Kashmiri Dum Aloo

[karadekoolaid]

I picked this recipe up from an Indian website, made a few modifications, and ate it for dinner on Saturday night.
"Dum Aloo " ( Aloo is potato and "dum" is originally a technique where the food is sealed inside a pot with a strip of pastry.Hot coals are placed on top , and the pot is placed on an open fire to cook from above and below!)

This is what I did: (my comments in red)

Kashmiri Dum Aloo

Ingredients
18-20 small-sized potatoes
Oil to deep fry
5-6 dried Kashmiri chillies (Completely forgot to add chili powder. Got to bed at 3.30 am after/during Son's 23rd Birthday party..)
2 cups of yogurt
½ tspn of cardamom powder
1 tspn of dry ginger powder (Not available.Substituted fresh ginger)
2 tblspns of fennel powder
¼ cup of mustard oil
A generous pinch of clove powder
A pinch of asafoetida
Salt to taste
½ tspn of roasted cumin powder
½ tspn of garam masala powder

Recipe
Peel and prick the potatoes all over with the help of a fork. Keep in salted water for fifteen minutes. Heat oil in a (deep fryer)and fry the potatoes on medium flame till (barely) brown.

Whisk the yogurt with cardamom powder, dry ginger powder and fennel powder.

Heat mustard oil (I used ghee, not mustard oil) in a pan. Add clove powder and asafoetida. Add half a cup of water and salt and bring to a boil. (sounds strange, but yes - do it. I heated the ghee gently, by the way).
Stir in the yogurt mixture and bring it to a boil. Add fried potatoes and cook till the potatoes absorb the gravy and oil floats on top. (This will take 15 - 20 minutes. At first the yoghurt will separate and a thin sheen of liquid/fat will appear on top. Keep cooking until the sauce is very thick. It will not be a smooth sauce; rather, little white flecks of yoghurt sticking to the potatoes.)
Serve hot, garnished with freshly roasted cumin powder and garam masala powder.

It is truly a delicious dish! The potatoes are creamy, soft, with just a touch of acidity from the yoghurt. THen you get a hit from the spice mixture. I'm sure the chili pepper would add another dimension!

I had mine with a bread & butter, but you'd do far better with an Indian paratha or chapati.

 

[urmaniac13]

My mouth waters just looking at the recipe... we have been doing a wee too much frying since we bought a proper fryer a few months ago, now I guess it needs to get busy yet again!!

Is there any particular reason for using small whole potatoes? Would cutting regular sized potatoes in big chunks work as well?

 

[karadekoolaid]

My mouth waters just looking at the recipe... we have been doing a wee too much frying since we bought a proper fryer a few months ago, now I guess it needs to get busy yet again!!

Is there any particular reason for using small whole potatoes? Would cutting regular sized potatoes in big chunks work as well?

I think it might just be aesthetics - the final dish looks more palateable with lots of regular-shaped little spuds on the plate. No reason why you couldn't use potato pieces, though - it should work the same.

 

[Loprraine]

Wow! I need to go shopping for spices!!

 

[Romany123]

Love the sound of that Clive.
It is on my list of recipe's to try. Over the years you have converted me more and more to Indian dishes. Keep up the good work mate.

 

[karadekoolaid]

This one's a winner, Dave. It's going into my book of "Recipes-to-cook-every-day-for-a-month"!

 

[Romany123]

I must get around to it soon Clive.
Things at work are begining to slacken up, so I should have more time to cook.........lol

 

[Gretchen]

Sounds really delicious, particularly with my new found appreciation for Indian cooking.
When you say "freshly roasted cumin powder", are you roasting the powder or the seed and then grinding?
I won't deep fry the potatoes. Any further comment on that step? I might parboil them and then brown them in oil/ghee.

 

[Jikoni]

Wow Cliveb this is certainly something I will try.