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Gunpowder Potatoes Recipe
Baby potatoes are boiled, then grilled until blistered, cracked open and tossed in spiced butter, chilli and lime for a punchy Dishoom-style side.
Prep
Cook
Serve
Kcal
- 500g baby new potatoes
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil, for brushing
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
- 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
- 25g butter, melted
- 6 spring onions, finely chopped
- 5g fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped (a small handful)
- 3 green chillies, finely chopped (deseed for less heat)
- 1/2 tsp sea salt flakes
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tsp kabab masala (Indian kebab spice mix, or substitute 1 tsp chaat masala with a small pinch each of garam masala and dried fenugreek leaves)
Step 1
Bring a large pan of well-salted water to the boil, add the baby new potatoes and cook for 12-15 minutes until a knife tip slides in with no resistance. Don't skip the salt in the water, it's your only chance to season the potatoes right through.Step 2
While the potatoes boil, tip the cumin seeds, coriander seeds and fennel seeds into a hot, dry frying pan and toast for about 2 minutes, shaking often, until they smell nutty and fragrant. Crush them in a pestle and mortar to a coarse rubble, not a fine powder, then set aside. Watch closely as they can catch and turn bitter within seconds of smelling ready.Step 3
Drain the potatoes into a colander and leave them to steam-dry for 1 minute. This dries the skins so they blister and crisp under the grill rather than steam limply.Step 4
Heat your grill to its highest setting and spread the potatoes on a baking tray in a single layer, giving them space so they crisp rather than steam. Brush all over with the vegetable oil and grill for 5-7 minutes until the tops are deeply browned and blistered, then turn each potato and grill the other side for a further 5-7 minutes until browned all over.Step 5
While the potatoes are under the grill, put the crushed toasted spices into a large bowl with the melted butter, spring onions, coriander leaves and green chillies, and stir together into a fragrant, flecked mixture.Step 6
As soon as the potatoes come off the grill deeply browned and crisped, use the back of a metal spoon to split each one roughly in half, creating craggy torn edges, then drop them straight into the bowl of spiced butter while they're still piping hot.Step 7
Toss everything together in the bowl until every rough, torn edge is glossy and coated in the melted spiced butter and green flecks of chilli and coriander cling to the surface.Step 8
Add the sea salt flakes, lime juice and kabab masala, then toss again. Taste a potato and add a little more kabab masala or salt if it needs more punch, then serve straightaway while they're still hot and the edges are crisp.
Can I make gunpowder potatoes ahead of time?
They're best fresh and hot, as the crisp edges soften on standing. You can boil and toast the spices a few hours ahead, then grill and toss just before serving.
What can I use instead of kabab masala?
Mix a little chaat masala with a small pinch each of garam masala and dried fenugreek leaves for a close substitute if you can't find a shop-bought kabab masala blend.
My potatoes went soft instead of crispy, what went wrong?
This usually means they weren't steam-dried properly before grilling, or the tray was too crowded so the potatoes steamed instead of blistering. Give them space and dry them well first.
Can I cook these in an air fryer instead of under the grill?
Yes, an air fryer at a high setting will crisp the boiled potatoes well, though timings will vary by machine, so check them from around 10 minutes and adjust.
Are gunpowder potatoes suitable for a dairy-free diet?
Swap the butter for a dairy-free block or a neutral oil and the dish still works well, though you'll lose a little of the rich, glossy coating.
What it actually is
Gunpowder potatoes take their name from the coarse, dark rubble of toasted cumin, coriander and fennel that gets crushed and stirred through them, not from any fierce chilli heat. The potatoes are boiled until just tender, then blasted under a hot grill until the skins blister and char, and finally cracked open with a spoon so every rough edge can soak up the buttery spice mixture. The result is a side dish that's crisp, savoury and fragrant rather than simply hot.
The dressing
There's no liquid dressing here, instead the potatoes are tossed through melted butter loaded with the toasted spice rubble, finely chopped spring onions, coriander leaves and green chillies. Lime juice is added right at the end, after the butter has had a chance to coat everything, so its acidity stays bright rather than cooking into the mixture. Kabab masala goes in last as a final savoury, slightly smoky top note that ties the whole dish together.
What most versions get wrong
The most common mistake is grinding the toasted spices to a fine powder instead of a coarse rubble, which loses the little bursts of texture that make this dish distinctive. The second is skipping the steam-drying step, so the potatoes go into the grill damp and end up steamed rather than blistered. Overcrowding the tray causes the same problem, trapping moisture instead of letting a proper char develop on the skins.
Substitutions
Kabab masala can be tricky to track down outside an Indian grocer, so a pinch of chaat masala with a little garam masala and dried fenugreek leaves gets you close enough for this dish. Green chillies can be swapped for red for a milder, fruitier heat, and if baby new potatoes aren't available, halved or quartered regular waxy potatoes work fine as long as the pieces are a similar size so they cook evenly.