Dum Aloo (Stuffed potatoes cooked in gravy, Main course, Vegetarian)

Dum-Aloo with cream dressing

Dum is a method of cooking in which the vessel with all ingredients is sealed and then placed on low heat without disturbing for the time duration required.  In earlier times when food was cooked on charcoal stove, Dum cooking used to be totally different as the subtle heat of charcoal stove is totally different than the heat of gas stove.  Baking in sealed vessel is the good alternative. Kashmir is famous for its scenic beauty and rich delicious food. Dum Aloo is prepared in almost whole of the Northern India with different variations but the one made in Kashmir is simply delicious and I place it in number one position. I give here my own version of Dum Aloo which my children love very much :)

Preparation Time:   20min.

Cooking Time: 60min.

Servings:  Makes six large servings.

Ingredients Required For Preparing Aloo for Dum Aloo:

• 250gm. Potatoes (medium size)

For Stuffing:

• 50 gm. Cottage cheese

• 4-5 cashew nuts

• 1 Tea spoon finely cut onion

• 1/4 Tea spoon finely cut Green chili

• 1/4tea spoon Amchur

• 2Tea spoon Mozilla cheese (optional)

• 50 gm. Corn flour

• Salt to taste

• Cooking oil for frying

Ingredients Required for gravy of Dum Aloo:

• 2 Medium size Onions

• 4-5 Cloves of garlic

• 2-3 cm. Piece of Ginger

• 1 Medium size Tomato

• 2cm. Piece of Cinnamon

• 2-3 Cloves

• 2 Bay leaves

Ingredients for Dum Aloo

• 10-15 ml. Cream

• 3-4 Teaspoon Grated Mozilla Cheese

• Red Chili powder to taste

• 1 Tea spoon Kashmiri Mirchi Powder

• 10ml. Cooking oil

Directions for Preparing Dum Aloo:

• Boil the potatoes.

• Peel them and cut to two equal halves.

• Scoop the center portion of the potatoes to form a cup of each half.

Boiled potato being scooped to make a cup

Cups of Boiled potato made to cup by scooping the center of potato

• Keep each half with its pair.

• Mash the potato pieces which have been obtained by scooping each piece of boiled potato.

• Take cheese, onion, cashew, salt, mashed scooping of potatoes, green chili and amchur.

• Mix all the ingredients in the bowl nicely.

Filling of Paneer, Mozilla cheese, onion, cashew and scooped potato pieces

• In a bowl take 3-4 tea spoon of corn flour and 2-3 spoon water. Mix to make a batter.

• Take each half of potato with a hollow in the center and fill the hollow with the cheese mixture.

One half of the boiled scooped potato being filled with the filling

Potato cups filled with the filling

•  Apply a little corn flour paste on the outer edges of the hollow and stick the two parts together.

Two filled halves being joined with the help of corn flour paste

•  Keep the filled potato aside to allow the two halves to stick to each other.

Two halves of stuffed Potato joined together

• Repeat with all the halved and scooped pair of potatoes.

• Roll the filled potatoes in corn flour to cover them with corn flour.

• Take oil in a thick bottom wok and heat on high flame, when the oil is smoking hot lower the flame.

• Put the potatoes one by one in the hot oil and fry to golden brown color on low flame.

Stuffed Potatoes rolled in corn flour and  being fried

• Potatoes are ready to be added to the gravy and cooked it dum.

Stuffed and fried potatoes for Dum Aloo

 Direction for Making Gravy for Dum Aloo:

• Peel and cut onions, garlic and grate ginger.

• Cut Tomato.

• Take 10 ml. cooking oil in a wok and heat it in high flame.

• When the oil is hot then add to it bay leaves, cloves and cinnamon.

• Let it cook for 30sec.

• Add cut onions and cook with regular stirring till they turn golden brown.

• Add garlic and ginger and cook for one min.

• Add tomato and cook till tomato pieces get cooked and become soft.

• Remove from gas and cool.

• Grind it to make a fine paste.

• Take a thick bottom pan with lid and take the paste of cooked spices in it.

• Add

• 100 ml. water

• Mozilla cheese

• Red chili powder

• Kashmiri Mirchi Powder

• Salt and mix nicely.

• Put stuffed potatoes in the gravy and cover with the lid.

• Seal the lid with dough of wheat flour,

• Keep a thick tawa (iron plate) on low flame and keep the pan with gravy and potatoes on it and let it cook in dum for at least 30min.

• Switch off the gas and let the pan be on hot tawa for another 10-15 min.

• Break the seal carefully.

• Open the lid and add cream.

• Give a gentle stir.

• Take out in a serving bowl and garnish with coriander leaves/ cherry/or simply ringlets of onion.

Aloo Dum

• Serve hot Dum Aloo with roti http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2011/10/roti-indian-bread-no-oil-dry-so-low-on.html
  

  

  Aloo Dum with Paratha and Raita

     Tips:

• Make sure that the gravy is thinner than you require when you put potatoes to be cooked in it.

• Finally cooked gravy should never be flowing thin; it should be like cake batter.

• The pan taken for cooking in dum should be very thick bottom else dum aloo will burn.

 Suggested Variations:

• The gravy and fried potatoes can be taken in a glass container covered and sealed and baked at 180 C for 30 min.

• Into the cooked dum aloo finely cut and fried cashew and almonds can be added.

• Make Gravy Lazawab http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2011/11/white-gravy-1.html,  or Creamy Delicious Gravy http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2011/11/white-gravy-2.html  and cook stuffed fried potatoes in dum in  any of the two gravies.

