Transcription
What's up guys? Sanjyot Keer here. Welcome to YFL.
Today, I'm making Dum Aloo. It's a super simple recipe without any hassles. This doesn't have onion or garlic. It is a no-onion, no-garlic recipe. & these Kashmiri style Dum Aloo turn out so delicious. & they are so simple to make that anyone can make it. But if you take into considerations some small tips in simple recipes then they become another level beautiful & delicious. The technique to making sure that the spice mix penetrates the entire potato, which is why it is called Dum Aloo. How to give Dum to the potatoes, & I'm going to show you how to make this recipe simple but perfect. Let's see how to cook Dum Aloo.
Here I have taken 1/2 kg potatoes. You can see that the potatoes are medium sized, not too small. Don't take potatoes smaller than these. If your potatoes are a touch bigger than these, then it's okay. Don't take very small potatoes. & try to get rounder potatoes. After taking the potatoes, wash them thoroughly & add them to a pressure cooker. & add some water & salt. & we need to boil the potatoes now. We need to boil it upto 1 whistle on high flame & then turn the stove off. Let the steam in your pressure cooker settle naturally. Once the cooker is de-pressurised then open the lid of the pressure cooker. You can see that our potatoes are almost done. When I pierce my fork, then it still has a slight resistance to it. Now strain the potatoes & remove them. Let them cool down slightly. Once they are easy to touch to start peeling them. Once slightly cooled down, then remove the peels of all the potatoes. After peeling the potatoes, take a tooth-pick or a satay stick, like this you have to pierce the potatoes with it. You can pierce them through & through or just pierce them nicely so that when we fry them, they get fried upto centre. & these holes will allow the spices to penetrate through nicely as well. You can even use a fork. So like this make holes in all the potatoes.
To fry the potatoes take a big wok. In this you have to take mustard oil. Take enough oil so as to submerge the potatoes in the oil as they are going to be deep-fried. Let the oil smoke first, to remove it's pungency. Heat the oil on high flame until the smoke emanates from it. Once the smoke emanates, then lower the flame to low, & let it slightly cool down so that when we add the potatoes to the oil, they don't burn. Your oil should still be hot when you add the potatoes. Once the temperature of the oil drops slightly, add the potatoes that we have prepared earlier. After adding the potatoes, let them just be. Let them fry without stirring too much. Potatoes must get a nice uniform golden brown colour from outside & they should become nicely crisp from outside. Now, stir in between & fry the potatoes on high or medium high flame until they turn golden brown in colour. You can see that I've properly fried the potatoes & they have got a golden brown colour & are nicely crisp. Strain & remove the potatoes from the oil. I'm removing it & keeping it in a sieve to let the excess oil to drain out. & you have to let the potatoes cool down a little bit at this stage. After cooling down, you have to again pierce holes into them, to reopen any holes that may have gotten blocked while frying. So that while cooking Dum Aloo, the spices seep in nicely into the potatoes. & our potatoes stay flavourful from within without staying bland. Once you have pierced holes in the potatoes, then our prep for potatoes is completed. Once you have prepared the potatoes like this, Just the next step to finish where we will cook some spices, & add the potatoes, give it Dum & our Dum Aloo will be ready. It's a very easy process.
In Kashmiri household recipe, when this Dum Aloo is cooked, they just use some simple spices. Kashmiri dried red chilli is used & Dum Aloo are prepared. A lot of households don't use curd. Even onion & garlic is not used as the Pandit households onion & garlic is avoided. & it is substituted with asafoetida. So, today I'm making that same recipe. I'm not even going to use the curd. I've heard that in Wazwan cuisine, when Dum Aloo is made, then curd is used. So, if you do want to use curd in this recipe, then I will tell you the stage where you can add it. But even without curd, with this recipe, the results are really delicious. So, if you haven't tried them before then definitely try making them without curd as well.
