South Indian Spicy Potato Curry

Hot and Spicy Curried Potato or Aloo Fry curry cooked South Indian style! It's a delicious vegan side dish made with spices and crispy roast potatoes. A quick and easy meal for busy weeknights.

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine Indian, South Indian

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Servings people

Calories 114.06kcal

Author Priya Lakshminarayan

Equipment

Ingredients

6 potatoes
2 tablespoon oil
2 teaspoon mustard seeds
2 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 tablespoon urad dal
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
3 tablespoon sambhar powder
½ cup chopped cilantro

Instructions

The first step is to prep the potatoes. Now there are two ways you can do that.
You can parboil the potatoes, then peel and cut them into cubes, or first peel and cut them into cubes and then fry them without parboiling.
I have parboiled them in the microwave for this recipe. To parboil, add potatoes to a bowl along with water, salt and turmeric. Microwave on HIGH for 13-15 minutes. Drain, peel, and cut in cubes.
However, you can also parboil the potatoes in a pressure cooker, Instant pot, or stovetop.
Heat oil or ghee in a pan. Once it's hot, add the mustard seeds and let them crackle. After that, add the cumin seeds and urad dal. Fry till the dal turns light golden.
Then add half of the chopped cilantro, turmeric powder, and sambhar powder.
Fry for 30 seconds and then immediately add the potatoes along with salt. Fry it all together till the potatoes are done and coated with the masala.
It could take about 10 - 12 minutes on medium flame. Keep stirring at regular intervals to ensure even roasting.
Finally, garnish with the remaining chopped cilantro. You can also garnish with shredded coconut.
Keep stirring so the potatoes are evenly cooked. You can stick a fork in them, or try to split them with a spatula or spoon.
It could take about 10 - 12 minutes on medium flame. Keep stirring at regular intervals to ensure even roasting. You can stick a fork in them, or try to split them with a spatula or spoon to check if they are done.
Finally, garnish with the remaining chopped cilantro. You can also garnish with shredded coconut.

Notes

For more flavoring, you can add garlic powder, asafoetida, and curry leaves when frying the other ingredients.

You can also add garlic, onions, and tomatoes to this Aloo Fry. If you are vegan, then you can use vegan ghee to cook this curry.

Some like to add 1-2 tablespoons of chickpea flour/besan after adding the spice mix to help with the spices bind with the potatoes.

Normally this is a spicy crispy roast potatoes recipe, but you can tone down the spice levels if intolerant or making for children by adding less sambhar powder.

While this is a dry curry, you can make it gravy by adding water or vegetable stock. Then you easily mix it with rice and enjoy it without having to make sambhar, rasam, or dal.

Nutrition