Kashmiri Dum Aloo

Dear Readers,

I bring you another spicy dish from India - Kashmiri Dum Aloo. Kashmir is the northernmost state of India and also one of the most beautiful and scenic places in the world. This dish is a Kashmiri specialty, it's hot and spicy and flavoured with the Kashmiri dry chillis. Dum means cooking under slow, continuous heat in a sealed container and alu means potato. The dum pukht style of cooking is very popular in Indian and Pakistani cuisine, influenced by the Persian/Mughal style of cooking. The dum cooking ensures all the flavours stay intact and seep through the dish and slow cooking gives it depth of flavour.

There are many versions of this dish but I have tried to stay as close to the traditional version as possible. there are a lot of different spices used in this dish, don't feel daunted by this. As long as you have the spices in your pantry cooking this dish will not take long. It's a relatively simple process and as with any dish alter the chilli levels to your own liking. I hope you enjoy this recipe.

Love,

Cookie

Recipe                                                                                               Print Recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients
15-20 Baby potatoes
11/2 cup plain natural yoghurt
1/2 tsp Garam Masala powder
1 tsp dry ginger powder 
1 Cinnamon stick
3 Black Cardamom
1/4 cup Coriander leaves - chopped
Vegetable Oil for frying
Salt to taste

Dry spices (to be roasted and ground)
4-5 Kashmiri dry red chillis - roasted and ground
1 tsp cumin seeds - roasted and ground
5 cloves - roasted and ground
1 tbsp fennel seeds - roasted and ground
5 green cardamoms - roasted and ground


Method
Parboil the potatoes and remove the skins once cooled. Prick the potatoes with a fork in several places. 

In a wok heat the oil for deep frying the potatoes. Once the oil is hot enough deep fry the potatoes till golden brown. The potatoes will become light in weight after frying. This helps them absorb the flavours even more.

In a bowl whisk the dry chilli powder, clove powder, fennel powder, ginger powder, cardamom powder and cumin powder together and keep aside. 

Heat a tbsp of oil in a wok and add the cinnamon stick to it. Now add the yoghurt mixture and about half a cup of water and let it boil till the oil begins to surface. Add the fried potatoes to it and let the gravy thicken. Let it cook covered for 10-15 minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with rotis or naans.

Enjoy!