The dum aloo success story

I have been so excited about my kashmiri dum aloo inspired dish, I knew i had to blog about it! So i drew inspiration from vah re vah video and peppered in my own style and here is how it looked and tasted awesome.

Before you venture, i must admit it is not a very healthy dish for the potatoes floating in there. But anything had in sufficient quantities is healthy even potatoes! :)

Ingredients

Onion finely chopped- 1

Potatoes ( small ) - 8 to 10

Chilly powder - 2 tsp heaps (or to your spice level)

Garam masala - 1/4th tsp ( i am not a huge fan of garam masala, hence lesso of it )

Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp

Amchur powder- 1/8th tsp ( can be substituted with tamarind )

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

Kasoori methi - 1 tsp
Elaichi ( cardamom ) - 2 green and 1 black

Curd - 1/2 cup thick beaten

Procedure 

• Boil the potatoes until half cooked ( i let it in the pressure cooker for 1 whistle )
• In the meanwhile fry the onion + ginger garlic paste + crushed elaichis and kasoori methi in a spoon of oil.
• Heat water in a bowl such that it is near boiling and add the masala powders to it. Let sit.
• Peel the potatoes and fork-poke them so that they have sufficient holes to let the masala seep through.
• Now add the potatoes to the fried onions and fry until they are light brown and are coated with onions and methi.
• Now pour the masala mix. Add salt. Add enough hot water such that the potatoes are almost submerged. Let it simmer until the gravy thickens and the raw masala smell leaves.
• Once the gravy is sufficiently thick ( takes about 20 min to get there ), lower the flame and simmer without the lid.
• Now pour the beaten curd to the mixture. Make sure the gravy is not pipping hot when you add the curd, or the curd with break.
• Simmer for another 2 to 3 min in low flame. Sprinkle finely chopped coriander leaves.

Enjoy with rice or parathas

Final Variations -

•  I added a dollop of kulfi icecream before taking the dish off the stove. It gave a smooth malai touch to the dish
• Cooking for a party, make a cahew paste and pour into the gravy. top it with cream.

Well its not a healthy dish... But then.. what the hell? You have to treat yourself once in a while! :)

Few summer recipes

Seems like the demise of the blog is in sight! Ladies, lets not let that happen! what say?

I know most of us have been busy, travelling or simply plain lazy! So here is my effort in resurrecting -

Avocado parathas -

I decided to substitute, ghee /butter ingredient in flour with 1/4th of ripe avocado.

2 cups of wheat flour

hot water

1 tsp of chilly power (optional)

salt to taste

half of a small avocado OR 1/3rd of large one.

Knead the dough like usual with the buttery avocado. No need of oil/ghee and the parathas are simply delectable. Melts in the mouth. I had them with mirchi ka salan

Tofu grills

We have been into a lots of grilling since summer and though i agree that "grill" often refers to meat, I have tried veggie options and loved it too. Tofu has been a good hit and here is how it is made -

Get extra firm tofu from store.

for marinade -

mix olive oil, chilly powder, salt, mixture of coriander+pudina. Mix and match this to you taste and ingredients. I never add the same ingredients twice! :)

smear the tofu pieces, cut in cuboidal slabs. Let sit for one hour. they are ready to be grilled! :)

Beach Sandwiches -

I name them so, since last week i had them at NC beach, made by my friend sapu and they tasted heavenly! So here is how i repeated/modified her recipe -

Whip 2 Tbps light mayo, 2 tsps of red chilly flakes, pepper and salt to taste. toss in grated carrots/grated cucumber/grated capsicum and tomato. Spread lightly, so that the sandwiches arent thick. Makes a great outdoor picnic snack. nyum!

Blue potato chips

This is not a recipe. Incase i raised that question!

I am a huge fan of terra chips. The exotic veggies in their chips are truly awesome and some taste very similar to tapioca and jackfruit chips we get in kerala. Thats another reason i love them.

I had their blue potato chips on the flight. they are made from naturally blue potatoes and they had a nutty flavor. yum!

I say try the terra chips for a change from the usual ones!

Hope summer is treating everyone well!