Kashmiri Dum Aloo

INGREDIENTS
for cooking potatoes
500 grams potatoes or 20 to 22 baby potatoes
3 to 3.5 cups water
¼ teaspoon salt
for making kashmiri dum aloo
3 teaspoon kashmiri red chili powder (or deghi mirch), mixed in 2 tablespoon water
½ tablespoon ginger powder
1 tablespoon fennel powder
1 teaspoon caraway seeds (shah jeera)
1 inch cinnamon
3 cloves
1 black cardamom
4 to 5 black peppers
1 green cardamom - optional
6 tablespoon fresh full fat curd, beaten or whisked till smooth (yogurt)
1.5 cups water
¾ cup mustard oil for frying potatoes
2 tablespoon fresh mustard oil for making gravy or reserve 2 tablespoon mustard oil from the ¾ cup that is used for frying potatoes.
salt as required
some caraway seeds as garnishing - optional

INSTRUCTIONS
Preparation for kashmiri dum aloo:
rinse the baby potatoes well. brush or scrub the mud etc from them. take 3.5 cups water in a pan. add the potatoes.
on a medium to high flame boil the water, so that the potatoes are half cooked.
drain them and allow to become warm or cool down at room temperature.
peel the potatoes. this task takes a lot of time, so do it while listening to music or watching your favorite tv show. if you want you can keep the peels too.
with a fork, tooth pick or skewer, poke holes in the potatoes all over. halve them or you can keep them whole if they are small. this is done so that when cooking on dum, the potatoes absorb the flavors of the masala in which they are getting cooked.
whisk the fresh full fat curd or yogurt till smooth. keep aside.
in a small bowl, take kashmiri red chili powder and water.
mix and stir well to get a smooth mixture.

Frying potatoes:
in a pan heat mustard oil till it begins to smoke.
add the parboiled peeled potatoes and begin to fry them on a low to medium flame.
with a slotted spoon, turn them over while frying, when one side is light golden.
remove the potatoes which are golden and crisp with a slotted spoon. fry them well or else they remain uncooked from the center.
place them on kitchen paper towels. fry all the potatoes till golden and crisp.
if you want you can again poke holes in the fried potatoes. this is an optional step.
making kashmiri dum aloo
lower the flame. remove the extra oil and keep 2 tbsp oil in the same pan. let the oil temperature come down. in the same oil, add asafoetida powder. stir well.
then add the red chili + water solution and stir well. be careful as the mixture splutters.
now add the beaten curd. when you are adding the curd, with a spoon or wired whisk, stir continuously, so that the curd does not split. add the curd on a low flame.
after adding curd, add water and continue to stir.
stir and mix very well.
then add fennel powder. if you do not have ready fennel powder than you have to make it. roast the fennel lightly on a pan or tava. when cooled, then in a mortar & pestle pound the roasted fennel seed to a medium fine powder. you can also grind in a small spice grinder or coffee grinder.
add the whole spices and ginger powder. stir well.
now add the potatoes. again stir.
season with salt and stir again.
cover the pan tightly with a lid. cook the kashmiri dum aloo for 8 to 10 minutes on a low to medium flame. here we are cooking the potato gravy on dum.
the gravy should become thick.
you can always add less or more water depending on how thick or thin you want the gravy. if you cook more, then the kashmiri dum aloo gravy will reduce more. so depending on what you prefer, you can cook for less or more time.
sprinkle some caraway seeds from top (optional) and serve kashmiri dum aloo hot with naan, rotis or rice.

Note: the spiciness of the dish can be reduced by reducing the chili powder and ginger powder.
the baby potatoes could also be baked instead of frying them.
its best to have this dish in the winters and rainy seasons.
tips for using curd in the recipe
quality of curd matter. always use full fat curd and as soon as you add the curd, mix it quickly with the rest of the spices.
when you are mixing the curd, lower the flame.
also you can add some corn starch or gram flour to the curd so that it does not curdle in the gravy.
Pic Courtesy: Google
#babynutrition #snackrecipes #tiffinrecipes #instantrecipes