Indian cooking
Indian cooking / Dishes / Aloo ke Gutake
Aloo ke Gutake (Potatoes Tempered with Cumin)

Aloo ke Gutake

Potatoes Tempered with Cumin
Vegetarian●●●Origin UttarakhandPrep 10 minutesCook 20 minutes

A classic North Indian dry curry of tender potato slices coated in pungent mustard oil, earthy cumin, and turmeric. It offers a gentle, warming heat balanced by aromatic whole spices.

Tempering spices

3.2 gFried in the hot oil (step 2)
01
3.2 g1½ teaspoons
spice
Keep whole.

Ground spices

0.3 gAdded to the pan right before the potatoes (step 3)
01
~0.3 gpinch
spice
Keep ready in a small bowl.

Everything else

01
40 g3 tablespoons
oil/fat
02
Potato · Aloocut into slices lengthways
500 g
vegetable
03
to taste
salt
04
2–3 g2–3 chillies
spice
05
~1 g1 sprig
herb

Method

  1. Heat 40.5 g mustard oil in a heavy pan or kadhai over high heat until hot, then drop the flame to medium.
  2. Tip in the tempering spices and stir-fry for roughly 30 seconds until the seeds begin to crackle.
  3. Stir in the ground spices and immediately follow with 500 g potato, cut into slices lengthways. Toss well so the potatoes are evenly coated, then flick over a tiny drop of water just to moisten them.
  4. Season with salt to taste. Cover the pan with a tight lid, reduce the heat to very low, and cook for 15–20 minutes until tender throughout, stirring once or twice and adding drops of water only if the potatoes begin to stick to the base.
  5. Scatter 2–3 g dried red chilli and 1 g chopped coriander over the potatoes and serve.

Don't have something?

Mustard oil
  • Peanut oil

    Use equal weight. It handles high-heat cooking well, but lacks the signature pungent, nasal heat of mustard oil.

  • Vegetable oil

    Use equal weight. Neutral in flavour, so your curry will lack the characteristic Bengali or North Indian pungent punch.

Cumin seed
  • Ground cumin

    Use 70% of the weight; add with ground spices or sauce bases rather than hot oil tempering, where it scorches quickly and turns bitter.

  • Black cumin seeds

    Use equal weight for oil tempering. Delivers an earthy profile with an additional musky, smoky, and slightly bitter edge.

  • Fennel seed

    Use 60% of the weight for tempering; offers comparable warm aroma, but leans sweet and liquorice-like rather than savoury and earthy.

Ground turmeric
  • Ground ginger

    Use 50% of the weight. Mimics turmeric's warm, earthy, rhizome background, but provides none of the golden-yellow colour.

  • Saffron

    Steep a tiny pinch (0.1 g per 2 g turmeric) in 2 tbsp warm water; use to match the rich golden hue. Contributes an aristocratic, honeyed floral flavour rather than earthy bitterness.

Potato
  • Eggplant

    Use equal weight. Cut into large chunks; cooks down much faster (10-12 minutes) and softens into the sauce rather than staying starchy and firm.

  • Paneer

    Use 80% of the weight. Cube and add in the last 5-10 minutes of cooking; adds rich dairy protein instead of starchy bulk.

  • Dried chickpea

    Use 45% dry weight. Soak overnight and boil until fully soft before stirring into the sauce to simmer for 10 minutes.

Dried red chilli
  • Dried kashmiri chilli

    Use equal weight whole. Fry in hot oil or ghee as tempered spice; gives a richer red colour with slightly milder heat.

  • Red chilli powder

    Use 50% to 70% of the weight. Stir into the oil with ground spices; distributes heat evenly throughout the dish without whole chilli skins.

Coriander
  • Coriander leaf

    Use equal weight, chopped fresh and stirred in off the heat or used as garnish. Matches the citrus-herbal profile identically.

  • Mint

    Use 40% to 50% of the weight; chop finely and add at the very end. Adds fresh herbal brightness, but shifts the aroma toward cool menthol.

Similar dishes

Aloo Methi ki Sabzi
Potatoes with Fenugreek Leaves
Aloo Methi ki Sabzi has a distinct, pleasantly bitter herbal flavor and fresh heat, lacking the sharp pungency of this dish's mustard oil.
  • Same: Both are dry potato dishes seasoned with cumin seeds, ground turmeric, and salt.
  • Different: Aloo Methi ki Sabzi adds fresh fenugreek greens, swaps dried red chillies for green chillies, and uses neutral vegetable oil or ghee instead of mustard oil.
Assamese Spiced Potato
Assamese Spiced Potato tastes mildly spicy and aromatic with sweet onion and fresh coriander, while this dish tastes pungent from mustard oil with earthy cumin and gentle warming heat.
  • Same: Assamese Spiced Potato shares with this dish a dry potato cooking style, turmeric, dried chilli, salt, and a mustard-oil option.
  • Different: Assamese Spiced Potato adds red onion, panch phoron, and fresh coriander leaves, uses more potato, and may use vegetable oil instead of this dish's mustard oil, cumin seed, and coriander.
Aloo Baigan Sookha
Potatoes with Aubergine (Eggplant)
Aloo Baigan Sookha tastes milder and more aubergine-sweet, with toasted cumin and chilli heat but none of this dish's mustard-oil pungency or turmeric earthiness.
  • Same: Aloo Baigan Sookha shares potato, cumin, dried red chilli, salt, and a dry-cooked style with this dish.
  • Different: Aloo Baigan Sookha adds aubergine and uses vegetable oil instead of pungent mustard oil, and it lacks turmeric and coriander.
Aloo Posto
Potatoes with Poppy Seed Paste
Aloo Posto tastes nutty, rich, and mellow rather than pungent from mustard oil and earthy from toasted cumin.
  • Same: Aloo Posto is also a dry potato dish cooked with dried red chillies and salt.
  • Different: Aloo Posto uses neutral vegetable oil and coats fried potatoes in a thick poppy seed paste, omitting the mustard oil, cumin seeds, and turmeric used in this dish.