Ingredients
- 1 kg of boiled potatoes ( I ask my vendor to give me pahari aloo, which is not sweet)
- 6 cloves of garlic
- dried red chilli
- mustard oil ( substitute with refined oil if you don't like mustard oil)
- 2 small red onions
- Haldi / tumeric powder
- artificial food colouring ( this is optional, I will explain why I use this*)
*the artificial food colour that I use is easily available and is most commonly used in red velvet cakes. The reason I use food colour for my aloodum even though I don't encourage using it too often is because I always get requests from friends to teach them how to make "rato ,peero aloo" meaning 'red and spicy aloo' in Nepali. I tried using red chilli powder in the past but it only made my aloodum extra spicy in a very unpleasant manner and failed to impart a red colour into the dish. Hence, the artificial colour!! * remember this artificial colour is optional but I do recommend it, since no one likes pale yellow aloodum)
steps to boil the potatoes.
- place the medium sized potatoes in a pressure cooker, jacket on and add water till all the potatoes are covered.
- next put it on high heat and leave it till you hear the first whistle, then lower the heat, keep it on medium heat till second whistle and then turn it off. (depends on the size of the potatoes)
- open the cooker drain out the hot water and let the potatoes cool down slowly. It will continue cooking in it's own heat.
- Once cooled, peel and cut into bite size pieces as shown in the picture.
spice prep
- take some dried red chilly ( I used about 6 or 7) and boil it in quarter cup water for about 3 minutes after it comes to a boil.
- peel garlic cloves and add it to the boiled red chilly after removing it from the boiling water.
- make it a paste using hand blender or mortar and pestle.
- slice the onion as shown in the picture.
Let's start
- Add some mustard oil into a non stick pan, once the oil heats up, throw in the onion followed by salt to taste (add enough salt for the potatoes) and Tumeric/Haldi (one teaspoon). The smell is amazing if you like mustard oil. (some people at this point like to add in some kala zeera/ black cumin seeds for additional flavour, I love it too, unfortunately I could not find it in my kirana store)
- once the onion begins to turn golden, add the chilly garlic paste. ( be careful and switch on the exhaust to avoid sneezing like a maniac)
- Let that sizzle on medium heat for 30 seconds or so and add in a quarter cup of water and some food colour( I used about 4 or 5 drops). Let the sauce emulsify for about 2 to 3 minutes and throw in your diced potatoes.
- After this point, I toss the dish as a whole, holding the handles of the pan .... I try not to use a ladle or a spoon to do the stirring to avoid the potatoes from breaking up into a mash. Remember the potatoes are cooked already, so this stage just allows the potatoes to drink up the spice and the salt slowly on medium heat.
- let it cool down and then its ready to serve ( most of us enjoy this cold)
Great pairings:
- Puri ( deep fried Indian bread).
- Sel Roti ( sweetened, deep fried rice bread)
- Regular bread.
- Simple egg fried rice.
- Phulka (or even pita bread)
- In Kalimpong, people enjoy it with thukpa (boiled noodles, drained and mixed in the same spice paste and cooled down)
- Bhujiya ( popular Indian snack made from gram flour or besan)
- Fried Chura ( beaten rice, deep fried)
- I know some friends who enjoy it with potato wafers/local chips...potato with potato :p)
I had some Oranges in my fridge.. so I made some orange water to cool down my stomach after this fiery affair!!
Enjoy and remember to cook from your heart!!
