Kashmiri Dum Aloo

4.96 from 89 votes

Kashmiri Dum Aloo is a flavorful, spicy, tangy and robust recipe of baby potatoes slow cooked in a yogurt based gravy or sauce. The recipe is spicy and made without onion and garlic. This authentic and popular dish from the Kashmiri Pandit cuisine made with baby potatoes fried in mustard oil, includes spices, both whole and ground; together with fresh curd (yogurt).

Prep Time30

Cook Time20

Total Time50

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Kashmiri

Diet: Vegetarian

Difficulty Level: Moderate

Servings:

Calories: 513kcal

Author: Dassana Amit

Ingredients

For cooking potatoes

500 grams (20 to 22) baby potatoes
3 to 3.5 cups water
¼ teaspoon salt

Other ingredients

1 tablespoon kashmiri red chili powder (or deghi mirch), mixed with 2 tablespoons water
½ tablespoon ginger powder (ground ginger)
1 tablespoon fennel powder (ground fennel)
1 teaspoon caraway seeds (shahi jeera)
1 inch cinnamon
3 cloves
1 black cardamom
4 to 5 black peppercorns
1 green cardamom - optional
6 tablespoons Curd - full fat and fresh, beaten or whisked till smooth, (yogurt)
1¼ to 1½ cups water - add as required
¾ cup mustard oil - for frying potatoes
2 tablespoons mustard oil - for making gravy or reserve 2 tablespoon mustard oil from the ¾ cup that is used for frying potatoes.
salt as required
2 to 3 pinches caraway seeds (shahi jeera), for garnish - optional

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Boiling Potatoes

Rinse the baby potatoes very well in water. Brush or scrub the mud etc from them.
Take 3.5 cups water in a pan. Add the potatoes.
On a medium to high heat boil the water, so that the potatoes are half-cooked.
Drain the water and let the par-cooked potatoes become warm or cool 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 prefer 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 2 tablespoons water.
Mix and stir well to get a smooth and even mixture.

Frying potatoes

In a pan heat mustard oil on medium to medium-high till it begins to lightly smoke.
Add the parboiled peeled potatoes and begin to fry them on a medium-low to medium heat.
With a slotted spoon, turn them over while frying, when one side is light golden. Fry the second side until golden.
Fry the potatoes until they are evenly golden and crispy. Turn over as needed while frying.
Remove the potatoes which are golden and crispy with a slotted spoon and continue frying the remaining potatoes which still need to become crispy and golden.
Fry the potatoes well or else they remain uncooked from the center.
Place the fried potatoes on kitchen paper towels. Fry all the potatoes until golden and crisp.
If you want you can again poke holes in the fried potatoes. This is an optional step.

Making kashmiri dum aloo

Heat 2 tablespoons mustard oil in another pan on low to medium-low heat.
When the oil is lightly hot, add the red chili + water mixture and stir well. Be careful as the mixture splutters.
Next, reduce heat to a low and add the beaten curd. When you are adding the curd, stir it continuously with a spoon or wired whisk in the pan, so that the curd does not split.
Add the curd on a low heat or turn off the heat.
After adding curd, add water and continue to stir and mix to get an even mixture.
Next add the fennel powder
Add the whole spices and ginger powder. Stir and mix well.
Now add the fried baby potatoes. Again stir to combine.
Season with salt and mix again.
Cover the pan tightly with a lid. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes on a low to medium-low heat.
The gravy should become thick.
You can always opt to add less or more water depending on how thick or thin you want the gravy.
Additionally make a note that if you cook for more time, the gravy will reduce more but the potatoes can get overdone and become mushy or fall apart in the gravy.
Sprinkle the caraway seeds from top (optional) and serve Kashmiri Dum Aloo hot with steamed rice.

Notes

Recipe Tips

For the best taste and flavor, I suggest not to reduce or skip any of the ground spices. Having said that if you are intolerant to spicy foods, reduce the chilli powder and ginger powder by a bit.
The baby potatoes could also be baked/roasted or air-fried or steamed instead of parboiling and later frying them.
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.
You could also use the same mustard oil that was used to fry the baby potatoes for making the gravy. Switch off the heat after frying the potatoes. Let the oil temperature reduce. Turning off the heat brings down the oil temperature. Carefully remove the extra oil using a spoon and keep 2 tablespoons oil in the same kadai or pan.
It is best to have this dish in the winters and rainy seasons.

Tips For Curd (Yogurt)

Quality of the curd matters. Always use full-fat curd or curd made from whole milk.
Remember that as soon as you add the curd to the pan, mix it quickly.
Additionally, when you are adding and mixing the curd, lower the heat or turn off the stovetop.
Optionally you can add some cornstarch or gram flour (besan) to the curd so that it does not curdle or separate in the gravy.

Nutrition