Puchkawalar Spicy Aloo Dum Recipe or Dry Spicy Curried Baby Potatoes. And this belongs to the street food hall of fame in Kolkata, the city I have called home since birth. In Kolkata, the puchkawalas or the Gol Gappa Walas, also sell an aloo dum or dum aloo, whatever you want to call it, 9 out of 10 times. And this aloo dum is not what every Bong mom cooks with garam masala and ghee on top. It is hard core! Spiced with freshly roasted coarsely ground masalas, soured with tamarind and amped up with a ton of green chilies, it is a snack I sometimes miss even more than the puchkas themselves. Don’t blame me if your mouth is puckering up!
My elder sister is an out and out foodie and she has spent considerable amount of energy in sourcing the real recipe from the horse’s mouth ( her neighborhood puchkawala) and then testing it out in her kitchen. Mom once made the cardinal mistake of tasting what she tested and giving some feedback, “Na puchkawalar hather Ekta alada taste hoi ( the puchka wala one tastes unique) “ and then that called for even more testing. Finally, she was ready to share her secret with the world which she did. And the secret is not even a secret. Very common ingredients cooked to create a crescendo of salt, sour and heat in your palate.
Another point to be noted here is that this spicy aloo dum recipe is cooked without the usage of onion and garlic. So it qualifies for vegetarian or Niramish Aloor Dom. Bengalis consider onion and garlic non vegetarian for reasons that I definitely cannot concur and wrap my head around.
Spicy Aloo Dum Recipe from Streets of Kolkata
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Spicy Aloo Dum – Puchkawala Style
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 50
- Total Time: 70
Description
Puchkawalar Spicy Aloo Dum Recipe is cooked to perfection in home made and grounded spices to create a crescendo of salt, sour and heat in your palate.
Ingredients
Puchkawala Spice Mix
- Whole Cumin Seeds – 1/4 cup ( Jeera)
- Coriander Seeds – 1/8 cup ( Dhania)
- Saunf – 1 tbsp ( Fennel Seeds)
- Dried Red Chilies – 5
- Star Anise – 1, small ( or half of a big one)
- Black Peppercorns – 1 tsp
- Rock Salt – 2 tsp
Aloo Dum
- Baby Potatoes – 15
- Mustard Oil – 1/3 cup
- Bay Leaf – 2
- Asafetida powder – 1 tsp
- Dried Red Chilies – 2
- Whole Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp
- Grated Fresh Ginger Root – 1 1/2 tbsp
- Green Chilies – 3-4, pounded in a mortar pestle
- Turmeric Powder – 11/2 tsp
- Cumin Powder – 1 tbsp
- Coriander Powder – 2 tsp
- Kashmiri Red Chili Powder – 2 tsp
- Red Chili powder – 2 tsp
- Tomato Ketchup – 1 1/2 tbsp
- Tamarind Pulp – 1 tsp
- Salt – To Taste
- Sugar – 1 tsp
- Lemon juice – To taste
- Cilantro – 3 tbsp, finely chopped
Instructions
For the Spice mix
- Heat a pan and add the dried red chilies. Dry roast them for 3-4 mins continuously stirring as it may burn easily. Set aside the red chilies.
- Now to the same pan, add the asafetida powder, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, black peppercorns, fennel seeds and star anise. Dry roast them while stirring for 3-4 mins until you get the nutty smell of the spices. Be very vigilant so that the spices do not burn. Set aside and let it cool.
- Now in a spice grinder, add all the spices and the rock salt. Grind to a fine consistency and store in an airtight jar.
For the Aloo Dum
- Bring about 2 liters of water to a boil. Add 2 tsp of salt and put the potatoes in.
- Boil the potatoes for 10-15 mins until they are fork tender. Take them out of the water and let them cool a bit.
- Peel the skin off. Remember that the potatoes should not be over cooked and should be just fork tender.
- Now heat a pan, and add the mustard oil. As the oil gets heated, in a minute or so, add the cumin seeds, bay leaves and dried red chilies.
- Add the potatoes, turmeric powder and salt. Stir and cook them till they become golden brown in color. This easily takes 5 mins.
- Add the grated ginger and green chilies and mix it in. Keep stirring and cooking for 2-3 mins.
- Separately in a bowl take 1/2 cup of lukewarm water and mix in the cumin powder, coriander powder and the red chili powder.
- Pour it in the potatoes and mix it in. Add the tomato ketchup and tamarind pulp. Mix it in.
- Keep cooking over medium flame for another 4-5 mins. If you feel that the potatoes are a tad bit too hard and the sauce is really dry, add 1/2 cup of hot water and cook the potatoes covered for 3-4 minutes over medium flame. The sauce should be reduced by then too.
- The dish is dry and the sauce will be barely coating the potatoes.
- At this point check the seasoning, Add salt and sugar to taste. The salt should not be overpowering as we will also use the spice mix with rock salt too. Remove from stove.
- Sprinkle in the lemon juice.
- Now take 11/2 tbsp of the puchkawala spice mix and mix it well.
- Sprinkle in chopped cilantro and serve right away.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4
- Calories: 0
- Sugar: 0
- Sodium: 0
- Fat: 0
- Saturated Fat: 0
- Unsaturated Fat: 0
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 0
- Protein: 0
- Cholesterol: 0
Keywords: Spicy Aloo Dum Recipe, Puchkawala Aloo Dum Recipe, Spicy Dum Aloo Recipe
Find it online: https://www.myfridayfoodswings.com/spicy-aloo-dum-recipe/ [5]
It is said that onion and garlic increases body heat and may cause hormones to surge. Well, I am not defying the hormonal impact here cause good food causes everything to surge and not just hormones. But my argument would be why “non vegetarian”. Anyways, that’s not something I am looking forward to debating today.
I was craving for the puchkawala style spicy Aloo Dum and I went ahead and cooked some. The other two in my family could not care less. But I was excited. The taste and the memories took me back home.
Along with Spicy Aloo Dum Recipe, you may also like the recipes below:
Telengana Aloo [6]