Blogging Marathon #123 Week 3, Day 3
Theme : One ingredient, three dishes

I was planning on making masala potatoes on stovetop but changed my mind to making dum aloo. I was browsing through Pavani’s cookbook and the recipe for dum aloo was very different from usual with coconut in it. I loved the idea and tried the recipe immediately. I substituted ground spices instead of the real ones for most part. I haven’t done grocery shopping and I was low on many of the spices :D.

Dum aloo usually has potatoes deep or shallow fried. I didn’t have time to do that so I skipped that part and used plain cooked potatoes. The curry was delicious despite that. I served this with basmati rice cooked with a little salt and a spoon of butter. The recipe served three of us for lunch.

Read on for the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 10-12 baby potatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder or per taste
• 1 tablespoon coriander powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 teaspoons poppy seeds/almonds/walnuts
• 2 cloves
• 1” piece cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons dried coconut flakes
• 4 peppercorns
• 1 big onion, sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1” piece ginger
• 2 medium tomatoes, pureed
• 1-2 tablespoons butter/ghee/oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup milk
• Salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash and cook the baby potatoes. I used Steam function in Instant Pot with the nozzle in Sealing position. Let the pressure release naturally. Once the potatoes are cool enough to touch, peel the skin, prick with a fork all over and set aside. You can shallow or deep fry it at this point, but I decided to skip this step.
2. In a microwave safe bowl, add the onions with a tablespoon or so of water and let it cook for about 2 minutes or until the onions are cooked. I usually cover the bowl with a ceramic plate whenever I microwave onions. Once it’s cooled down, grind into a fine paste along with garlic and ginger. Transfer the paste back to the same bowl it was cooked and set aside.
3. In the same blender jar, make a paste of chili powder, coriander powder, cumin seeds, poppy seeds(or nuts), cloves, cinnamon, peppercorns and coconut. Add a little water to make a dry smooth paste. Transfer this paste to a bowl and set aside.
4. Puree the two tomatoes and set aside.
5. Heat butter, ghee or oil in a pan and add the onion-ginger -garlic paste. Let it cook for a couple of minutes and then add the ground spices and coconut paste. Mix and let it cook for a couple more minutes. Now add the tomato purée and salt as needed. Let everything cook for 3-5 minutes. Add water in 1/4 cupfuls if the masalas stick to the bottom of the pan.
6. Now add the peeled potatoes and add the milk. Add a little more water if needed to adjust the consistency to your preference. Taste test and adjust seasonings if needed. Serve with basmati rice or roti.