Now, for the next step, we have to grind some whole spices, & then the further step is easy. Let's see. In a mortar & pestle take 2 black cardamom, 4 green cardamom, & I'm adding 2 inch cinnamon sticks in this. Grind it lightly, just enough to break the cardamom pods to release the seeds, & the cinnamon sticks break into smaller pieces. Like this, just lightly grind the whole spices. Now, I'm going to cook in the same oil in which potatoes were fried. I'm removing 2 ladles of oil & keeping only as much is needed to cook. This recipe generally uses oil on a slightly higher side. Heat the oil again, then to this add 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 2 bay leaves, 4-5 cloves, & add the whole spices that we lightly ground. At this stage, add 3 tbsp of kashmiri dried red chilli powder to a bowl, & add hot water to make a red chilli paste. Now add this paste into the hot oil. Making this paste prevents your red chilli powder from burning. Cook the red chilli on low flame for 1-2 minutes. If you want to add curd to this recipe, then mix it along with the red chilli powder & other spices & add it at this stage. After cooking it for 1-2 minutes, then to this add 1 tsp asafoetida. I've made fennel powder here, so add 2 tbsp of fennel powder, & add 1 tbsp dried ginger powder to this. Stir it properly & cook these spices on medium flame. Kashmiri cuisine has a generous use of fennel powder & ginger powder & the flavour of fennel powder tastes incredible in this Dum Aloo. So definitely use it. It's a very important ingredient. Nicely cook this spice mix on medium flame for 3-4 minutes. You can see how our spices are nicely cooked. At this stage, add the potatoes that we had fried earlier. & add salt to taste. Now stir it nicely & cook the potatoes on medium high flame with the spices. Once you have cooked the potatoes for 2-3 minutes with the spices, then add hot water to it. To know how much water to add, you have to add enough to reach the surface of the potatoes. Add water & stir well & bring it to a boil. Once the water is boiling, then cover it with a lid. Add the lid & place some heavy weight on top, & reduce the flame to low & now you have to cook the Dum Aloo on Dum (under pressure). We have left the Dum Aloo to cook on Dum. & kept some weight on top. Some people prefer to add foil paper or cover with a cloth, to cook on Dum. In some houses it is cooked in the cooker, without allowing it to whistle, just under pressure it is cooked. So that due to the steam and pressure the spices seep into the potatoes. & it's texture transforms too. Only then can a Dum Aloo be called Dum Aloo. Just cooking it in spices won't give you Dum Aloo. So cooking these potatoes for 20-25 minutes on Dum is very essential. By doing this you will see that the texture of Dum Aloo will completely change & the spices will penetrate the potatoes. & these Dum Aloo don't have a lot of gravy as such. It just has a thick scanty gravy & that is how it should be & it tastes amazing with rice. Cook it on low flame for 20-25 minutes. If you want to check in between you can do it just once. But if you have added enough water, then the water will reduce, & your potatoes will not stick to the bottom.
After 20-25 minutes, let's check the status of our Dum Aloo. So, you can see after 20-25 minutes, the look, the consistency & the texture of the gravy, everything is completely changed. The gravy has become thick & scanty & this is the colour & consistency of the gravy that you should get. Taste at this stage, & adjust the salt if you need to. You don't need to add anything else at this stage. Let me check & show you how nicely potatoes are cooked. & you can see that the spices have nicely seeped through in it. Our Dum Aloo is ready. Let's plate them YFL style...
Did you see how easy it is to make Dum Aloo. & it was such a joy to eat these Dum Aloo today. It is such a simple recipe without using onions or garlic or even sautéing anything for long, & with a simple method these Kashmiri Dum Aloo are made. & I'm sure you all will love it. While I was eating, you may have noticed how the spices had permeated through the potatoes, & inspite of such a simple recipe, it tastes so rich. Do try this recipe at your home & tell me in the comments how did you like this recipe. Share this video with your friends & family. Hit the Like button if you've liked this recipe. Follow & Subscribe to YFL if you haven't yet. Have an amazing time with this beautiful Dum Aloo recipe at your home. Cheers!