Kashmiri Dum Aloo

For Mahashivratri this year, I decided to make dum aloo – a must-have of any vegetarian Kashmiri feast. For the benefit of non-kashmiris, let me first clarify a misconception. The brown, sometimes sweet so-called “Kashmiri Dum Aloo” served at hotels is nowhere close to the original. The original dum aloo is deep fried, fiery red and painstakingly cooked. Reason enough for me to blog the recipe. Here’s what the final product looked like:

At the outset, I was a little apprehensive. I’ve cooked dum aloo a few times before and its been appreciated by non-kashmiris, but connoisseurs of the kashmiri cuisine would’ve passed it off as a lame attempt. This time, though, the results were excellent. Enough talk, lets get to the recipe now.

The Recipe:

10-12 small potatoes

Oil (lots for deep frying, around 3-4 tbsp for cooking)

Kashmiri Chilli Powder (the quantity varies depending on how much you can handle, make sure though its enough to get a nice red color)

Saunf (aniseed) powder, called baidyan in Kashmiri (around 1 and 1/2 teaspoon)

Soonth (Dry ginger powder), called shonth in Kashmiri (around 3/4 tsp)

Curd or Dahi (2-3 tablespoon – if its the hung curd variety, mix it first into a liquid form)

Cloves (3-4 pieces)

Cardamoms – black and green both (2-3 pieces)

Salt to taste

Try to choose the right sized potatoes – don’t go for mini potatoes, just select the smaller sized ones. Boil the potatoes, peel them and prick each of them on all sides with a toothpick or a knife. Heat a generous measure of oil in a kadhai (wok). After the oil has heated up, put the boiled potatoes in the oil and reduce the flame to the minimum. Now, let the potatoes deep fry. I’ve seen enough recipes of the dum aloo that hardly talk about the process of deep frying the potatoes. I would say that how you fry the potatoes will finally determine how well the potatoes are cooked. The trick is to let the potatoes slowly deep fry at low flame till they turn brown. Make sure you don’t over-do it. The potatoes should be light to medium brown in color when you switch off the flame. It might take close to an hour for the potatoes to be ready if fried at low flame. Be patient, give it that hour and stir around the potatoes at regular intervals of time to fry them evenly.

In a kadhai or pressure cooker, heat 3-4 tbsp of oil and add the cloves and cardamoms to it. Add salt, saunf powder, soonth powder and chilli powder to the hot oil. Now, these spices may burn in hot oil, so quickly add the curd, keep stirring. Add a cup of water, stir and bring to a boil. Now, add the potatoes and let it simmer on low flame. Stir around the potatoes at regular intervals of time. Most of the water should dry and you should see the oil come to the top before you switch off the flame. This might take another 45 minutes to an hour depending on the quantity you are making.

The dum aloo is best served with white rice, and mind you – seldom alone, there have to be at least 2-3 more side dishes with it( Kashmiri cuisine, of course). Watch out this space for more such recipes.