Finger Lickin' Dum Aloo

This morning I received a mail from my friend Tracy who runs Operation Shanti (http://operationshanti.blogspot.in/ ) that our 6 kids studying at St. Francis School (Central Syllabus) have performed very well in their 4th Unit Test.  Nanjunda, studying in the Second Standard scored 86% and Surya also in the same class, scored 98%.  Even the 4 Kindergarten kids did very well at school. This is very good news and I had to share it with my readers.

Sometimes, when I read or hear some news, it triggers some memories of my wonderful childhood and at its very center stood the most beautiful woman in the world - my mom.  She was herself childlike and innocent, my friend and many a times even my playmate.   We played silly games at home on holidays and ate way too much fruit, chocolates and peanut chikkis!  She cooked few dishes, but whatever she cooked tasted too good.  My mom made potato chips (french fries) so often, we even had it for breakfast on many days!  Those were the days of potato chips and Kissan Tomato Sauce... mmmm...  I love potatoes in any form, fried, cooked with daal or as a gravy, mixed with other veggies, or simply boiled and mashed (with a big dollop of salted butter... ooooh whats wrong with me!!!).  One thought is leading to the other and if I continue in this way I'll never give you a recipe in this posting!


Anyways, here's the story of my Dum Aloo adventure.  I wanted to cook the cute baby potatoes in gravy and simply made up my own recipe one day as I like simple methods of cooking and hate to fuss with preparing one dish over several hours. End of story and the recipe for my Dum Aloo for 4 - 6 persons is:


Ingredients:
Baby potatoes (washed and pealed)     1 kilo
Onions quartered                                  2 big/3 medium
Garlic                                                   6-8 small cloves
Ginger                                                  1/2 inch piece
Tomato (freshly pureed)                       1 cup
Coriander seeds                                   1 tbs
Cumin seeds                                         1 tsp
Dry red Kashmir chili                            4-5 or per taste
Turmeric powder                                  1/4 tsp
Garam masala                                       1/2 tsp
Oil                                                        3 tbs
Salt                                                       1 tsp
Coriander leaves chopped fine              2 tbs


Method:

• Dry roast in a wok, Coriander seeds, Cumin seeds and dry red Kashmir chillies, until the aromas just begin to rise.  Cool and blend the mixture in a dry blender (I prepare a bigger quantity and store in an airtight bottle to use it for some of my other preparations).  
• Blend together onions, garlic and ginger into a paste.
• Heat oil in a wok and add the ground onion, garlic, ginger paste and stir fry on low to medium flame until the color changes slightly to golden (all of it will not change to golden unless you add double the quantity of oil - and that can be avoided).
• Add turmeric powder and the dry ground powder of coriander, cumin and chili and stir well for half a minute.  
• Add the baby potatoes, mix well and allow it to cook on low flame for 2-3 minutes. Stir now and then.
• Now add the salt and tomato puree and mix well.
• Cover with a tight lid and cook on low flame until the potatoes get cooked.  Stir occasionally.
• Add 1/4 cup of water if the gravy tends to dry up.
• Once the potatoes are cooked, sprinkle garam masala and turn off the flame.  Cover and keep for 5 minutes.  
• Mix well, garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot with rotis.

Note:  I cooked this dish in my pressure cooker.  I did not add extra water as tomatoes have enough and the pressure inside the cooker, with around 2 whistles is just enough to cook the potatoes quickly.

Good luck with baby potatoes!