Indian cooking
Indian cooking / Dishes / Heeng Jeere ke Aloo
Heeng Jeere ke Aloo (Asafoetida & Cumin-flavoured Potatoes)

Heeng Jeere ke Aloo

Asafoetida & Cumin-flavoured Potatoes
Vegetarian●●●Origin RajasthanPrep 20 minutesCook 5–6 minutes

A classic dry potato curry intensely flavoured with toasted cumin, pungent asafoetida, and tangy pomegranate. It is savoury, earthy, and lightly spiced with a crisp exterior.

Asafoetida

0.3 gBloomed in the hot ghee (step 2)
01
~0.3 gpinch
spice
Keep ready to tip into the hot fat.

Cumin seeds

4.2 gToasted in the ghee (step 3)
01
4.2 g2 teaspoons
spice
Leave whole for tempering.

Ground spices

6 gStirred into the potatoes (step 5)
01
2.6 g1 teaspoon
spice
02
3 g1 teaspoon
spice
Stir together until uniform.

Everything else

01
500 g
vegetable
02
79 g6 tablespoons
oil/fat
03
4 g2 teaspoons
aromatic
04
Green chilli · Hari Mirchde-seeded and chopped
12 g2 chillies
vegetable
05
to taste
salt

Method

  1. Boil 500 g potatoes in well-salted water for roughly 12 minutes, ensuring they are cooked through but remain firm. Drain thoroughly and reserve.
  2. Warm 79.2 g ghee over medium heat in a sturdy pan, introduce the asafoetida, and let it swell for 30 seconds.
  3. Scatter in the cumin seeds and allow them to crackle for 1 minute, then toss in 4 g fresh ginger and 12 g green chilli, cooking for 30 seconds.
  4. Tip the reserved potatoes into the pan and saute for 1 minute to coat them in the aromatics.
  5. Stir in 1 tablespoon ground pomegranate seeds alongside the ground spices. Fry over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes until the spices darken to a rich brown and adhere to the potato pieces, then finish with salt to taste and remove from the stove.

Don't have something?

New potato
  • Baby potatoes

    Use the same weight. Scrub and leave whole or halve if large; they cook in about the same time and give a similar waxy bite.

  • Small potato

    Use the same weight. Peel only if the recipe needs it; cut to the size of new potatoes so they cook evenly. The flesh is slightly more floury.

  • Potato

    Use the same weight, cut into even walnut-sized pieces. It may break down a little more in long cooking, thickening the gravy.

Ghee
  • Unsalted butter

    Use 120% of the weight; melt gently over low heat to avoid burning the milk solids, which will yield a softer, creamier richness rather than a nutty aroma.

  • Vegetable oil

    Use 85% of the weight; holds high cooking temperatures without smoking, but the final dish will lack traditional dairy depth.

  • Mustard oil

    Use equal weight; heat to smoking point and cool slightly before cooking, bearing in mind it introduces an assertive, pungent edge.

Asafoetida
  • Garlic powder

    Use double the weight. Stir into hot oil just before adding wet ingredients; mimics the allium savoury background without the sulphurous edge.

  • Garlic paste

    Use 2 g for every 0.5 g of asafoetida. Sauté in oil until the raw smell clears; adds moisture and sweet allium depth.

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.

Fresh ginger
  • Ginger paste

    Use equal weight. Sauté in hot fat until the raw allium smell disappears; slightly wetter, but provides identical warmth and pungency.

  • Ground ginger

    Use 20% to 25% of the weight (1 g for every 4 to 5 g fresh). Stir into the gravy; adds peppery heat and warmth, though it misses the crisp, zesty kick of raw root.

Green chilli
  • Chilli powder

    Use 10 to 15% of the weight (about 1/4 teaspoon per chilli); imparts dry pungent heat and reddens the dish without the grassy crunch.

  • Dried red chilli

    Use 1 dried pod per fresh green chilli; snap in half and temper in hot oil for a deeper, toastier heat.

Ground dried pomegranate seed
Chilli powder
  • Red chilli powder

    Use 100% of the weight. Provides direct, sharp heat and red colour in equal measure.

  • Kashmiri chilli powder

    Use 150% to 200% of the weight if matching colour, but add a pinch of black pepper or hot chilli if you need equivalent fiery heat.

  • Cayenne pepper

    Use 75% to 100% of the weight. Offers a sharp, clean heat with slightly less earthy depth and less crimson colour.

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.

Similar dishes

Lucknowi Khatte Aloo
Spiced Potatoes with Pomegranate Powder, Ginger and Green Chilli
Lucknowi Khatte Aloo tastes savoury, tart and gently hot with a sugar-rounded tang and coriander freshness, while this dish is drier, more pungent from asafoetida and cumin, and has a crisp exterior.
  • Same: Lucknowi Khatte Aloo shares with this dish new potatoes, a cumin and asafoetida tempering, ginger, green chilli, chilli powder, turmeric, pomegranate souring and salt.
  • Different: Lucknowi Khatte Aloo uses vegetable oil rather than ghee, adds 199 g water, 4.2 g sugar and 30 g coriander leaf, and has more potato and anardana but far less green chilli than this dish.
Khatte Aloo
Sour Potatoes
It has a sharper, mouth-puckering tang from the amchoor along with the pungent, warming heat of mustard oil rather than the buttery, cumin-heavy earthiness of this dish.
  • Same: Khatte Aloo is also a spiced potato dish made with cumin seeds, asafoetida, turmeric, green chillies, and ginger.
  • Different: Instead of ghee, Khatte Aloo is cooked in mustard oil, uses amchoor for tartness instead of pomegranate, and introduces fenugreek seeds, coriander, and clove.
Bedmi Aloo
Spiced Turmeric & Coriander Potato Curry
Bedmi Aloo is tender and lightly spicy with a golden turmeric gravy and sour lift from dried mango powder, while this dish is dry, earthy and pungent with toasted cumin, asafoetida and tangy pomegranate.
  • Same: Bedmi Aloo shares new potatoes, ghee, asafoetida, cumin seed, turmeric, green chilli, ginger and salt with this dish.
  • Different: Bedmi Aloo adds tomato purée, water, ground coriander, Kashmiri chilli powder, dried mango powder, sugar and coriander, and it is a gravy curry, while this dish is dry, uses ground dried pomegranate seed and more ghee.
Maharashtrian Batatachi Bhaaji
Spicy Stir-Fried Garlic Potatoes
Maharashtrian Batatachi Bhaaji tastes hot, garlicky and tangy from lemon with a soft, chunky texture, while this dish tastes savoury, earthy and tangy from pomegranate with a crisp exterior.
  • Same: Maharashtrian Batatachi Bhaaji shares with this dish a dry potato cooking style and uses asafoetida, cumin seed, turmeric, green chilli and salt.
  • Different: Maharashtrian Batatachi Bhaaji uses boiled, lightly crushed floury potatoes with garlic, curry leaves, vegetable oil, sugar, lemon and coriander, while this dish uses new potatoes with ghee, ginger and ground dried pomegranate seed.