Aloo Dum (Potato Curry)
October 14th, 2009 filed under Gravy / Sauces, Subji (Vegetables)
This is an exotic delicious main dish. Just the smell of aloo dum can make you hungry! To make this dish, potatoes are fried and then soaked in the spicy aromatic gravy. This is a perfect dish for any dinner party.
Recipe serves 4.
Ingredients:
- 4 medium size russet potatoes
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seed (jeera)
- 1/8 teaspoon asafetida (hing)
- 1 tablespoon gram flour (basen)
- 6 whole red chili
- 1/4 cup yogurt
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon coconut powder
- 1/4 inch of ginger
- 1 green chili adjust to taste
- 1 tablespoon coriander powder (dhania)
- 1 tablespoon funnel seed powder (saunf)
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric (haldi)
- 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder adjust to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika (dagi or kashmiri mirch)
- 1 teaspoon salt adjust to taste
- 1/2 garam masala
- about 2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro
- oil to fry
Method:
- Peeled and cut the potatoes into ½” cubes.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium high heat.
- Frying pan should have at least 1inch of oil. To check if the oil is ready, put one piece of potato in the oil. The potato should sizzle right away. If potatoes are fried on low heat they will be very oily.
- Fry the potatoes till they are cooked through; turn the potatoes few times while frying. Take out potatoes with a slotted spoon (this allows excess oil to drip back into the frying pan) and place on a paper towel. Keep aside.
- Heat the pan on medium heat and stir-fry the sesame seeds for about a minute until seeds lightly change color. Take them out and keep aside.
- Blend sesame seeds, coconut, ginger, green chili, and make it into a paste. Use water as needed to blend into paste.
- In a small bowl mix, sesame paste, yogurt, ginger, green chili, coriander powder, funnels seed powder, paprika, red chili powder, and turmeric into a paste. Keep aside.
- Heat the oil in a saucepan. Test the heat by adding one cumin seed to the oil; if seed cracks right away oil is ready.
- Add the cumin asafetida and cumin seeds. After the cumin seeds crack, add whole red chili and besan (gram flour). Stir-fry for about half a minute until the besan (gram flour) is golden-brown.
- Add the spice paste and stir-fry for about 2 minutes on medium heat until the spices starts to separate from the oil.
- Add the potatoes, mix it well and add about 1cup of water. After the gravy boils, let it cook on low-medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes. Adjust the water in gravy to your liking.
- Add the cilantro and garam masala cover the pan and turn off the heat. Let it sit for few minutes before taking of the cover. This helps bringing the color on the top of the dish.
- Serve with any bread.
@Nivi,
I saw your comment regarding the nutritional facts of paprika, saw this wiki link and so thought of sharing it with you – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paprika
Hello Aunty,
Wish you a vey Happy Diwali.
I have tried most of your delicious recipes. They turn out really good.
I do have a question about you clean pots and pans. How do you clean your stainless steel pots and pans and your nonstick pans especially after deep frying them. Yours looks so clean with no oil greasy stains as mine becomes after deep frying couple of times.
Please do let me know.
Thanks
Madhu
Manjula,
Wish you a very happy and safe Diwali.
I had wrote about a alu dum a few days back in my blog. I had prepared it differently and used grounded raw rice as one of the ingredients to enhance the flavour. You can have a look at it here – http://bengalicuisine.net/2009/10/12/chal-diye-alu-dum/. Hope you like it.
Hi Manjulaji,
This looks good..! Happy Diwali to you and your family…!
Dear Manjula,
this recipe is very powerful, I enjoy it very much.
thanks from the heart,
cecilia from Brazil
can we use thoes potatoes that sells at the store in can.. the baby potatoes… do we need to make hole in there ?
Nivi, I found the following on the internet. I hope it helps with your question.
Paprika is unusually high in vitamin C. Hungary’s Nobel prize-winning Professor Szent Gyorgyi first discovered the vitamin in paprika chile peppers. The capsicum peppers used for paprika contain six to nine times as much vitamin C as tomatoes by weight.
High heat leaches the vitamins from peppers, thus commercially-dried peppers are not as nutritious as those dried naturally in the sun.
As an antibacterial agent and stimulant, paprika can help normalize blood pressure, improve circulation, and increase the production of saliva and stomach acids to aid digestion.
Thank you Manjula. My question is do you think I can substitute soy yogurt for dairy yogurt? There is a brand at the local store in plain flavor. Thank you again.
the recipe sounds great! by the way, is paprika good for health?
I have everything in the house; I’m making this tonight. It looks delicious. Thanks and very happy Diwali to you and your family.