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Instant Pot Jeera Aloo - Instant Pot Spicy Potatoes with Cumin Seeds

Jeera Aloo is very simple and easy to make. This recipe doesn't require a lot of effort or a lot of spices either. The potatoes need to be stir-fried in ghee or oil with a lot of cumin seeds. They are meant to be eaten with roti or naan (Indian flatbread).
In the traditional recipe potatoes are boiled first and then sautéed in oil or ghee with cumin seeds and basic spices. However, in the Instant Pot I have attempted to make it a one pot meal.
How do we make Jeera Aloo in the instant pot?
Easy peasy lemon squeezy. All you need are some baby potatoes nicely washed, peeled, and chopped into two halves. Then you sauté oil in the instant pot, add some cumin seeds, ginger garlic paste, ground coriander (I crushed coriander seeds) for the grainy texture, red chili powder (cayenne pepper), salt, asafoetida, lemon juice, and 1 serrano pepper. Sauté all the ingredients and pressure cook for 6 minutes! Done and done!
Potatoes: This recipe has been tried specifically on baby dutch yellow potatoes. If you use any other potatoes the taste may not be as required. You will have to add more salt and spices.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings: 2
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1.5 tbsp oil of choice or ghee (clarified butter)
  • 1.5 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
  • 1/4 tsp asafoetida (heeng)
  • 1 and 1/4 tsp whole coriander seeds (crushed into powder roughly is 1 and 3/4 tsp)
  • 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste (fresh or packaged)
  • 12 baby potatoes washed, peeled, and chopped into two halves (baby dutch yellow potatoes)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3/4 tsp red chili powder

     (cayenne pepper)
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1 serrano pepper slit lengthwise into two halves (green chili pepper)
  • 1/2 tsp ground turmeric

     (haldi)
  • 2 tbsp fresh cilantro finely chopped (for garnish) (dhainya ke patte)
  • 1/2 tbsp lemon juice (fresh or bottled)

Method
 

Prep
  1. Wash, peel, and chop the baby potatoes into 2 halves. 
  2. Crush the coriander seeds in a grinder or with a motor and pestle. If you don't have coriander seeds you can use ground coriander.
  3. Wash and finely chop the fresh cilantro leaves.
Cook
  1. Select sauté on the instant pot and adjust to normal.
  2. Add oil or ghee to the pot.
  3. When the oil or ghee is hot, add cumin seeds.
  4. When the cumin seeds splutter, add asafoetida, and crushed coriander seeds.
  5. Then add the ginger garlic paste.
  6. In about 30 seconds, add the potatoes, and stir. Let the potatoes sauté for 4 minutes until slightly cooked. Stir intermittently.
  7. Then add salt, red chili powder, water, serrano pepper, and turmeric. Stir well. Make sure nothing is stuck to the bottom of the pot and scrape the bottom of the pot well.
  8. Press cancel. 
  9. Secure the lid on the pot and close the pressure-release valve.
  10. Select manual and cook at high pressure for 6 minutes.
  11. When cooking is complete, use quick pressure release.
  12. Open the lid. To remove the extra water, select sauté and let the extra water evaporate for a few minutes. Do not stir hard or the potatoes will break. 
  13. Add lemon juice, mix gently, and garnish with cilantro.
  14. Transfer gently in a serving bowl immediately.
Serve
  1. Serve with naans (Indian flatbread), rotis, or parathas.

Notes

  • This recipe has been tried on a 6-quart instant pot. The proportions may vary depending on the size of the instant pot you choose to use.
  • Ground cayenne pepper and red chili powder can be used interchangeably as both of them make the dish spicy. So if you don’t have red chili powder you can use cayenne pepper instead.