My mother in law loves potatoes. Love, as in addiction. You should see her face light up when I make a potato filled sandwich or a paratha for breakfast as opposed to any other type of paratha. Whenever me, my husband and daughter go out to a party or eat in a restaurant and I ask her to make the dinner for herself and her husband. she would always make a potato curry, even when there are other vegetables in the fridge. And, when she keeps fast, all she eat on those days is potato/ sweet potato and carrots. So pretty much everything she cooks and has cooked all these years had potatoes in it. Now that they are going back to spend winters in India, I thought I should cook a farewell potato dish- dum aloo, for their 7 months stay with us.
Dum Aloo specifically belongs to Kashmiri cuisine. It’s delicious taste made it popular all over India, hence you will find several variations of it using slightly different ingredients. No matter what you use, how you cook every dum aloo recipe is finger licking good. The recipe I have for you is of punjabi dum aloo with yogurt gravy which is enriched with charmagaz (melon seeds) and freshly ground spices.
Dum aloo preparation uses baby potatoes, but if you can not get hold of them, use normal size potatoes and cut them small. Then scrub them well. Don’t attempt to scrape baby potatoes as I did. I spent almost 40 minutes scraping them just because my dear dear in laws do not like eating them with skin. The most important step though, is to prick them all over, so that they absorb all the flavors and become spongy in the gravy. The potatoes are usually deep or shallow fried before simmering in the gravy. In this recipe I parboiled the potatoes, roasted them in oven and then simmered in a deliciously spiced yogurt gravy.
We Punjabis love thicker yogurt gravy with chapati but if you prefer a thinner or less gravy reduce the amount of yogurt, melon seeds and fried onion. It also goes amazingly well with poories (fried puffed bread), naan and rice.
An authentic Punjabi dum aloo recipe cooked in yogurt and freshly ground spices.
Ingredients
- 750 g baby potatoes
- 2 tbsp fried onion (gluten free)
- 3 tbsp melon seeds
- 300g yogurt (1 heaped cup, should not be sour)
- 2 tsp ginger powder
- 10-12 kashmiri chilies
- 300 ml water or more
- 3 tbsp oil
- chopped cilantro
- 3 black cardamom pods
- 1" piece cinnamon bark
- 2 tsp fennel seeds
Instructions
- Put the melon seeds in a bowl, add warm water (about 3 tbsp) to cover and soak for 10 minutes.
- Put the chillies into a bowl and cover with 1/4 cup boiling water. Let them soak nudging them occasionally with a spoon to make sure they are fully submerged and become soft.
- Wash and scrub the potatoes clean, prick all over with a bamboo skewer or toothpick. Parboil them in gently boiling salted water for 4 minutes.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Transfer potatoes to the tray. Drizzle about 3 tbsp oil, coat them nicely.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes at 400° F.
- Meanwhile grind the soaked ingredients and fried onion to a smooth paste. Mix the ground ingredients, ginger powder and salt in yogurt, whisk nicely.
- Heat the oil, add the yogurt mixture, stir well and cook for 2 minutes.
- Then pour in water and bring it to boil. When the gravy is bubbling, add potatoes and cook gently covered with a lid until potatoes are completely cooked. You can add little more water at this stage if you feel the gravy is too thick as it will get thicker once it cools down.
- Add chopped cilantro.
- Serve hot with chapati, naan or poori. I can eat it with rice or quinoa too.
Bam's Kitchen
I have never seen baby potatoes like this in Hong Kong they are so cute. However, I hear your pain about peeling them. Beautiful herbs and spices in this dish with a rich sauce. Have a super week.
easyfoodsmith
My father-in-law too is a spud fan. If it were for him, we would be eating nothing but potatoes day in day out!!
Its been really long since I made dum aloo though. These sound finger licking good.
Malti Sharma
Dum Aloo is my favorite among potato dishes and this looks amazing! and you are so sweet, cooking this as a farewell dish for your in laws..! . Just shared it on Google+
Kitchen Belleicious
i love the way and method you used to cook the potatoes. It looks like so much flavor is involved. A great comforting dish
Choc Chip Uru
Oooh this looks so good! All aloo sabzi is my jam 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
anne
Bal , I first glance , I thought those are meatballs ! Very appetizing dish , the yogurt gravy alone sounds really good ! So , the in-laws are going back home , time flies really fast 😀
Juliana
These little baby potatoes are so cute…and yes, I see how much work it takes to peel them…great sauce…looks delicious.
Hope you are having a great week Balvinder 😀
Culinary Flavors
I love potatoes too and this is a delicious sauce!
Shirley Tay (Blackswan)
I’ve not tried potatoes in such thick gravy. Looks real nice & rich!
techie2mom
Mouthwatering… should try this..
Coffee and Crumpets
7 months? That’s a nice long stay!
I too love potatoes, not addicted though but almost! These look so good! I have never made dum aloo, but I should, these look fantastic! My hubby is addicted to potatoes, he would love this. Hope you’ve been well Balvinder, it was good to hear from you. xx
Surinder Kaur
This one is easy and yummy recipe.I am going to try this for sure.
Ihjaz Ahmad
Oh my goodness, Punjabi Dum Aloo looks delicious! I’m definitely making this! thanks for sharing!. A healthier option for a family favorite.
Balvinder
Ihjaz you don’t need to choose someone’s website to post a comment. Its optional.
Puja
Superb Receipe!!! Thanks for sharing