Indian Kashmiri Dum Aloo, a mild spiced whole potatoes (aloo) curry cooked lite spices, and healthy yogurt and tomato base.
This will be the best tasting, authentic and tender whole potato curry you will ever enjoy! With this post, I'm unfolding few of my favorite hacks to make tender and delicious dum aloo curry, every time!
Oh, and it is not as spicy as it looks. This curry has lite Indian spices, cooling yogurt base, and gorgeous lush red (deceiving) color from tomatoes. In my family, this potato curry is delicious dinner of choice any season of the year.
I often hesitate from cooking whole potatoes for any Indian recipe which is why there is not many potato, I mean Indian potato recipes on blog. Why so?
Well, two reasons:
1. I don't want to painstakingly work on making whole potato tender when I can cut'em and reduce cooking time.
2. Also, I don't like whole potatoes recipes which leave potatoes flavorless in the middle. You know!? that dead potato center that has no flavor?! It is not for me.
And dum potatoes(aloo) are traditionally made whole. One trick is to buy small baby which will cook quickly but even those can still lack flavor in center. What good a recipe, if main component of recipe, aloo is not cooked properly?!
Here is what I do to make sure aloo in thisDum Aloo recipe are cooked fully and have ton of flavor even when I eat a whole potato. Big promise? Trust me, it is not false promise.
1. I cut most of baby the potatoes in half. (Rule is: no potato should be more that2 inch thick). So go ahead and use big potatoes for this recipe. Just make sure to follow the rule and cut them 2 inch thick.
2. I pierce the peeled raw potatoes with fork to allow quick cooking, and also to allow penetrating flavors into the potato. (very important)
PS: First-time, I saw Indian Master Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, making this recipe in a TV show in India. In his golden words, piercing the aloo (potatoes) with fork make'em crispy and lite like "air" when fried.
3. Instead of frying for few minutes to just crisp the skin. I like to cook potatoes all way throughwhileshallow frying. This takes 15 minutes but ensures no-raw-aloo in the final dum aloo curry. Yes, you can deep fry'em too. But cooking slow in less oil helps me keep it low-oil and also aloo do not burn from outside while still raw middle. In short, spending 15 minutes in less oil has turned best for me.
4. Now, to enhance the flavors, I toast the spices before sauteing in curry and use tomato puree instead offresh tomatoes which make a lot difference in the taste and flavorof dum aloo.
Friends, follow these simple tricks and enjoy a delicious vegetarian dum aloo dinner, any season of the year.
Oh, and don't forget to serve rice or naan on the side. A few recipes in the suggestions below:
Continuing my thoughts on spices and Indian's love for curry a.k.a spiced food.. I must tell you that in Indian homes, a curry is for dinner, no matter how hot it is outside. :) And it gets scorching 120+ Fahrenheit in summers. According to elders, spices in curry help fight stress, calm you down, and make you feel good even on a hot summer day. Well, not sure if this statement is true or not, but we love curries whole year long! Just so you know, not all spices are hot and warming. A few are, surprisingly cooling and are preferred in summer days. Since we talking about it, let me give you short list of warm and cool Indian spices. Whenever you are making a curry, choose these depending upon when you serving it. Here is the list:
Cooling Spices: cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, green cardamom are all cooling, and mild. So splurge in cardamom tea, yogurt based curries like these dum aloo, or cumin (jeera) lassi or fennel ice cream in summers!
Warming Spices: List is endless. Cinnamon, black cardamom, mustard seeds, cloves, star anise, bay leaves, curry leaves, mace, ratan jot... and list goes on and on...
I hope you have wonderful day. I see you around soon..
Cheers! -Savita
