Dum Aloo – Guest edition

I believe in sharing recipes from home cooks whose talent has never been exposed. We kick started this theme last month and I’ve faced a little bit of lull finding home cooks who wanted to get featured on our blog. But then I realized, the sheer number of awesome cooks in my family who make lip smacking food.

I love my Guest contributor for this month. Introducing my sister, Sumedha Kunde Bidkar. A disciplined mother, loving wife, scary(sometimes) and protective sister and daughter, Sumedha is also a great singer and ghazal lover. Basically she is me, only an older version. She is a fabulous cook too.

So let’s look at her recipe of Dum Aloo:

What you need:
12-15 baby potatoes
2 Onions (grind them into a smooth paste)
3 Tomatoes pureed
1 tablespoon Ginger garlic paste
1 Cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon Shahjeera (Caraway seeds)
2 tablespoons oil
Salt as needed
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon chilli powder
Handful of Cashewnuts blended into a smooth paste
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
Fresh coriander finely chopped
1 tablespoon Kasuri Methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
Fresh ginger cut into slivers
Couple of green chillies slit lengthwise

Let’s cook:
Step 1: In a pressure cooker, cook the baby potatoes for 4 whistles. Once they cool down, peel the skin off. Using a fork or toothpick poke them to release some steam off.

Step 2: In a teaspoon of oil, fry the potatoes until they turn golden brown. Remove them from the pan and set aside.

Step 3: In a deep pan, heat a tablespoon of oil and add cinnamon stick, bay leaf and shahjeera. Next add ginger garlic paste and onions and saute till browned.

Step 4: Add the spice powders (coriander, chilli and turmeric). Give it a quick stir and add tomato puree. Make sure the tomatoes and spices blend well. They should leave the sides of the pan as shown below.

Step 5: At this stage add salt and cashew nut paste and cook till the gravy thickens. Make sure your pan is covered,unless you want your kitchen to look like a crime scene splattered with gravy all over.

Step 6: Once the plot..I meant the gravy thickens, add the potatoes and cook for 5 -7 mins on low flame keeping it covered with a lid tightly(dum style of cooking) till the gravy blends with the potatoes and the gravy is thick.

Step 7: Garnish with chopped coriander, Kasuri Methi, slivers of ginger and slit green chillies. Devour it with hot fluffy rotis or rice.

Needless to say this dish looks amazing and I’m sure it tasted even better. I miss my sister’s cooking and her company. I’m sure we will meet soon and then she will hopefully, make this Dum Aloo for me. Until then, happy cooking folks!