Gunpowder Baby Potatoes

Baby potatoes go into the oven whole and come out with cracked, crispy skins and soft, fluffy centres. Then they get tossed in a dry spice blend I call gunpowder: roasted lentils, dried red chili, curry leaves, and a few other things ground together into a coarse powder that sticks to the hot potato skins and does not let go.

The gunpowder blend is the kind of thing you want to put on everything once you taste it. It is savoury, spicy, and has a nutty depth from the roasted lentils that makes the whole dish more interesting than roasted potatoes have any right to be.

Served with curry patta chutney that adds a fresh, herby contrast to the heat of the gunpowder. Every time I put this on a catering table, it is the first thing that disappears. Order two.