Dishoom's Gunpowder Seasoned Roast Potatoes

Recipe: Gunpowder Seasoned Roast Potatoes Recipe »

These "gunpowder" seasoned roast potatoes by Dishoom are crispy, buttery and packed with Indian spices. Made with baby potatoes, cumin, fennel, chilli and kebab masala, they are an easy, budget-friendly side that pairs perfectly with curries or roast meats.

About These Gunpowder Seasoned Roast Potatoes

These gunpowder seasoned roast potatoes are a delicious recipe from Dishoom, the popular Indian restaurant in the UK that serves up Bombay style food. There's no actual gunpowder, the word gunpowder prefers to the delicious spice mix that these roast potatoes are tossed in.

Why you'll love these Gunpowder roast potatoes:

If you love roast potatoes and curries then you'll adore these seasoned roast potatoes which is a combination of both dishes in one!

These are easy to make, budget friendly and can be made ahead of time and reheated when ready to serve.

These go well with curries or roast meats. They're incredibly versatile! Try these with Chicken Hariyali, Butter Chicken or Beef Vindaloo.

Video How To Make Gunpowder Seasoned Roast Potatoes

Video: How to Make Gunpowder Seasoned Roast Potatoes

Ingredients For Gunpowder Seasoned Roast Potatoes

Potatoes - This works great with baby potatoes as you just need to cut them in half.

Oil - Use olive oil or ghee.

Cumin seeds - You can also use ground cumin instead of seeds.

Coriander - I prefer using ground coriander as the seeds can be a bit large and I don't like the texture of them whole.

Fennel seeds - Look for whole fennel seeds in your spice aisle.

Butter - Y'all know I'm going to say salted butter right? But potatoes absolutely need salt.

Spring onions - Green spring onion or long shallots.

Coriander leaves - Optional, but some people can't stand coriander. I've tried it with and without and it is still delicious without.

Green chillies - The size of chilli depends on how hot you like it. Larger chillies are milder than smaller chillies.

Kebab masala mix - It's off to the Indian grocery store for this. It's found in the pre-made seasoning aisle. It's actually designed to season meat patties and contains red chilli, cumin, tomato, black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, ginger, garlic, star anise, paprika, onion, coriander, citric acid and sugar.

Lime juice - A nice way to brighten these potatoes. Use fresh or bottled lime juice.

Tips For Making Gunpowder Seasoned Roast Potatoes

1 -All of the ingredients for this recipe are found at an Indian grocery store. The spices will be better priced and in larger quantities too.

2 - Dishoom actually recommends grilling the parboiled potatoes but I never found that this worked with my oven grill (restaurant grills tend to be more powerful than home ones). So I adapted the recipe for roast potatoes which are easy and more hands off so good if you're making multiple dishes at once.

3 - Make sure to test the potatoes for seasoning. Potatoes always need more salt than you might think.

4 - You can roast these potatoes ahead of time, heat them up and then roll them in the spice butter before serving. I've also just reheated the whole thing and it's also just fine!

5 - I also think that these Indian potatoes are even better a day or two after because the spices develop even further!

Gunpowder Seasoned Roast Potatoes Recipe

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Recipe Overview

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 35 minutes

Serves: 4-6 as a side

Ingredients Needed

• 1kg/2.2lbs baby potatoes
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2-3 tablespoons oil
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons fennel seeds
• 50g/1.7oz melted butter
• 6 spring onions, sliced (around 20g/1.4oz)
• 2-3 green chillies, sliced (or to taste)
• 2 teaspoons kebab masala mix
• 2 tablespoons coriander leaves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons lime juice

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1 COOK- Place a large pot of water onto boil. Add the 2 tablespoons of salt. Cut potatoes in half and par boil in the salted water for 15 minutes until a knife can slide into them easily and then drain well. Preheat oven to 200C/400F fan forced or 220C/440F convetional and line a tray with parchment. Coat potatoes in oil and then roast potatoes cut side down for 20-25 minutes or until fork tender.

Step 2 SEASONING - While potatoes are roasting, prep rest of ingredients. Dry fry the cumin seeds, coriander and fennel seeds on medium heat in a small frying pan until they start to pop. Add the butter and allow to melt. Coat the potatoes in this spiced butter mixture and then toss with spring onions, chilli and kebab masala. Add coriander leaves, salt and lime juice to taste.

Personal Note

I actually got the idea to try these from a former friend. She and I had a friendship ending argument around the time that my father passed away recently. Most of my friends were super supportive during this time but she was not.

At normal times I could cope with her constant need to devil's advocate situations but during this time, it was exhausting and I asked her to please stop. All I got was a defensive non-apology and when I pointed this out she didn't respond and that was a 10 year friendship down the drain. I guess her need to defend her opinion proved too strong.

The one thing I am grateful for however is being introduced to these potatoes. They are absolutely delicious!

So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever tried these potatoes? Are you good at handling devil's advocates or do you find them exhausting?