crispy roast potatoes with toasted cumin and coriander butter

inspired by the flavors of cumin lamb

cumin lamb is a dish-slash-flavor-combination from xinjiang, an autonomous region in northwestern china. it’s one of my favorite flavor combos and for those who’ve never tasted it, it’s not quite as simple to describe as just cumin plus lamb. it’s rather a balanced mixture of spices and aromatics that create a distinct, overwhelmingly earthy, equal parts spicy and fresh, undeniably bold flavor profile. over the years i’ve eaten and loved it many forms: as a stir-fry, skewered and grilled, stuffed into dumplings and focaccia sandwiches (iykyk), and, last but not least, stirred into bowls of hand pulled noodles.

i’m not sure exactly where the idea came from to merge the flavors of cumin lamb with crispy potatoes—maybe this recipe…? in the end it doesn’t really matter because i ended up here, with a recipe that may not be seasonally appropriate (it requires a long, hot roast in the oven) but definitely is incredibly delicious (you’ll scarf them down in your sweaty apartment and love it).

through the development process, i did end up taking some liberties with the flavors, so it you’re looking for a one-to-one cumin lamb to cumin potatoes match, you won’t find it here. i added in some culinarily adjacent spices (and butter!) that are not typical to cumin lamb but, in my personal opinion, help to fill in the gaps that a lamb-less version would inevitably leave. if you want to strip it back and keep it more along the lines of the original, leave out the fennel and coriander seeds and omit the butter.

left is the first test, right is the final version

one of the most common questions i’ve gotten about my most popular recipe here on substack (off which the crispy potato half of this recipe is based) is: what would you serve it with? so here are some ideas: spoon over full-fat yogurt or labne and serve with steamed rice, use as a side with a simple grilled protein (lamb or beef would be especially recommended), serve with a smattering of other vegetable sides to make a meal, eat alongside a simple soup or salad or sandwich, toss through gently buttered rice for a pilaf-y effect, enjoy with a roast chicken, stuff (as leftovers or straight out of the oven) into an omelette or a breakfast burrito—the list could go on but i think you get the idea. now go forth and enjoy, however you see fit.

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serves 4

for the potatoes

1 kilogram potatoes (i prefer to use vorwiegend festkochend potatoes or an all-purpose potato like yukon gold, but honestly i’ve done this method with all kinds of potatoes and it works, so don’t go out of your way for these specific kinds)

6 cloves garlic

2 teaspoons salt

3 teaspoons baking soda

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

for the cumin and coriander butter

2 teaspoons whole cumin seeds

1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds

1 teaspoon sichuan peppercorns

1/2 teaspoon chili flakes

1/2 teaspoon whole fennel seeds

3 tablespoons butter

15 grams cilantro

1 scallion

1. peel the potatoes, then halve (if you have some very large potatoes, quarter them so all the pieces are around the same size) and add to a pot with enough cold water to cover. peel garlic cloves and add to the pot with the salt and baking soda. cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. once the water is boiling, cook for about 8 minutes, just until barely fork tender. in the meantime, preheat the oven to 230°C/450°F.

2. drain the potatoes really well, then add back to the pot you boiled them in and let them steam out, uncovered, for about 5 minutes. after they’ve released most the steam, cover the pot and shake it around vigorously (and carefully, since it will still be hot) until you get a sort of thick paste around the potatoes. add to a baking sheet and drizzle with the oil then bake for about 50 minutes, flipping/tossing halfway through; if you notice any smaller pieces of potato or the garlic cloves are looking especially brown at this point, you can remove them so they don’t burn or you can make sure to push those pieces into the center of the pan to prevent them from getting too brown, too quick.

3. when the potatoes have about 10 minutes left to roast, add the cumin, coriander, sichuan peppercorns, chili flakes and fennel seeds to a small pan over medium heat. let toast until very fragrant, about 3 minutes. transfer to a spice grinder and pulse once or twice, just until the whole seeds are broken up but it’s not too fine or powdery; see my video for a visual. add back to the pan with the butter and set over low heat just until the butter is melted and well combined with the spices. remove from the heat and set aside. roughly chop the cilantro and slice the scallion.

4. once the potatoes are done roasting, they’ll be deeply browned and crisp on the outside. remove from the oven and toss with the spiced butter, scallion and most of the cilantro directly on the baking sheet until the potatoes are evenly coated; you can also transfer everything to a large bowl to combine, but why bother with more dishes? serve immediately with more cilantro scattered over the top.