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Alu Tamatarwale

A spiced potato and tomato sauce cooked with mustard seeds, cumin, ginger, green chillies, and tomato paste.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Cumin and turmeric match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,698 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Alu Tamatarwale

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Heat oil in a non-stick pan and add asafoetida powder, cumin seeds and mustard seeds. Once they begin to sizzle, add in chopped ginger and green chillies.

  2. Add chili powder, turmeric powder and tomato paste, and cook for a few minutes till the paste softens and oil starts to form on top.

  3. Throw in the potatoes and sprinkle salt, and mix thoroughly to evenly coat the potatoes with the sauce.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

332Calories
7 gProtein
15 gFat
46 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 11 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Turmeric1 tsp ground (3g)9
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Seednot in our table0
Asafoetidanot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cumin + turmerictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,698 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Ginger + turmerictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Cumin + tomatotop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,272 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Cumin + gingertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,733 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Mustard + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,279 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Form the bulk of the dish and absorb the spiced tomato sauce.
Tomato paste
Provides concentrated tomato flavour, colour and body to the sauce as it cooks down with oil.
Mustard seeds
Release a nutty, pungent aroma when fried in hot oil at the start.
Cumin seeds
Bloom in hot oil to release a warm, earthy aroma that flavours the base.
Ginger
Adds a pungent, fresh aroma to the spiced oil base.

The step that matters

Cooking the tomato paste in oil. Cooking the paste for a few minutes until oil separates lets its raw, sharp taste mellow and deepen. Stopping early leaves the sauce tasting raw and acidic.

Swap the asafoetida

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, mustard, cumin, ginger, tomato, turmeric):

  1. Corianderfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Oreganofits better
  4. Asafoetidathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, mustard, cumin, ginger, tomato, turmeric. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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