my cooking muscle, since I’ve been up and about again, is really getting a pandemic workout.

If that isn’t enough, we’ve had lightning strike wildfires, rolling blackouts, and temperatures in the 100+ category. Last weekend we got a break when more lightning was predicted, meaning the possibility of more fires, but the weather gods/goddesses decided to cut us a break, sent a bit of rain and held the lightning.

I took advantage of pleasant temperatures and the ability to use my Homdoor Tandoor oven to do a little Indian cooking, and one of the dishes worked beautifully with the tandoor oven. It involves potatoes and is one of the simplest dishes there is. Potatoes aka Aloo, simple boiling potatoes, basted with spices and then roasted on skewers in the tandoor till they are charred on the outside, spicy and soft on the inside. There are a lot of ways of doing this dish, this is how I do it.

Tandoor Aloo (Potatoes with Spices)

Author: Kathy Gori

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Ingredients

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2 Tbs vegetable oil
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 serrano chili finely chopped, either seeded or unseeded (depends on how hot you want it)
2 tsp mashed coriander seeds
1 tsp red chili flakes
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp amchur (dried mango) powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp lemon juice
Salt to taste
A handful of chopped fresh cilantro

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Instructions

You can parboil/partially cook the potatoes to soften them a bit before skewering them, just don’t cook them all the way through.

After they are cooked, you can leave the peel on or not, as you wish. Set them aside.

What we do here is prepare a basting sauce that will be used on the potatoes as they cook and then the remains of it drizzled over the finished dish.

First, get your spices ready.

Dice the chili pepper.

Crush the coriander seed with a mortar and pestle.

In a skillet or kadhai heat 2 Tbs vegetable oil. When the oil is hot toss in the cumin seeds.

Let them toast. As soon as they get fragrant (less than a minute) toss in the serrano chili, and crushed coriander seed.

Now add chili flakes, turmeric, dried mango powder (amchur), roasted cumin powder, and salt. Stir these around and cook them for a few seconds. This is your basting liquid. Set it aside.

Rub the potatoes with oil and thread the potatoes on oiled skewers.

Fire up your tandoor oven. The potatoes cook at 400 degrees for about 5 minutes, if you are doing these on a grill the same applies.

Brush the potatoes with the spice marinade.

Place the skewered potatoes in the tandoor or on your grill.

Let them roast for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes take them out and brush them with the spice mixture again. Put them back in the tandoor for another 5 minutes.

When they are done, take them out and off the skewers.

Place them back in the kadhai with the marinade, coat them.

Drizzle them with lemon juice.

Sprinkle them with the chopped cilantro.

Ignore curious fans…. and serve them up!