Aloor Dum (Dry Potato Gravy)

In my last post I gave the recipe of Radhaballavi. Generally Radhaballavi is served with cholar-daal. However, I like to make it with Aloor-dum. Here goes it’s recipe.

Ingredients

1. 10 baby potatoes ( I didn’t have at home so I used 5 medium sized potatoes and cut them into halves)
2. 1 medium sized onion ( 1/2 finely chopped and make a fine paste of the other half.)
3. 1 tbsp. ginger garlic paste
4. 1 large tomato cut into quarters
5. 2 green chilies finely chopped
6. Few twigs of coriander leaves finely chopped
7. 1 tsp. cumin powder
8. 1tbsp. coriander powder
9. 1 tsp. turmeric powder
10. 1 tbsp. chili powder
11. 2tbsp. tamarind juice
12. 1 tsp. bengali garam masala (1” cinnamon stick, 2-3 green cardamom, 3-4 cloves ground to a powder)
13. 1 tsp. bhaja masla
14. 1 tsp. sugar
15. Salt to taste
16. Oil
17. For tempering
    1. 2 bay leaves
    2. 2-3 cloves
    3. 1” cinnamon stick
    4. 2-3 green cardamoms

Procedure

In a pan take water along with a spoonful of salt. Bring it to a boil. Now add potatoes to it and cook till it is just just done. Drain the water and immediately put the potatoes under cold water to ease the process of peeling. Peel off the potato skin.

Heat oil in a wok / kadai and temper it with bay leaves and whole garam masala. Once you get the aroma of the whole spices add boiled potatoes to the fragrant oil and fry them on high heat till they turn golden yellow. Remove them along with the bay leaves and whole spices. Discard the fried whole spices and the bay leaves.

In the same oil add chopped onion with a pinch of salt and fry them on low heat till they turn light brown. Addition of salt makes the frying process faster. Add ginger, garlic and onion paste to it and fry on low heat till they loose their raw smell.

Add fried potatoes to it followed by the dry spice powder ( turmeric + chili + cumin + coriander ). Next to add is the tomato pieces. Fry them together till the tomato pieces are all mushed up.

Pour half a cup of water and season with salt and sugar. Cook it on medium heat till the water dries up and masala nicely coats the potatoes. Add 2tbsp of tamarind paste and mix them well. Check the seasoning and adjust accordingly.

Sprinkle bhaja masla and bengali garam masala powder over it. Garnish with chopped green chilies and coriander leaves.