Tangy Mango Pickle /आम का achar ( Maharashtrian style)

Pickle with chick peas

Pickle ready for bottling

From May end to June end all over India lady of the house gets busy making mango pickle for the entire year. Before the monsoon sets in it should be made bottled and kept in a dry place. I wonder what life would be without mango pickle! Be it the lunch box, picnic basket, or dining table pickle is an omnipresent side dish. In Maharashtra as well as southern part of India mango pickle is made with Mustard seeds and other spices unlike northern India where it is made with fennel seeds and other spices. The oil which is used again makes the taste different from Maharashtra to southern India. In Maharashtra normally ground nut oil is used whereas in southern part sesame oil is used. Whatever may be the ingredients mango pickle will remain mango pickle, which tickles the taste buds of old, young and kids alike.

Preparation Time: 30 min.( For preparing the spices and cutting Mangoes)

Making Time: 90 min. (Time to marinate the mango pieces not included)

Servings: 1.5 kg. Pickle will be made (approximately)

Ingredients Required for Making Mango Pickle:

• 1 kg. Raw Mangoes

Raw mangoes for pickle

• 100 gm. Mustard seeds

• 100 gm. Red chili powder

Red chili powder

• 50 gm. Red Kashmiri mirchi Powder

Kashmiri  Mirchi powder

• 100 gm. Salt (or to taste)

• 1Tea spoon Asafoetida

• 50 gm. Turmeric powder

• 50 gm. Ginger

• 10-15 Kadi Patta (curry leaves)

• 500 ml. Ground nut oil

Direction for making Mango Pickle:

• Wash and wipe the mangoes dry with a clean cloth.

• Cut the top end where the stalk is connected to the mango.

• Keep the mangoes under the sun on a clean cloth /plastic/plate for 30min. to make sure they are dry from outside.

• Cut the mangoes to the required size.

Mango pieces

• Take the mango pieces in a steel/glass bowl and add 50 gm. salt turmeric powder and mix thoroughly.

Salt and Turmeric added to the mango pieces for marination

• Cover with a plate or cloth and keep under the sun for 5-6 hr.

• Liquid from mango mixture will separate out.

Liquid from marination of mango pieces

• Remove the mango pieces and keep in a dry plate.

Marinated mango pieces

• While the mango pieces are marinating make coarse powder of mustard seeds.

• Clean, dry, peel and make paste of ginger.

Ginger paste

• To the liquid add mustard powder, salt, 10 gm. chili powder, 10 gm. Kashmiri mirchi powder and mix.

Salt, Red chili powder, Mustard seed powder

Spices in liquid from marination

• Add 100 ml. oil and mix to make a fine paste.

Oil added to the spices and liquid from marination

Spices paste ready to be added to the marinated mango pieces

• Mix the paste of spices to the marinated mango pieces.

Spices paste mixed with mango pieces

• Keep under the sun covered with cloth /plate for 4-5 hr.

• Take 400ml. oil in a wok and heat it on high flame till it is smoking hot.

• When smoking hot switch off the gas and let it cool for 10 min.

Oil heated to smoking hot and being cooled before Kadi patta is added

• Keep the wok with oil on low flame if the oil becomes cold.

• Add Kadi patta, asafoetida, and cook for 1 min. 

kadi Patta added to hot oil

• Add ginger paste and cook till all moisture evaporates.

Ginger paste added to kadi patta

Ginger paste cooked and ready for chili powder to be added

• Add red chili powder and Kashmiri mirchi powder and cook 30sec.

• Pour the hot oil spices mixture to the mango pieces with spices paste and mix thoroughly.

Chili powder and Kashmiri mirchi powder added and ready to be added to the mango pieces

• Cool it to room temperature before bottling.

Pickle ready for bottling

Pickle with chick peas

• Pickle takes 30 days for maturing.

Serve the pickle with Pulav, Parathas, Dosa, Uttapa it enhances the taste of every meal. That is why it is 

said : Sabka Yar Achar

Tips:

• Mango for pickle should have hard kernel else pickle will not last long.

Mango with hard Kernel for Pickle

• Mustard seed powder or mustard seeds cleaned and halved (Dali of Rai as it is called in Maharashtra) is available in the market. It can be used for making pickle.

• While adding chili powder to hot oil, make sure the oil is not smoking hot else the chili powder will become black leaving unpleasant color and taste to the pickle.

• All utensils used should be dry.

• Spices should be sun dried.

• If you get the mangoes cut from market wash them with water and vinegar mixture (1:10 ratio of vinegar and water) and then dry under the sun.

• Do not bottle the pickle in a plastic container. Plastic contains harmful chemicals which dissolve in pickle.

Suggested Variations:

• Jaggery can be added to the pickle just before it is being bottled. For one Kg. mango 200-250gm. jaggery can be added. Addition of jaggery gives the pickle sweetish sour taste.

• Garlic paste can be added along with ginger paste.

• Ginger and garlic amount can be increased to the taste. More the ginger and garlic amount better it is for the health also.

• Garlic cloves can be added to the pickle before bottling.

• Chick peas can be added to the pickle after cleaning them with clean cloth, just before bottling.

• Garlic and chick absorb the juices of pickle and swell up in a month time and taste very nice.

• White vinegar can be added to the pickle before bottling to increase the shelf life of the pickle. For one Kg. of mango 50 ml. of vinegar is enough.