Why this recipe works
This is a lighter, more fragrant cousin of the North Indian dum aloo. It opens with panch phoron, the Bengali five-spice, spluttered in mustard oil, and builds a thin, ginger-led gravy, often without onion or garlic (niramish). The pricked, pre-cooked potatoes then slow-cook (dum) to soak it all up.
Ingredients
Method
-
1
Parboil, prick and lightly fry the baby potatoes.
Why prick: the holes let the light gravy soak into the potato during the slow dum cook.
-
2
Splutter panch phoron in mustard oil.
Why panch phoron: the Bengali five-spice, bloomed whole in hot oil, gives the curry its distinctive fragrant, faintly bitter-sweet base.
-
3
Add ginger, tomato and ground spices, and cook to a light masala.
-
4
Add the potatoes and a little water, and simmer (dum) until they soak up the gravy.
An honest word
Bengali aloo dum is a light, gentle curry: a thin, fragrant gravy and modest oil, far less rich than the yogurt-heavy Kashmiri version. Being potato-based, it is best paired with a dal or protein to round out the meal, and the potatoes can be roasted rather than fried to keep it lighter still. A lovely, everyday vegetarian dish.