The Bengali Dum

Dum Aloo is typically a Kashmiri dish in a rich slow-cooked gravy, but there are so many variants to the actual recipe, this one being a common Bengali weekend brunch one, with a side of fluffy luchis.

Parboil potatoes. Ideally get baby potatoes but we made do with regular ones. Cut into large pieces and set aside. Heat a little oil and add ginger-garlic paste. Then add a diced onion and sauté. Add a diced tomato and some salt, turmeric, red chilli, cumin and coriander powders, and sauté some more. Add a stick or two of cinnamon and throw in two cardamom. Take the mixture off the heat and grind coarsely. Add it back to the pan with the potatoes and cook on until the potatoes are done (add water intermittently so nothing burns). Finish it off with a sprinkle of kasuri methi.

I avoid refined flour in my luchis so I made the dough purely out of whole wheat flour (aata). Knead it into a tight, smooth dough, not soft like you would for roti. Roll using oil (not dry flour) and deep fry.

Serve up!