Mughlai Dum Aloo

Bengali New Year (Subho Naba Barsha) is going to be celebrated in 2 days time. It is celebrated with joy and following centuries old customs and traditions. Traditional recipes are prepared and are an essential part to welcome guests. A recipe for delicious Mughlai Aloo Dum.

Ingredients:

• 250 gms small sized potatoes (equal size)
• 3 onions, finely sliced
• 3 small tomatoes, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp watermelon seeds (magaz)
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds (khuskhus / posto)
• 1" ginger, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
• 1/4 tsp amchoor powder (optional)
• 1-1/2 tsp salt (to taste)
• 3 tbsp oil
• 2 cups water (as required)
• 1 bunch coriander leaves, finely chopped, for garnishing

Procedure:

1. Wash, peel and cut potatoes into 2 equal halves. Heat oil in a kadhai, deep dry the halved potatoes on medium flame till golden brown. Drain oil and keep aside.
2. Deep fry the sliced onions to a golden brown colour. Remove from oil and grind the fried onions to a paste (add a little water, if required). Keep the onion paste aside.
3. Soak watermelon seeds & poppy seeds in 1/2 cup hot water for 15 mins. Grind to a fine paste.
4. Blanch tomatoes. Blend the tomatoes with ginger and 1/2 cup water to form a smooth puree.
5. Heat oil once again. Add cumin seeds and let them splutter. Add red chilli powder. Stir fry. Add onion paste and cook for 2 mins. Now add tomato paste, mix and stir fry. Reduce flame and cook for 4-5 mins till oil separates.
6. Add the watermelon-poppy seeds paste, salt, garam masala powder and amchoor powder. Stir for 2 mins.
7. Add 1 cup of water and bring the gravy to a boil. Add the fried potatoes. Simmer and cook the potatoes for 5-6 mins or until the potatoes are tender and coated with the masala.
8. Transfer to a serving bowl, garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot.

Aloo Posto

Aloo Posto (Potato cooked in poppy seed paste) is a delicious & popular Bengali recipe generally eaten as a dry accompaniment with a meal of steamed rice and daal. This recipe finds a place with biulir daal (urad daal) in every other Sunday afternoon lunch at our home.

Ingredients:

• 4-5 medium sized potatoes
• 4 tbsp poppy seeds / posto / khuskhus
• � cup water (to make poppy seeds paste)
• 2 tbsp mustard oil
• 1 tsp panchphoron
• 1 bay leaf / tej patta
• 3 green chillies
• � tsp red chilli powder
• � cup water
• salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Wash, peel and dice the potatoes into one inch sized cubes.
2. Take a pan, boil water and steam the potatoes a little (ensure that the potatoes do not become too mushy). Keep aside.
3. Soak poppy seeds in 1 cup of boiled water for 30 mins. Drain and put poppy seeds in a blender. Add 1 green chilli, � tsp salt and � cup water and blend to form a smooth paste.
4. Heat oil in a kadhai. Add bay leaf & panchphoron and let them splutter.
5. Reduce the flame. Add the poppy paste, 2 green chillies, red chili powder and salt and stir fry for 3-4 mins.
6. Add the semi-cooked potatoes to the poppy paste, mix well and again stir fry for 2-3 mins.
7. Add water and cook till the water evaporates and the potatoes are done.
8. Transfer in a serving bowl and serve hot with rice and daal.

Tip:

Instead of steaming the potatoes, you can directly cook them with the poppy paste with enough water to cook the potatoes until tender.

Aloo Dum

Aloo dum is a very simple recipe for potatoes cooked with Indian spices for plenty of flavor. There are several different variations of cooking aloo dum like kashmiri aloo dum, stuffed aloo dum and even pure vegetarian aloo dum.

This is the recipe for pure vegetarian aloo dum (for those who do not take onions in their food items).

Ingredients:

• 500 gms small potatoes, (uniform size)
• 1 tbsp ginger paste (grated ginger)
• 1 tbsp garlic paste (grated garlic)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 inch cinnamon stick
• 2 green cardamoms
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 - � tsp cumin powder
• 1 large tomato, finely chopped
• 1 tsp sugar
• salt to taste
• � tsp red chili powder (to taste)
• 1 tsp garam masala powder
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp ghee
• 1 cup water (as required for gravy)
• 2 bunch coriander leaves, finely chopped

Procedure:

1. Wash the potatoes thoroughly, retain the skin and prick the potatoes with a fork.
2. Take a pressure cooker, boil just enough water, add a pinch of salt and release the potatoes when the water starts to boil. Give one whistle only to cook the potatoes until just tender. (otherwise potatoes will turn too mushy).
3. Drain the water and peel the outer skin of the boiled potatoes. Keep aside.
4. Take a kadhai, heat oil. Lower the flame, add sugar and let it caramelize (But not too dark otherwise the whole dish will have a burnt taste).
5. Add the bay leaf and the whole spices (cinnamon stick, cardamoms & cloves).
6. Add the ginger & garlic paste and turmeric powder and stir fry.
7. Add the coriander & cumin powder. Stir fry.
8. Add the chopped tomatoes, salt and red chilli powder and mix well with the fried spices. Add a little water if you want gravy.
9. Release the potatoes in the kadhai, mix well and cook on high flame till all the spices are uniformly coated.
10. Lower the flame and cook for 5-7 mins (till the potatoes are cooked). Check the gravy as required.
11. Just before removing add ghee & garam masala powder and mix well.
12. Transfer to a serving bowl / plate. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with puri (luchi) / parantha.