Absolutely Yum Dum Aloo

Yesterday, I was in the mood for some serious cooking. No, I am not even close to getting better - the cold refuses to leave me. The weather is not helping either.

Cooking makes me feel better always - I just need my quiet time in the kitchen fiddling around and no matter what, by the end of it, I am a happier person.

The project I embarked on yesterday took me quite some time. I felt like having stuffed chana daal parathas (split Bengal gram). As if that was not enough, I thought of dishing out dum aloo as well. To me, that's a perfect combination - I can't think of these parathas without a side of dum aloo.




Where on one hand, dum aloo was supposed to be an accompaniment, they turned out to be the star at the dinner ! Which means that where I was once going to dedicate this post to the parathas, the absolutely restaurant-ish dum aloo have stolen the show.

Will keep the post short and simple - had to literally drag myself out of the bed. I foresee FEVER in the near future - sob sob :(

Very Restaurant-ish Dum Aloo

8-10 medium sized potatoes (peeled and cut into halves or small ones which you can use whole)
2 tomatoes chopped
1/4 cup tomato puree
4 cloves of garlic 
4-5 tbs fresh coriander leaves chopped
1 inch piece of ginger chopped finely
1 green chilly de-seeded and chopped finely
2 bay leaves
2 cloves
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds (methi)
1 tsp cumin 
2 green cardamom
1/2 tsp fennel seeds (saunf)
1/2 cup yogurt
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tbs corainder powder
1/4 tsp chilli powder
A pinch garam masala powder
1 tbs cream
Ghee
Salt




To begin with, prick the potatoes with a fork and then pat dry them with a kitchen towel. 

Deep fry the potatoes in some oil/ghee. This is what is generally done- not what I do !  I just pan fry them on all sides in a good non-stick pan. It takes literally just a tea spoon of ghee (takes much longer though, but for the amount of oil I save myself from consuming, an extra ten minutes is no big deal). Keep the potatoes aside for now.

In a blender, make a paste of the tomatoes, tomato puree and garlic cloves - will need it later.

In a heavy bottom pan, dry roast the green cardamom, fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds and cloves. Coarsely pound them and keep aside.

In the same pan, heat a tablespoon of ghee/mustard oil/vegetable oil. Add in the bay leaves and cumin. When they begin to crackle, add the ginger and pounded spice mix and roast for a while, till the colour changes.

Next add the tomato paste into the spices. Cook for some time till the tomatoes begin to release the oil. Next add the yogurt - whipped well.

Continue to stir for some time and add in the salt, turmeric, coriander and red chilly powder. It needs to be cooked till the oil separates. Since there is not much oil we have added to begin with - so probably a better idea to taste the masala to check if it is cooked perfectly.

Mix well and add the fried potatoes and green chillies. Stir till the potatoes are coated well with the masala. Add about 1/2 cup of water and cover and cook till it comes to a boil.

Just before serving, mix in the coriander leaves, cream and sprinkling of garam masala. 

I served them with chana daal stuffed parathas, will share the recipe soon. 

By the way they are finger licking good  - and I am not exaggerating! Try them some time.

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