Cooking
Bengali Aloo Dum (Spiced Baby Potatoes)
Oct
We have recently teamed up with the wonderful Kankana from the blog Playful Cooking for a giveaway to celebrate the launch of her beutiful new cookbook called “Taste of Eastern India”.
The cookbook is a celebration of her love of Bengali food, the food she grew up with as a child, the food her grandmother and mother used to cook for her and her family. It is filled with tasty recipes such as vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes, street foods, snacks, drinks, comfort hearty food, desserts and some long-lost dishes. To make sure the recipes are success Kankana has added notes, tips and any kind of alternatives that might be applicable.
If you don’t believe us, check out this lovely video 🙂
To spread her love of Bengali food with our customers & readers, Kankana has kindly agreed to let us share one of the recipes of her blog with you. She suggested to go for “Bengali Aloo Dum (Spiced Baby Potatoes)” as it is a very popular breakfast dish during the festive season that is upon us. Click this link for the original recipe: https://www.playfulcooking.com/breakfast/bengali-aloo-dum/
Here’s how to make this delicious dish:
Bengali Aloo Dum (Spiced Baby Potatoes)
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1 lb./500 gm baby potatoes
- 1 tablespoon mustard oil
- 1 teaspoon Indian Five Spice (paanch phoron)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1 medium red onion, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon garam masala powder
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- finely chopped cilantro for garnish
Directions
- Boil the baby potatoes with lots of salt and then peel the skin off. Keep it aside.
- Place a heavy bottom saucepan at medium heat and drizzle the mustard oil. When the oil heats up, drop the paanch phoron, cinnamon stick, bay leaf and sugar. Give it a couple of seconds for the spices to sizzle and the sugar to caramelize. Then, scatter the onion, ginger and sprinkle the salt. Stir and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add tomato paste, stir and cook for 3 minutes.
- Take a bowl and add turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and chili powder along with 2 tablespoons of water. Give it a mix and pour it to the pan. Stir and cook for about 5 minutes or until you see the oil being released from the corner of the pan.
- Drop the boiled potatoes and stir to coat the spice mix evenly. Cook for 2 minutes and pour enough water to dunk the potatoes. Crank up the heat on the stove and bring the water to a boil. Then, lower the heat to medium and let it simmer 5 minutes. Sprinkle garam masala powder and let it cook for 3 more minutes. Check for salt at this point and add any, if required.
- I like it semi gravy so I stop cooking here and let it sit for a while before serving. If you prefer it with lots of gravy, add more water and let it cook for some more time.
- It tastes best when served warm.
Notes
Kankana used tomato paste only because she likes the rich color it gives. You can always replace it with 2 medium juicy tomatoes. This spiced baby potato stew is often paired with luchi (fried mini flat bread).
Enjoy!
AUTHOR BIO: This recipe has been created by Kankana Saxena, who runs the food blog Playful Cooking. The blog is her culinary space where she unfold memories, shares stories and tries new flavours. Easy effortless cooking with fresh ingredients is her mantra and she likes to carry that in her everyday meals. You can also follow Kankana on Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | YouTube