This smashed baby potato chaat is quick and easy to make. Flavored with Idli Podi – a South Indian spiced lentil powder and served with a cooling side dip, this recipe is perfect as a side or an appetizer.
A Versatile Condiment
What is gunpowder or Idli Podi (South Indian lentil spiced powder)?
Whereas gunpowder sounds like an alarming ingredient in any form of cuisine, in reality it’s a wholly harmless and absolutely delicious condiment. Gunpowder or Idli podi is a healthy, flavorful south Indian condiment made with lentils and spices, typically eaten with a savory steam rice cake known as Idli. It is a common breakfast item in South India and the love for this chutney powder runs deep. So much so that it has many different variations across different regions in South India.
It is also usually referred by other names like Milagu Podi, Chutney podi or Dosa podi.
My daughter refers to the chutney powder as gunpowder, thanks to her father who loves to use that name. One day she ended up telling her (American) friends that she has gunpowder for breakfast! Imagine their shock at hearing this! Not to mention mine at having everyone imagine that I was feeding my daughter with literally explosive food! Lol
Is this spiced lentil powder healthy?
This is one of the healthiest condiments that you can have, there is no sugar involved in any form. It is a spiced powder which is made of Chana dal (split chickpea lentils), Urad dal (whole skinless black lentils) and seeds like coriander and mustard seeds.
You can see a batch of this chutney powder made and stored away in South Indian households. In a time crunch, this powder mixed with a generous amount of sesame oil or coconut oil always comes to the rescue.
Finding the Ingredients for Spicy, Smashed Potato Chaat
The ingredients used in this recipe including condiments like spiced lentil powder (Idli podi) and tamarind dates chutney can be found at a Indian store. For this gunpowder potato chaat recipe, I have used the MTR brand of chutney powder, shown below.
In addition to chutney powder, some of the other typical south Indian flavor enhancers are curry leaves and roasted peanuts.
You can get fresh curry leaves at the Indian store. That said, I have sometimes gotten lucky at Whole Foods too!
Curry leaf extract has been shown to provide potent antioxidant effects in several studies. These potent antioxidants may protect your body by reducing oxidative stress and scavenging free radicals. Read more about the benefits of this herb powerhouse here. It is difficult to separate this herb from a South Indian.
The Recipe
Step by Step instructions on how to make smashed potato chaat with South Indian lentil spiced powder.
- Wash and pat dry the baby potatoes. The skin will also be used, so wash them thoroughly. I used these colorful baby potatoes.
- Throw in all the potatoes into an Instant Pot. Fill the pot with salted water to a level just above the potatoes and pressure cook on high for 5 minutes. Do a natural release. If you don’t have an instant pot, you can also boil them on the stovetop in salted water until tender, although Instant Pot might make things a bit faster.
- Drain water from the potatoes using a colander.
- Drizzle the gunpowder mixed with olive oil generously over the potatoes.
- Mix well and spread the potatoes on a foil liked baking tray. Make sure your scrape the leftover gunpowder mixed with olive oil and pour it entirely over potatoes.
- Using the back of a fork, gently smash the potatoes to a thickness of about 1/2 inch.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
- Bake uncovered for about 18 minutes.
- Take out from the oven and transfer the potatoes to a serving plate.
- Garnish the potatoes with crispy fried curry leaves, fried crushed peanuts, chopped onions, chopped tomatoes and a drizzle of tamarind date chutney.
- Mix sour cream( Vegan sour cream for vegans), coarse pepper, sea salt and spiced chutney powder to make a creamy dipping sauce to accompany the smashed, spiced potatoes.
The spiced chutney that sticks to the bottom of the baked dish can be scrubbed and drizzled over the potatoes to complete the spicy, smashed potato chaat.
ENJOY!
Smashed Potato Chaat with a dash of Spiced Lentil Powder
This smashed baby potato chaat is quick and easy to make. Flavored with Idli Podi - a South Indian spiced lentil powder and served with a cooling side dip, this recipe is perfect as a side or an appetizer.
Ingredients
- 16 oz baby potatoes
- 3 tbsp. of gun powder (for the potatoes)
- 2 tbsp. of olive oil (for the potatoes)
- 1 teaspoon of roasted crushed cumin seeds (for dressing)
- Salt to taste (for dressing)
- Dash of crushed pepper (for dressing)
- 2 tsp. gunpowder (for dressing)
- 1 tbsp. sour cream or vegan sour cream (for dressing)
- 3 tbsp. of crushed fried peanuts (for garnishing)
- 7-8 curry leaves fried (for garnishing)
- 3 tbsp. of chopped onion(for garnishing)
- 2 tbsp. of tamarind date chutney(for garnishing)
- 2 tbsp. of chopped tomatoes(for garnishing)
- 1 tsp. coconut oil (for garnishing)
Instructions
Wash and pat dry the baby potatoes. The skin will also be used, so wash them thoroughly.
Throw in all the potatoes into an Instant Pot. Fill the pot with salted water to a level just above the potatoes and pressure cook on high for 5 minutes. Do a natural release.
Drain water from the potatoes using a colander.
Make of mixture of the gun powder and olive oil.
Drizzle the mixture generously over the potatoes.
Mix well and spread the potatoes on a foil liked baking tray. Make sure your scrape the leftover gunpowder mixed with olive oil and pour it entirely over potatoes.
Using the back of a fork, gently smash the potatoes to a thickness of about 1/2 inch.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Bake the potatoes uncovered for about 18 minutes.
Take out from the oven and transfer the potatoes to a serving plate.
Mix sour cream, coarse pepper, sea salt and spiced chutney powder to make a creamy dipping sauce to accompany the smashed, spiced potatoes.
Fry the curry leaves and peanuts in 1 tsp of coconut oil for garnishing. The curry leaves must turn crispy.
Crush the peanuts and make small pieces of the curry leaves.
Garnish the potatoes with tamarind date chutney, chopped tomatoes and onions, peanuts and curry leaves.
Enjoy!
Notes
If you don't have an instant pot, you can boil the potatoes in salted water on a stovetop. Instant pot just speeds everything up.
If you’re a fellow fan of potatoes, I am sure that you’ll love my recipes for sweet potato toast and sweet potato vermicelli. Do check them out.
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