Aloo Methi is a classic North Indian vegetable side dish prepared with potatoes, methi leaves and spices.
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What is Aloo Methi?
Aloo methi is an Indian side dish made with potatoes and fenugreek leaves, cooked with a few basic spices. The dish hails comes from northern India, especially Punjab, where it’s a common home dish.
The potatoes are soft with the crispy outer texture, and the methi adds a slight bitter taste with a hint of spice. In India, it’s especially popular during the winter months when fresh methi leaves are at their peak, filling markets with their vibrant green bunches.
You can serve Aloo Methi with roti, rice, or curd rice for a full meal.
Ingredients for Aloo Methi
Methi leaves provide the main flavour to the dish, bringing in that all familiar bitter taste. You can use up to a bunch which is roughly 200 gms in weight.
Potatoes – I use 3-4 medium-large sized potatoes for my family of three.
Spices used – Since we will be using methi as the flavour bomb, we can use only mustard seeds and jeera seeds for the tempering/tadka.
I also like a bit of spice to come through – so I almost always use turmeric powder and a little of red chilli powder.
How to make a simple Aloo Methi sabzi?
The first step is to pluck the methi leaves. This activity takes the longest time. It is an activity I do when I have the TV on in the background; it almost takes the “bitterness” of the task away. Once you’ve got the leaves ready, rinse them thoroughly until the water runs clear. You don’t want any sandy residue on the leaves.
While you are plucking the leaves, you can wash and pressure cook the potatoes. For my family, I use 3-4 medium-large sized potatoes. Cut the potatoes into quarters and place it in the pressure cooker with 1/2 a cup water in it. Close the lid and allow 3 whistles out. You can then reduce the flame to low and allow the potatoes to cook for another five minutes. Turn off after 5 minutes.
Once the pressure in the cooker has released, remove the cooked potatoes and allow them to cool down. Peel the skin and dice them into smaller chunks.
Place a pan on a low-medium flame, add 2 tsp of cooking oil. I love to use gingelly oil for any potato dish but I suppose in the North of India, mustard oil or groundnut oil might be the traditional oil used. You can choose an oil that is familiar to your palette.
Once the oil is warm, add the mustard seeds and jeera. Let them sputter. You can then add the cooked and diced potatoes in the oil and saute for a minute.
Next, add the spice powders – turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt. Mix them all and let the potatoes roast for a minimum of 10 minutes.
While the potatoes are roasting, chop the methi leaves and keep them ready.
Add the chopped methi leaves to the potatoes and mix well. They will shrink right in front of your eyes, leaving you to wonder where all the leaves you have painstakingly plucked are. But that’s how greens work, you know that! Turn off the flame and adjust salt levels according to your taste.
Once the methi have wilted, the Aloo Methi sabzi is ready to be served!
Storage and Shelf Life
Aloo Methi is best eaten when hot along with hot rotis or curd rice, just how we like it in our house! It is best not to store it in the fridge as it might increase the bitterness in the methi, as per my experience.
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Recipe
Aloo Methi – Potatoes with fenugreek leaves
Ingredients
- 1 bunch Methi Leaves
- 3-4 large Potatoes
- 2 tsp Cooking oil
- ½ tsp Mustard seeds
- ½ tsp Jeera
- ½ tsp Turmeric Powder
- ½ tsp Red Chilli powder
- 1 tsp Salt
Instructions
- Pluck all the methi leaves and give it a wash. Rinse it 2-3 times until the water runs clear.
- Wash the potatoes and slice them into quarters. Place them in a small pressure cooker with 1/2 cup water at the bottom of the cooker. Close the lid and let 3 whistles out. Reduce the flame to low flame and let the potatoes cook for another 5 mins in the low flame. Turn off the flame and allow the pressure in the cooker to come down naturally.
- Once the potatoes are ready, take them out and peel the skin. They should fall off easily. Dice them into smaller pieces and keep aside.
- Place a kadai on medium flame and add 2 tsp of cooking oil. Once the oil is warm, add the mustard seeds and jeera. Let them sputter. Reduce the flame now.
- Add the diced and cooked potatoes and stir them in with the spices. Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt. Mix all the ingredients until the spices have coated well on to the potatoes.
- Keep the flame on low and allow the potatoes to crisp up. This process will take roughly ten minutes. The longer you allow it to roast, the crispier the potatoes will be.
- Meanwhile, chop the washed and partly dry methi leaves.
- Once you have the desired crispiness in the potatoes, add the methi leaves and give it a mix. You will notice that methi leaves will begin to cook immediately and shrink.
- Sprinkle a little salt and the methi leaves will cook faster. Once the leaves are wilter, you can turn off the flame.
- Aloo Methi is ready to be served as a side dish along with rasam rice, roti or curd rice.
