Kashmiri Dum Aloo

Whole baby potatoes cooked in mild yogurt and tomato base curry, perfect for a delicious Indian meatless dinner with rice or naan!

Posted On: May, 4 |  Author:
Kashmiri Dum Aloo
Diet Info: DF GF F LF Na LS VG V Fa

Indian Kashmiri Dum Aloo, a mild spiced whole potatoes (aloo) curry cooked lite spices, and healthy yogurt and tomato base. 

This will be the best tasting, authentic and tender whole potato curry you will ever enjoy! With this post, I'm  unfolding few of my favorite hacks to make tender and delicious dum aloo curry, every time!

Oh, and it is not as spicy as it looks. This curry has lite Indian spices, cooling yogurt base, and gorgeous lush red (deceiving) color from tomatoes. In my family, this potato curry is delicious dinner of choice any season of the year.

Kashmiri Dum Aloo in lite and healthy yogurt based curry sauce | chefdehome.com

I often hesitate from cooking whole potatoes for any Indian recipe which is why there is not many potato, I mean Indian potato recipes on blog. Why so?

Well, two reasons: 

1. I don't want to painstakingly work on making whole potato tender when I can cut'em and reduce cooking time.

2. Also, I don't like whole potatoes recipes which leave potatoes flavorless in the middle. You know!? that dead potato center that has no flavor?! It is not for me.

And dum potatoes(aloo) are traditionally made whole. One trick is to buy small baby  which will cook quickly but even those can still lack flavor in center. What good a recipe, if main component of recipe, aloo is not cooked properly?!

Easy Authentic Kashmiri Dum Aloo | chefdehome.com

Here is what I do to make sure aloo in this Dum Aloo recipe are cooked fully and have ton of flavor even when I eat a whole potato. Big promise? Trust me, it is not false promise.

1. I cut most of baby the potatoes in half. (Rule is: no potato should be more that 2 inch thick). So go ahead and use big potatoes for this recipe. Just make sure to follow the rule and cut them 2 inch thick.
2. I pierce the peeled raw potatoes with fork to allow quick cooking, and also to allow penetrating flavors into the potato. (very important)

PS: First-time, I saw Indian Master Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, making this recipe in a TV show in India. In his golden words, piercing the aloo (potatoes) with fork make'em crispy and lite like "air" when fried.

3. Instead of frying for few minutes to just crisp the skin. I like to cook potatoes all way through while shallow frying. This takes 15 minutes but ensures no-raw-aloo in the final dum aloo curry. Yes, you can deep fry'em too. But cooking slow in less oil helps me keep it low-oil and also aloo do not burn from outside while still raw middle. In short, spending 15 minutes in less oil has turned best for me.

4. Now, to enhance the flavors, I toast the spices before sauteing in curry and use tomato puree instead of fresh tomatoes which make a lot difference in the taste and flavor of dum aloo. 

Friends, follow these simple tricks and enjoy a delicious vegetarian dum aloo dinner, any season of the year. 

Oh, and don't forget to serve rice or naan on the side. A few recipes in the suggestions below:

Authentic Kashmiri Dum Aloo | chefdehome.com

Continuing my thoughts on spices and Indian's love for curry a.k.a spiced food..  I must tell you that in Indian homes, a curry is for dinner, no matter how hot it is outside. :) And it gets scorching 120+ Fahrenheit in summers. According to elders, spices in curry help fight stress, calm you down, and make you feel good even on a hot summer day. Well, not sure if this statement is true or not, but we love curries whole year long!  Just so you know, not all spices are hot and warming. A few are, surprisingly cooling and are preferred in summer days. Since we talking about it, let me give you short list of warm and cool Indian spices. Whenever you are making a curry, choose these depending upon when you serving it. Here is the list:

Cooling Spices: cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, green cardamom are all cooling, and mild. So splurge in cardamom tea, yogurt based curries like these dum aloo, or cumin (jeera) lassi or fennel ice cream in summers!

Warming Spices: List is endless. Cinnamon, black cardamom, mustard seeds, cloves, star anise, bay leaves, curry leaves, mace, ratan jot... and list goes on and on...

Delicious Indian dinner with easy potato curry called Kashmiri Dum Aloo - a yogurt base and lite spices make scrumptious base and served with lite rice and green peas pilaf | chefdehome.com

I hope you have wonderful day. I see you around soon..

Cheers! -Savita

A few breads and rice recipes to pair with Dum Aloo:

Homemade No Yeast Garlic Butter Naan Homemade Restaurant-Style Indian Garlic Naan Basmati Jeera Rice

Kashmiri Dum Aloo

5 (3 reviews)
Kashmiri Dum Aloo
Total Time: Prep Time: Cook Time: Cuisine: Indian () Difficulty: Easy
Yields: 4 Servings - Serves: 4
(No. of servings depends on serving size.)

Ingredients

Dum Aloo
Spice Blend
Smart Swap: You can also make same curry with sweet potatoes or even paneer instead of whole potatoes.

