Dum Aloo Subji

Hiiiii all,

After a short break, I am back with another mouth watering recipe of Punjab. Dum aloo subji.. This is actually a Kashmiri cuisine, but I have added onion, tomato, ginger, garlic etc, and prepared in Punjabi style. I got few fresh baby potatoes this time and wanted to try this dish immediately. I searched in internet for the recipe and finally found in Tarla Dalal's kitchen, but still have modified it a little to say the very "my own version".

I was totally excited to cook in my new ceramic pan. My co-sister always used to tell that it is very healthy to cook in a ceramic pan rather than a non-stick pan. So, this post is dedicated to my co-sister.

Hope you will try my way!!

Ingredients

For the onion paste:

• Onion - 1 cup, roughly chopped
• Ginger- 1 inch stick
• Garlic - 4 cloves
• Red chillies - 3 (or according to your spice preference)
• Fennel seeds - 2 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1.5 tsp
• Cashew nuts - 1 tblspn
• Almonds - 1 tblspn
• Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup
• Mint leaves - 6 big leaves

For Tomato paste

• Tomato - 2 cups, roughly chopped
• Water - 1.5 cups

For Sauteing the Potatoes

• Garlic - 2 cloves , minced
• Butter - 2 tsp
• Baby potatoes - 10 - 12 nos
• Salt - 1 tsp

Other Ingredients

• Cinnamon - 1 inch stick
• Cloves - 3 nos
• Cardamom - 3 nos
• Bay leaves - 1, broken
• Star anise - 1/2
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Curd / Cream - 1 tblspn
• Salt - to taste
• Honey / Sugar - 2 tsp
• Coriander powder - 2 tsp
• Cumin powder - 1 tsp
• Garam masala powder/ Kitchen king masala powder - 1 tsp
• Kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves) - 1 tsp, crushed
• Coriander leaves - To garnish

Method

For onion paste

• Combine all the ingredients under "For the Onion Paste" heading under the ingredients list in a blender and make it to a smooth paste. Add water while grinding. Make sure everything is blended well. No chunks of cashews or almonds should be found at the end. It should be really smooth.

For Tomato Paste

• In a vessel, bring 1.5 cups of water to boil and add the tomatoes. Cook till the tomatoes are mushy. Keep the heat in medium. It will take up to 10 minutes. 

• Cool it and blend it to a puree.

For Sauteing the potatoes

• Boil the baby potatoes. Do not over cook it. I gave it 4 to 5 whistles. 
• Peel the skin off the potatoes
• For the garlic butter, mince the garlic and add it to the butter. mix well.
• Heat this butter in a pan and add the baby potatoes. Keep the heat from medium to low and saute continuously making sure it is not burnt from any side. 
• Turn the sides for every half a minute. Make sure you get even cooking on all the sides as much as possible. 
• Once done, drain them using a kitchen towel and keep aside.

How to proceed?

• In the same pan in which you fried your potatoes, add  1 tsp oil and fry bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and star anise. Fry them for half a minute until a nice aroma is released.
• Add the prepared onion paste and salt. Cook them for 5-8  minutes or until the raw smell of onion, ginger and garlic is completely gone.
• Add the prepared tomato puree. CAUTION: The mixture will start spluttering in some time. So, be careful . Close the lid and cook for another 3 - 4 minutes. Add the crushed kasuri methi.
• Add all the spice powders ; coriander powder, cumin powder and garam masala powder. Add honey / sugar. Give it a good mix and pour the cream / curd.
• Now, add the shallow fried baby potatoes to this mixture. Close the lid again and reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 5 minutes. Add water if you feel the gravy is becoming very thick. Adjust the consistency according to your preference.
• Check the seasoning and adjust accordingly.
• Turn off the heat and transfer to serving dish garnished with coriander leaves. Have this as a side dish for hot rotis, phulkas or pulao.

Notes

• I have used garlic butter to saute the potatoes as per our taste You can just use the butter, avoiding the garlic or even the oil.
•  Another choice is, you can deep fry the potatoes if you wish.