Dum Aloo(Baby potatoes cooked in Dum style)

Before entering this phase of cooking,I was under the impression that "Dum cooking" is some what different from the regular cooking and is more complicated.Might be I was under the misconception just because of the tedious process involved in preparing Dum Biriyani's.But when I started learning the complete cooking I got to know the basic differences between various types of cooking and cuisines and got to know the process of Dum cooking.Dum basically means slow cooking and it is achieved by closing the vessel with a lid and sealing it with atta dough in order to avoid the steam from escaping and which results in enhancing the flavors of the dish and this kind of process is generally followed for preparing Biriyani.But also the other dishes do call for this type of cooking where we can simply cover the vessel with a tight lid (which avoids steam from escaping) and is cooked on very low heat for longer time until the flavors are well infused.Here comes one such recipe of Dum style cooking called "Dum Aloo".

Ingredients:

18-20 Baby Potatoes
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 medium onion diced
1 big Tomato finely chopped
1 cup Curd,beaten
1" ginger,chopped
2" ginger Julienned
4 cloves
1" cinnamon stick
2 tbsp chopped cashewnuts
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 bay leaves
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp red chilli powder
1 tsp jeera powder
1 tsp Coriander powder
a pinch of hing
salt to taste
1-2 tbsp ghee
2 tbsp oil


Method:

• Grind the diced onion and chopped ginger to a fine paste.
• Grind together slight dry roasted cloves,cinnamon and cashewnuts into powder.
• Par boil the potatoes,drain and cool them.peel the skin and rub turmeric over it.Prick all over with a fork and deep fry in oil.(I prefer shallow fry or oven bake method for this job).
• Heat oil in a kadai crackle jeera,add bay leaves and hing.Add finely chopped onion and fry till golden brown,add ground onion mixture to it and fry for 2-3 mins.
• Add chopped tomato,chilli powder,cumin powder,coriander powder,salt(required for gravy),haldi and cook until oil separates out from the mixture(approx 3-4 mins).
• Add curd to the mixture and mix properly until mixed well with the other ingredients,add water if necessary and boil it on low to medium heat.
• When the gravy starts bubbling,add fried potatoes to it and enough salt required only for potatoes and cover it and cook on low flame for 8-10 mins until potatoes are cooked.
• Add ghee to it and give a good stir to the curry.
  
• Garnish with Coriander leaves,beaten curd and ginger juliennes.

Serve it hot with roti/Naan/Paratha/Kulcha or Pulav.