Indian-ish Baked Potatoes

Recipe from Priya Krishna and Ritu Krishna

Adapted by Priya Krishna

Indian-ish Baked Potatoes — Romulo Yanes for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Vivian Lui.

Total Time: 1 hour
Rating: 4(1,350)
Notes: Read community notes

Of all the places my mom, who lives in Dallas, has traveled for work, her favorite will always be London — the cobblestone streets, the limitless sights, the walkability and, most important, the pubs. She spent a lot of time in pubs on early '90s London business trips, and the only vegetarian dish was very often a baked potato. This is where she discovered the ingenuity of filling a soft, steamy potato with all kinds of tasty toppings that absorb nicely into the starchy flesh. In this recipe, she subs out the big potato for smaller, thin-skinned ones (for a prettier presentation), and the bacon bits, chives and packaged cheese for spicier, brighter toppings: chiles, chaat masala, onions and ginger. This dish takes almost no time to put together once the potatoes are baked, but looks very impressive as an appetizer or a small side. Tip: Cut the ginger, onion and chiles while the potatoes bake, so everything is ready for assembly. —Priya Krishna

Featured in: The 12 Best Cookbooks of Spring 2019

Learn: How to Cook Potatoes

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

1pound small new potatoes or baby red potatoes
Kosher salt
¾cup sour cream
4teaspoons minced fresh ginger
½small red onion, finely diced
2small Indian green chiles or Serrano chiles, finely chopped
2teaspoons chaat masala
2tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro stems and leaves, for garnish

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Make the recipe with us

Step 1
Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the potatoes on a baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes, or until they are easily pierced with a fork. Let the potatoes cool until they can be handled.
Step 2
Without cutting all the way through to the bottom, slice each potato lengthwise and crosswise into four sections. Use your hands to push down and pull apart the four sections like a blooming flower. Sprinkle a pinch of salt on top of each potato, followed by a dollop of sour cream.
Step 3
Evenly divide the ginger, onion, green chiles, and chaat masala among the potatoes. Make it rain with chopped cilantro and serve.

Ratings

4 out of 5

1,350 user ratings

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Cooking Notes

Juliet Jones5 years ago

What is chaat masala, and do we buy it or make it?

Candace5 years ago

Chaat masala is an Indian spice which is a combination of a number of things you probably don't have, including asafoetida. You need to buy it. If you don't have and Indian grocer nearby, you can usually find it in coops and and probably Whole Foods type places.

Rajiv Desai5 years ago

I just made this with sweet potatoes and was yum. The sweetness of the potatoes offset with the spices. I made a yoghurt sauce with roasted cumin powder, fennel powder and ginger. Drizzled that over the baked sweet potato with Serrano peppers, cilantro and onions that had been soaking in lemon juice and chaat masala.

LOL5 years ago

Make it rain with chopped cilantro!

mdolan5 years ago

These potatoes were the bomb! Live in a small mountain town in Colorado, so Chaat Masala wasn’t available. I looked on Wikipedia, as another reviewer suggested, and cobbled my own version together. Don’t let not having all the perfect ingredients stop you, life is too short!

Munira Budhdeo4 years ago

Chaat Masala Recipe: 1 Cup coriander seeds 1 1/4 cups cumin seeds 1/2 cup thymol seeds / ajwain 1/2 cup mango powder 2 1/2 tsp garam masala 1 1/4 cups black rock salt, powdered 4 tsp black pepper, powdered 2 tsp citric acid 1/2 cup dried mint leaves, powdered How to Make Chaat Masala Roast the coriander, cumin and ajwain in a heavy-based pan till dark brown. Remove from pan and cool. Put all the ingredients in an airtight container. Use as needed.

Amelia5 years ago

My friends went crazy for these potatoes! I grated the ginger into the same bowl as the chopped serrano chile and let them marinate while the potatoes cooked, I found the spice perfectly balanced when I added the cool sour cream. If anyone reading this is in Atlanta- Dekalb Farmer's Market carries chaat masala, I got a whole tub of it for $1.50!!

thehaunz5 years ago

I ended up boiling the potatoes for 15-20 minutes first, then smashing them to bake or 30 minutes at 450. I also added the ginger to Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. Did a quick pickle on the red onion and pepper with sugar and lemon juice. Superb recipe. Definitely on rotation.

