Nepalese Dum Aloo | Baby Potatoes simmered in garlic-chile sauce | 660 curries

I have never waited so eagerly for a cook-book to arrive, leave alone that this is probably the most expensive book I have ordered by far. Raghavan Iyer 660 curries is a modern take on Indian curries written so elaborately that enhances your understanding of Indian flavours/spices. The recipes just entice you. The book is so full of flavorful spice blends, pastes, and 660 curries not just from all over India but also from Nepal/Pakistan/SriLanka . I have spent only 4-5 days with the book and I have already fallen in love with it. If you love "Indian food" this is one must-have Indian cook-book. I will do a detailed review once I am post the honey-moon period with 660 Curries ;)

I had a bag of baby potatoes and as I was flipping through the potato recipe pages, my eyes flirted with the line "Baby potatoes with garlic-chile sauce", I was sold on the idea immediately. Garlic and chili are my two favorite ingredients and it had to be the first recipe I would try from the book. I was blown away with the end dish, the flavors were bursting in my mouth at every bite and it was nothing similar to what I had eaten/cooked before. The sauce was super-addictive and at the end of the meal I was left wishing I had more sauce to lick away :).

I was extremely pleased with my plating for this dish, thanks to Master chef Australia - I have picked up quite a few things from the show. For once I spent more than my usual time visualizing how i wanted to plate it , the idea of running a slit through the potatoes and pouring the sauce over it and garnishing with some leaves worked very well. And S did a splendid job of capturing what I visualized. After-all we eat first with our eyes and nose! :)

Ingredients

Recipe Source - Raghavan Iyer 660 curries

Serves - 2
Spice Level - Spicy and very flavorful
Prep Time - 20 min
Cook time - 20 min

Baby Potatoes - 300 gm [ do not peel, wash and scrub them well]
5 medium sized garlic cloves
2 green chilli
1 Tbsp oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp nigella seeds
1/2 Tsp bishops weed or 1/4 tsp dried thyme mixed with 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper [I used thyme with pepper]
1 bay leaf
Salt - as needed
1/2 Tsp kashmiri chilli powder
1/4 Tsp turmeric
1 Sprig curry leaves

How do you do it

1. Bring a sauce pan with water to boil and drop the baby potatoes in and let them cook with its lid covered until they are tender but firm looking - 15 minutes

2. While the potatoes are cooking mince the garlic and green chillies together and keep aside.

3. Drain the potatoes, reserve 2 cups of cooking water.

4. Heat oil in a kadai, sprinkle cumin/fennel/thyme-black pepper mix and bay-leaf. Let them roast to give a good aroma - 30 sec. Add the garlic-chile blend and stir fry until garlic is light brown and you get the pungent smell from the chile - 1-2 minutes. Remove the kadai from flame now, add in salt, turmeric powder, kashmiri chilli powder and curry leaves, and mix well. The heat from oil will be enough to cook this.

5. Return the kadai to the flame and add the baby potatoes with the 2 cups reserved water, mix well and bring to boil. Cook in low-medium flame, simmering/stirring now and then until the potatoes are fall-apart tender and the sauce is thickened.

This was a good combination with pulkas. I am sure it would be go well with a bowl of dal and steamed rice.



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