Pudina Jeera Aloo sounds like a sabji. Although this may be true, I don’t consider it likewise. It’s a dry potato sabji you can eat without chapati.
Green chutney or tomato sauce can help you quickly chew these potato chips. I don’t mind if anyone wants to eat it with paratha or roti. It’s their choice.
One more thing comes to my mind. This dry sabji can become a part of the morning breakfast too. A step further, these masala potato chips can also be a tea-time snack.
My point here is – it is not necessary to serve this dish as a main course item every time. It can also be a kid’s lunch box item. In short, we have plenty of ways to serve this dish. Now that we know, why not begin making it in the first place? Shall we?
The recipe name suggests there are two more items apart from potatoes – pudina and jeera. Those names are in the native language referred to as mint & cumin, respectively.
Despite these two items, we have other spices which make this sabji smackable. Let’s discuss what they are. Before we begin, let me tell you that I have divided the ingredient list into two. Refer below.
We will begin with shallow frying potatoes. For this, we need cooking oil, peeled potatoes & salt. You won’t believe but shallow fried potatoes with a pinch of salt taste like desi french fries.
However, french fries are deep-fried. Although this may be true, still these salty potatoes are mouthwatering.
Okay, now you don’t do that. We are making pudina jeera aloo, not french fries.🤣🤣🤣 Okay, back to the recipe. All in all, you need just three items for the first step. Cook till potatoes are soft. Keep aside once it is done.
Remember, you need to shallow fry, not deep fry. Hence, keep the oil quantity in check.
In our pudina jeera aloo, mint is in paste form. For this reason, we need fresh mint leaves, lemon juice, ginger & green chillies and grind all of them to a thick paste. Please do not add water because we need the mint paste thicker, not watery.
The combination of sour & spicy flavours is what makes this dish finger-licking. Therefore, grind nicely & keep the paste aside to use later.
To prepare the masala, we will add spice & powders in batches. Temper cumin seeds, Kasuri methi & curry, and leaves in hot oil. Temper them till cumin seeds start popping out. In the meantime, gather the green masala—the green chilli paste & mint paste. Add them & saute them too.
Finally, add all dry masala powder. For that, we need coriander-cumin, turmeric & black pepper powder with salt & chaat masala. Keep the flame low. High flame tends to burn the ingredients quickly. Moreover, stir continuously.
Finally, add potatoes & fold them gently into the masala. Bingo! Your pudina jeera aloo is ready.
So, that was it with the mint-flavoured potato recipe today.