I guess I tasted this dish for the very first time about ten years ago. I was completing my internship then and I and my colleagues cum friends used to have lunch together. One of my friends brought Kashmiri Dum Aloo for lunch and I saw those baby potatoes for the first time. I still remember how I was wondering about its small size and how much time it would take to peel off those small potatoes. But I love potatoes in any form and that delicacy was stamped on my mind. I had about two-three failed attempts making it later in a few years and then I simply quit. Wandering in an Indian store last week, I came across these baby potatoes again and thought of giving another chance to this recipe. As I have a lot more spare time now compared to then, I could google many recipes to finally come up with this. Therefore, I won’t claim that this is an authentic one, but I can guarantee this is the best one 😉

Ingredients:

• 1-pound baby potatoes, cleaned and peeled
• 1 1/2 cups plain curd
• 7-8 kashmiri red chilies
• 1 teaspoon asafoetida
• 1 ½ teaspoon red chili powder
• ½ teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds powder
• ½ teaspoon cumin powder
• Peanut oil for frying potatoes
• 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
• Salt to taste

Serves: 4

Procedure:

• Soak all Kashmiri red chilies in warm water for half hour. I prefer to deseed chilies but if you don’t want to then that’s fine too. Soaking chilies in water will ease it to grind into a fine paste. You can use the water that you used to soak them while grinding. And keep rest of the water aside. The paste should be thick and not runny.
• Now deep fry all potatoes till they turn golden brown. And keep aside on a paper towel.
• In a large bowl, add curd and whisk it till no lumps remain. Add the water we kept aside along with the chili paste and fennel seeds powder. Give it a good stir.
• Now heat oil in a skillet and add cumin powder and asafoetida. Followed by turmeric and red chili powder. Keep stove on low heat and make sure you won’t burn those spices.
• Now pour the curd mixture. Keep flame on low and keep stirring continuously so that batter won’t curdle.
• Add potatoes to the mixture and mix well. Keep a lid on the skillet and let it cook on low flame for about 10-15 minutes.
• When you remove the lid, you will see bubbles and oil floating on top. Let it rest for 5 minutes and then serve with steamed rice or any Indian flatbread.