MM5 years ago

I did not have chaat masala and wanted protein for vegetarians. So I combined equal parts coriander, cumin, black pepper, twice as much chili powder, half as much ginger powder. Sautéed the peppers and ginger in olive oil, added the spices, then chickpeas. So the three toppings for the potatoes were: sour cream, fresh minced red onion, and the chickpea mixture.

Stephanie5 years ago

What is chaat masala?

James Ruger5 years ago

For a really healthy alternative I substituted Fat Free Plain Greek Yogurt, for the Sour Cream!

rachel4 years ago

Made these for a group of people, and it did not go down well. If I would make adjustments next time- use smaller potatoes, pickle the onion, add some indian chutney, and less red onion. I would also take out the white part and mash it with butter, onion, cilantro, and spices first.

Deborah Dean5 years ago

So cute!

Lorilee2 years ago

Burlap and Barrel for chaat masala.

mpescatarian4 years ago

I bought powdered chaat masala on Amazon. It was very inexpensive. The brand I purchased is quite salty so I use it in very small quantities. For those of us in small towns, on-line purchasing can be the only way to find exotic ingredients.

Babyfork1 month ago

I ordered chaat masala from Spicewalla. They also carry a variety of chef-created blends that I enjoy.

ngibson2 months ago

I make these all the time, exactly as the recipe says and everyone loves them. You can order Chat Masala on Amazon-it’s not pricey. This is a very easy recipe.

spaghettybaby3 months ago

Made a full meal of Priya recipes and did not sub out any ingredients. Genuinely shocked by how mediocre this potato recipe was. Looks gorgeous but tastes…bad. Raw ginger did not go well on these; the fluffiness of a potato NEEDED something saucy. So dry and…bad. I am so so sorry but don’t make these. I tried but my dinner guests ate them as politely as they could.

Clayton Owen6 months ago

this was an excellent side dish. very easy to prepare. One note: gently cut a cross in the potatoes before cooking. it makes pushing the potatoes up/out later.

Lisa7 months ago

I liked how these were made, but to go with my main dish better, I mixed some chives in with the sour cream, and then sprinkled some more on top, along with lemon zest.

mohini10 months ago

This was okay but missing something flavor wise. We paired this dish with the Indian-ish Nachos which was simply incredible

liz10 months ago

Superb, delicious and fun. We made these exactly as the recipe / video described. For crunch - sprinkle the brand Indian Life savory Dal Mix on top of each potato after the other toppings. You can order it on Amazon just like the chaat masala.

Katerina11 months ago

Worked very well with cottage cheese too for low fat version.

taoschris1 year ago

Couldn’t find Chaat masala around here and had to order it. Once it arrived made the recipe as written using a Serrano chile and Vadalia onion. Spicy but wonderful. Think I might cook up a big ole russet potato and dump the Indian-ish topping on it. Made these for guests and they liked it too although the Serrano was a bit much for one. Give it a go!

sarah o1 year ago

Oh man this is delicious! I ordered the chaat masala on Amazon and used jalapeños because that’s what they had at the store. I love them so much and can’t wait to make them for friends!

DrT1 year ago

Made these, just for me, tonight. However, I didn't have red onions (used regular) didn't have chaat masala (used garam masala) didn't have tiny potatoes (used the smallest yellow potatoes I had) and it still had me dancing in the rain. So delicious!

Lauren1 year ago

Not spicy enough and not enough toppings. I would double the topping for the same amount of potatoes. Also I sautéed the red onion and Serrano peppers and ginger. Definitely want to try this again —- lots of potential!

KatieM1 year ago

Yum! Make these with blue potatoes!! They're smaller, tasty, cook faster, and they're so gorgeous with the toppings! I experimented with the way the toppings were layered, but I think the recipe has it right. I soaked my onions in cold water to take away the strong bite. I ended up using a ton of onion to get enough flavor, so maybe I didn't need to soak them.

Regina1 year ago

Made these for a pot luck sunset happy hour. People raved about them. Truth be told, I couldn’t find chaat masala. So I subbed 1/2 garam masala and 1/2 madras curry. I liked the bright color of the madras curry. I also pickled the red onion with lemon juice and salt. Followed recipe other than that. Will make this again hopefully this time with chaat masala. I think this recipe has a strong foundation and can be modified according to what u have available. It is beautiful on the plate as well!

nm2 years ago

Friends, maRsala and masala are not the same thing 😬

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