Twisted Dum Aloo – Maybe?

Dum Aloo is my all time favorite dish. The spicy, sweet, creamy sauce with tiny potatoes swimming in it … ahhh! Divine! This is one dish I love cooking despite the effort and time it takes to prepare. I’ve made it a couple of times and every time I made it differently (because I didn’t know better!).

The recipes that I found for authentic dum aloo required preparing of dum (dough used to seal a clay pot..this style of cooking was introduced by Mughals) and seemed quite time consuming and to tell you the truth, a little bit intimidating for a novice cook like me.  My mother-in-law is currently visiting us and I wanted to make a special meal for her. So, I decided to make dum aloo with the ingredients I had at hand..which of course meant that I cooked it differently than how I have in the past. One thing I did to save some time, was to make three different sauces the night before. So the next day after coming back from work, all I had to do was cook everything together.

I am so glad that I cooked it differently! Because the sauce was spicy, creamy, with a slight sweetness and tanginess to it (from tomatoes). I think adding the cream to it gave that creamy and sweet texture to the sauce. The potatoes were crispy on the outside and really scrumptious from the sauce they had absorbed. Everyone loved it! From now on, I think I am going to stick to this recipe till I find some other way to cook 🙂

Ta

Recipe: Dum Aloo
(Serves 4)

Ingredients

6 baby potatoes
1 Tbsp Oil
1 Tbsp red chili powder
1 tsp kitchen king masala
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 Tbsp heavy cream
pinch of asafoetida
Salt per taste

Green sauce
2 green chilies
1 inch sized ginger
3 garlic cloves
1 inch of cinnamon stick
3 cloves
1 cardamom
1 tsp of cumin

Red sauce
4 medium sized tomatoes

White sauce
1 Tbsp oil
1 onion – chopped
1 Tbsp cashews

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Method

Boil potatoes (not too soft) and skin them. Place the potatoes on a foil lined cookie sheet and spray them with a tiny bit of oil. Broil them for about 4 mins or till they are crispy on the outside. Be careful to not get them burnt. Turn the potatoes over and broil them for another 3-4 mins. Prick the potatoes with a toothpick or a fork.

For green sauce, mix all the ingredients using a food processor. Add a small amount of water to mix all the ingredients together. For red sauce, boil the tomatoes and cool them. Then puree the tomatoes and strain them for a smooth sauce. For white sauce, saute the onions in 1 tbsp of oil till they are cooked. Let the onions cool and in a food processor puree them along with the cashews.

Heat oil in a pan and add asafoetida. Once the oil is hot, add the green sauce and saute till slightly brown. Add the onion sauce and red sauce. Add all the other dry ingredients (red chili powder, turmeric, kitchen king masala, and salt). Cook the sauce with frequent stirring for another 8-10 mins at medium heat. Now add the cream. Cook for 2-3 mins. Do not boil the sauce. Cook at low to medium heat. Add the potatoes in the sauce and let them simmer for another 4-5 mins. Garnish with some fresh cilantro and serve with jeera rice or parathas!