Bengali aloor dum recipe with Choto aloo and koraishuti for winter

Bengali aloor dum recipe with choto aloo and korashuti is a wintertime delicacy at my home. It is basically a Bengali style dum aloo recipe with baby potatoes and green peas.

Aloo means “potato” and Dum means “slow cooking”, so in that context, Bengali aloor dum means a slow cooked potato curry. Bengalis have 2 versions of aloor dum recipe. One is Amish version (with onion and garlic), and the other one is the Niramish version (without onion and garlic or similar to Jain style). Today I am going to share my Amish Aloor Dum recipe with choto notun aloo or baby potatoes and koraishuti .

For making Bengali amish aloor dum, cook choto aloo(baby potatoes) and green peas with onion, garlic, tomato, chilli and garam masala. This potato curry is delicious, can have it with roti, Luchi (Bengali poori), koraishutir kochuri, radhaballavi , paratha or moori(puffed rice).

Since my childhood, I have seen my mom making aloor dum using a pressure cooker for boiling potatoes. If she made it in winter, she always used notun aloo(winter-time newly harvested potato). Sometimes made with notun choto aloo(called baby potatoes) or medium-sized notun aloo. Pressure cook choto aloo Then made the onion garlic gravy separately and slow cook the boiled potatoes in the gravy until the spices infused into the potatoes. However, when this dish was invented, pressure cookers had not reached Bengali kitchens, and the whole cooking was going through slow cooking or the dum method, and we know aloo takes a long time to cook.

The traditional method can make it more tasty but I follow my mom’s cooking technique, that is quick and easy.

Today I am going to share my Amish Aloor Dum recipe with choto notun alu or baby potatoes. Though two types of notun aloo are available in the market, one is baby potatoes(choto alu) and other one is normal size potatoes. You can make this recipe with the normal one too, however cut it into halves or quarter before cooking. The procedure will be the same as described below.

Follow each step of this recipe and get the same aloor dum I cook at my home and if you like it, please comment me in the comment section below.

Some other Bengali Aloor Dum recipes from my website;

• Bengali niramish aloo dum recipe (without onion garlic)
• Bhoger aloo dum

Bengali aloor dum recipe with Choto aloo and koraishuti for winter

Ingredients

• 500 g Nutun Choto Aloo(Baby Potatoes)
• 1 cup Green Peas
• 3 tbsp Mustard oil
• 3 Onion(medium size)
• 1 tsp Ginger paste
• 1 1/2 tsp Garlic paste
• 2 Tomatoes(medium size)
• 2 Green Chillies
• 1 tsp Cumin powder
• 1 tsp Coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp Garam masala powder
• 1 1/2  tsp Turmeric powder
• 1 tsp Red chili powder
• 1/2 tsp Sugar
• Salt(as per taste)

For tempering

• 2 Bay leaves
• 1 tsp Whole cumin seeds

For Bhaja masala(dry roasting)

• 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp Coriander seeds
• 1 Whole Red Chilies

Prep time: 15-20 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Served in: 40 mins

Cuisine: Bengali

Course: main course

Author: Moumita Paul

How to make Bengali aloor dum recipe with Choto aloo and koraishuti with step by step pictures:

Instruction

1 First thoroughly wash the potatoes. Then prick them with a fork, which helps in quick cooking.

2 Now, place the potatoes (do not remove skin) in a pressure cooker, add water and salt. Set the cooker on the high flame, and keep its whistle on.

3 After two whistles, turn off the heat and do not open the pressure cooker until cool down or automatically releases pressure.

4 Thereafter, drain the water from the potatoes through a strainer. Once cool down, slowly remove the skin.

5. Sprinkle some salt and turmeric powder over the potatoes and coat all potatoes with it.

6. In a blender or mixer jar, add the onions. Make a smooth paste, add a little water if required.

7.  Heat a deep bottom pan(nonstick) on medium heat. Add oil, heat it too.

8. Fry the salt and turmeric coated potatoes until golden from all sides. Remove them from the pan.

9. Add cumin seeds and bay leaves into the same pan and let it crackle.

10. Next, add the onion paste into the oil and fry until brown and release oil from the sides.

 11. It is time to add tomatoes to the pan. Mix the tomatoes with the onion paste. Cover the pan with a lid for a minute and let the tomatoes nicely soft.

12. After a minute add ginger, garlic, and green chili paste one by one. Stir it continuously.

13. Then add cumin powder, coriander powder, red chili powder one by one.

14. Add sugar and salt. When the spices start releasing oil from their side and a wonderful aroma comes out of the masalas(spices), then add green peas to it and keep stirring.

15. After a few minutes, add about half a cup of hot water to the masalas and let it boil.

16. Once the bubble appears on the gravy, add the potatoes and keep stirring. While the potatoes are nicely coated with the masalas, add some more hot water.

17. Afterwards, cover the pan with a lid and let it boil for some time.  Meanwhile, slow down the heat, after every 5 minutes check the consistency of the gravy as we need the semi-gravy consistency for the aloor dum.

18.  Add sprinkle a handful of chopped coriander leaves from the top and mix it well.

19. Just after that, add the powdered garam masalas nicely mixed with it.

20. Sprinkle dry roasted masala powder from the top of the Aloor Dum, and mix it nicely.  Choto alu ar koraishuti diye Bengali aloor dum is ready, garnish with chopped coriander.

Tips

If potatoes get overcooked then first cool it down, and keep it the refrigerator for a minimum of 30 minutes. This method will help to get a little firmness in alu and not make the curry mushy.

If you are not using a nonstick pan then heat the pan until releases smoke. After adding mustard oil, again heat the oil to release a little smoke. Then only fry the potatoes, otherwise, potatoes can stick to the pan.

Pricking over the potatoes will help them to quickly get cooked and absorb the spices through the pricking hole.

Fry the masalas properly or else the raw smell of masalas will ruin the taste.