Directions

  • Step for Recipe - Kashmiri Dum Aloo 1. Wash the potatoes. Peel off skin and cut big potatoes in half. Prick each potato with fork 2-3 times. (this makes potatoes tender faster when frying and also help absorb flavor in curry sauce later) Additional Notes: Or to save time, cut all in halves and big ones in quarters.
    Step for Recipe - Kashmiri Dum Aloo 2. Heat a dry pan. Add all the spices except chili powder and toast for 30 second or until fragrant. Remove in mortar pestle or spice grinder and grind to a powder. (or skip this step and use powder of all.) Also, soak cashews in milk and set aside.
  • Step for Recipe - Kashmiri Dum Aloo 3. Heat 3 tbsp oil in a heavy bottom (prefer non-stick) sauce pan. Add potatoes and cook until crispy almost brown from all sides.
    Step for Recipe - Kashmiri Dum Aloo 4. Remove potatoes on a plate lined with paper towel. Additional Notes: Test for done-ness - pierce knife through one potato it should sink in smooth. (I mean to say - potatoes should be knife tender). It took me 15 minutes to get'em knife tender in shallow oil.
  • Step for Recipe - Kashmiri Dum Aloo 5. Discard half of the oil from pan. In remaining half, add onion, garlic and ginger and saute until onions are soft. Add chili powder and mix in well.
    Step for Recipe - Kashmiri Dum Aloo 6. While onions cook, grind cashews to a paste with soaking milk. In onion mixture add ground toasted spices and cook for 1 minute. Then add cashew paste and tomato puree and cook for 2-3 minutes until oil separates.
  • Step for Recipe - Kashmiri Dum Aloo 7. Now, reduce heat to lowest, then add yogurt, few tbsp at a time and mix after each addition until all yogurt is in. Increase the heat and continue cook for another 5 minutes or until oil shows on top. Now add fried potatoes with 1/2 cup water, mix well and cook covered for 5 minutes.
    Step for Recipe - Kashmiri Dum Aloo 8. Remove from heat, garnish with cilantro and serve with rice or naan. Recipes for naan and rice in suggestion sections above.
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? Tag @SAVITACHEFDEHOME on Instagram and hashtag it #SAVITACHEFDEHOME

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18 Responses

  1. This turned out SO good. I think using yogurt was a game changer and made it so thick and creamy. I actually used vegan coconut yogurt and it turned out great. I want to make this recipe again with some different veggies next time!
    ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
    Thanks for letting me know. Use of vegan yogurt is a smart move!
  2. How long do you soak the cashews in the milk? And can you describe to me how you grind them? Mortar and pestle? Thanks!
    I leave cashews to soak in milk while I fry potatoes and cook onion. So I would say about 20 minutes. To grid, if you have time to spare then Mortar and pestle is fine or use food processor. You can soak and grind cashews -1-2 days ahead. Sometimes I even use cashews butter as quick alternative. I hope it helps.
  3. I would love to get more recipes thank you
  4. Can this be made without the cashews or can you suggest an alternative? My daughter is severely allergic.
    Cashews give this curry rich nutty flavor and some body to the sauce. That said, you can chose to skip it. The sauce will not be same but will still taste good.
  5. This recipe is wonderful, it is now a firm family favorite! Thank you so much for sharing.
    ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
  6. I have made this endless time. It’s lip smacking. This recipe is the kipper. Thank you for sharing.
    ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
    Swati, thanks for sweet feedback. I'm glad to share the recipe.
  7. I will be trying this today and posting it on my instagram blog for my take on indian food. This is a very detailed blog with step by step instructions, background and even new information I learnt about cool and hot spices. I will be coming back for more inspiration. I have made dum aaloo once when I was around 13 yrs old. This woukd be the second time making these. Plus I am thibking of baking them instead. Let's see how they turn out. Thanks so much!
  8. Tastes wonderful. I couldn't work out when to add the chilli though. I'm a mild person myself so we just left it out this time but I can't seem to see a step where it's added.
    Hi Charly, thanks for your feedback. I can't believe I missed to mention chili powder in the recipe step. Thank you for pointing out. It should be added in Step 5 after sauting onions. I hope you add a bit next time. Kashmiri aloo are not complete without a hint of chili but it is always okay to adjust a recipe per taste. After all that's why it is homemade. Isn't it?Thanks once again and have a wonderful day.
  9. Thank you for the clarification--this was delicious tonight!
    Hi Rachel, I'm glad, I could help. Happy to see you enjoy the curry. :)
  10. Looking forward to making this, but can you clarify--the ingredient list calls for tomato purée, but the instructions say to add the tomato paste. Color and consistency of the finished curry look to me like tomato paste is the ingredient, but can you confirm? Thanks!
    Hi Rachel, thanks for pointing out, I have fixed the recipe step. It is tomato puree not paste. If using paste, I would only add 1.5 tbsp. Also, consistency of dum aloo curry is because of yogurt and cashews. Color is partly tomato puree and part chili powder. I hope it helps. happy cooking!
  11. Very tasty