There are two main versions of Aloo Dum – the Kashmiri version, and a Punjabi version which is generally less spicy than the Kashmiri version.

Dum style cooking is a slow cooking style which allows the ingredients to cook in their own juices and any added sauce. When the lid of the pot is sealed to prevent any steam from escaping it is called dum pukht – dum meaning breathe in and pukht meaning to cook. Dum lets the dish breathe in or steam slowly in its own juices, absorbing the delicate flavour of the spices and herbs. You can still see large cooking pots that are sealed with dough or cloth to trap the steam, cooking the vegetables or rice until tender. It is used most commonly when cooking biryani, and is a technique that is more than 400 years old.

Traditionally only a handful of Indian spices were used for flavour, but with time many more ingredients were added to suit different taste preferences. The dough seal is only opened once the dish was ready to serve to retain maximum flavour. A heavy bottomed clay pot is said to work the best as it releases heat slowly (maintaining the temperature inside) and prevents the fire from burning the bottom of the dish.

While Dum dishes were cooked over open fires with coals added to the top of the pot, today the oven provides a way of maintaining a low heat, and a pot can be sealed with kitchen foil if a dough seal is out of the question. On a stove top a heat diffuser can be used to keep the heat low so that longer cooking is possible. This allows greater infusion of the flavours into the potatoes.

As usual, my recipe for Aloo Dum is one of the simpler ones, home-cooking style, but with extraordinary flavours. You may have Greek or French clay pots, or lovely Indian terracotta ones. I lost my Indian pots when I shifted (they break easily) so sometimes I will use a Chinese clay pot for dishes such as this. The advantage is that it comes with a lid that can be easily sealed with foil, although the sealing isn’t strictly necessary these days for this dish.

Most of the times it is brought directly to the table and then the lid is opened. The result is dramatic, with the rich aroma that comes with the escaping steam is always considered an important part of the experience of a Dum cooked dish. They say that Dum cooking takes years to perfect. The good news is that every trial dish, while not perfect, is jolly jolly good. Just cook with deep respect for the ancient technique, with patience, with love, and with home-made garam masala.

This dish is a little different to those you might see elsewhere. It is Kashmiri rather than from other parts of India. It’s sauce is yoghurt based and does not include onions or tomatoes. Cashews are not added. It it is simply yoghurt and spices, very traditional. The potatoes are first deep fried. This gives them a lovely brown colour and also a crisp coating that prevents them falling apart when they are cooking in the yoghurt sauce. The crispness is lost during cooking in the sauce and they become beautifully infused and soft. Before frying, the potatoes are pricked all over to allow the infusion of flavours.

Similar dishes include Dum Aloo, Potato Fry, Aloo in Aloo, Potato with Onions, and Aloo Gobi.

Browse all of our Potato Curries and all of our Potato dishes. All of our Indian recipes are here, and our Indian Essentials are here. Or explore our Mid Spring recipes.

We use Australian measurements: 1 tspn = 5ml; 1 Tblspn = 20ml; 1 cup = 250ml.

Potatoes peeled, pricked and deep fried, ready for hot-spicy yoghurt sauce, and “dum”.

Dum Aloo | Kashmiri Potatoes in Spicy Yoghurt Sauce

ingredients

250g small, evenly sized potatoes, washed and peeled

Mustard oil for deep frying

1 tspn cumin seeds

1 tspn asafoetida

1 Tblspn whole garam masala (see below)

0.5 tspn Indian chilli powder (or to taste)

1 tspn Kashmiri chilli powder (or to taste)

1 tspn ginger powder

1 – 2 tspn fennel powder, according to taste

8 – 10 whole green chillies (or to taste)

1 cup Indian/Desi yoghurt

1 Tblspn chickpea flour (besan)

0.25 tspn turmeric powder

sea salt to taste (about 0.5 tspn)

garam masala

1cm Cinnamon Stick

1 small Black cardamom

1 Green cardamom

1 small piece mace

small piece Nutmeg

2-3 Cloves

method

Prick the peeled potatoes all over with a fork. Heat the oil in a kadhai or pan and fry the potatoes on medium heat until brown in colour.

Remove the oil from the pan, leaving 1 Tblspn. Fry the cumin, asafoetida and whole garam masala for 1 minute. Add the ginger and fennel powder and cook for 2 minutes more.

Put the potatoes, salt, both chilli powders and the whole green chillies to the spices. Cover and cook for 5 or so minutes on a low heat.

Beat the yoghurt well with the chickpea flour. Add 0.5 cups water and the turmeric powder and beat again. Add the well beaten yoghurt to the potatoes. Cover the pot and seal if desired, and cook in a 160-180C oven or over very low heat on the stove top, until the potatoes are tender and well mixed with the masala, and the gravy has thickened. Use a heat diffuser on the stove top, or place a thick tawa on a low flame and place your cooking dish on top and let it cook in dum for at least 30min.

The time taken will depend on your heat levels and the size of the potatoes, between 30 – 45 mins. Because you are cooking on a very low heat, the dish will be quite forgiving with time. Once you remove it from the heat, allow to sit for another 10 mins before opening.

WARNING the yoghurt may split if the temperature rises too high. The chickpea flour minimises the chances of this by dropping the simmering temperature to below that which splits the yoghurt, but still watch the temp so it is barely a simmer.

Garnish with coriander and a good sprinkle of black pepper.

Serve with parathas, kachori, naan, fried rice, jeera rice or plain rice. Serve lemon wedges and onion slices on the side.

recipe notes and alternatives

The garam masala spices can be ground if desired.

If your yoghurt does split, remove the potatoes and blitz the sauce in a high speed blender before returning to a cleaned pot. Heat gently with the potatoes before serving.

If the sauce is too thin, use a little rice flour or chickpea flour to thicken. The finally cooked sauce should never be thin flowing; it should be a little like like cake batter.