Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Niramish Alu Dom -- Ma's recipe for Holi

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Bengalis and only bengalis can come up with a term like "Niramish Alu Dom". I mean isn't it plain common sense that Alu Dom IS a "niramish" aka vegetarian dish. But Bongs are so fastidious about their vegetarian food that they divide it in two categories --- (1) the regular vegetarian cooked with vegetables but may contain onion and garlic and (2) the strict satvik vegetarian which uses no onion or garlic.

Onion and garlic are considered as "rajasik" or "tamasik" food which increases body heat and supposedly fuels passion and ignorance. About ignorance I am ignorant but I can imagine the heights of passion that an onion-garlic breath can bring about. Passion to run away.

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But honestly as I said earlier if I have to choose between not shedding tears on my allium and passion, I will go with the former. I am very passionate about my comfort that way. So I was super interested in this super vegetarian alur dom that my Ma made. No onion. No garlic.The Other aloor dom on my blog does have onion after all.

My Ma, the queen of matching up spices with vegetables makes this Alur Dom with the Bhaja Masla that she makes. The smoky, intense bhaja masla makes a spicy gravy that clings to the potatoes like my 3 yr old is wont to do with me. she also uses Methi seeds and Hing which gives off a beautiful flavor to the hot oil and thus the dish. It is an extremely simple recipe with tantalizing results. You wouldn't believe that something so delicious could turn up with such an easy recipe. I mean easy if PBJ sandwich is not the only thing you eat or cook or know about. But even then this is easier than a finely made PBJ sandwich. Me thinks

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Wishing you all a Very Colorful Holi with this Alur Dom. Stay Tuned as I have something to share with you in the next post. Till then "Dhoom Macha De...Raang Jama de"


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Niramish Alu Dom


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Potatoes -- 14 small red ones
Boil for 10-15minutes in salted water till partly cooked
Peel skin, prick the potatoes randomly and toss them with  salt, 1 tsp of ginger paste and 1/2 tsp of Kashmiri Mirch and 1 tsp of garlic paste. Fry the potatoes in 1 tbsp of oil till they develop gold spots.

Edited on April 30th, 2013: In another version I toss the potatoes with salt, ginger powder, amchoor powder, kashmiri mirch and black pepper powder and then fry. The black pepper adds a beautiful layer to the dish


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Next heat 2 tbsp of White Oil + 1/2 tsp ghee.

Temper the Oil with
2 Bay Leaf
2 Dry Red Chili
1 star anise
15-20- methi seeds
1/4 tsp of Hing
Switch off the heat and let the oil soak in the flavor of the spices. Switch back on again.

Add 2 large tomato finely chopped along with 5 green chili chopped in rounds. Or puree 2 large tomatoes with 5 green chili and add that. Fry for 6-7 minutes till the tomato is mushed up and reduced to a sorry pulp.Puree is a better option. Also little tomato paste along with fresh tomatoes works wonder.Note: I had made this alu dom very spicy, you can adjust the chili heat to suit your style.

Add about
1/2 tbsp of grated ginger
and fry for 2 more minutes.

In a bowl make a paste of
1 tbsp yogurt
+ 1/2 tbsp of Corriander powder
+ 1 tbsp and 1 tsp of Bhaja Masla. (Bhaja Masla recipe is here. It is the last one.)
Lower heat and add the paste.
Add 1/2 tsp of Red Chili powder.
Fry the masala, sprinkling water as needed for couple of minutes. Add the potatoes, toss in the masala.

Add about 1 cup of water, salt to taste, 1/2 tsp of sugar and simmer. Cook covered till potatoes are done.

Garnish with chopped coriander and two green chili chopped in thin rounds.


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Test

53 comments:

  1. hmnnn that looks so yum, might give it a go tonight since I have these baby potatoes that need to be cooked up soon.

    What's "bhaja masla" ??

    Thanks for all ur lovely recipes, I love bong food. Grew up in Kolkata so that's where my love comes from. I learnt a few recipes from my maid, miss her yummy food so much.

    Really love reading your blog too!
    Serena

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    1. Serena -- Please check the post just before this one to see Bhaja Masla. thanks

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  2. beautiful alur dom recipe. the bhaja masala is very unique but is very aromatic i guess.
    Happy holi Sandeepa.

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  3. Curry looks so comforting,wish ya happynfestival,...

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  4. Nice photos. Yummy dish, dear. I will make. Take care. It IS me - this is a niramish comment.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks dear. U luv niramish.

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    2. Thanks.I made this dish today niramish for Ashok Sasthi.Its Tasty.

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  5. Sandeepa, Er sathe ektu daal kochuri baniye phelo....
    bass..aar dekhe ke?
    ;-)

    My mom makes one with ginger garlic paste ..delicious...till date failed to reproduce the same taste even with her standing beside me!!! Hather cho(n)wa , i guess!

    d

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    Replies
    1. Eita thik bolecho, same taste amar haath eo ashe na.

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  6. Hey, you forgot the third kind of vegetarian food bongs love- the one that includes fish :) love the pic with the colourful thingy. Curry looks GOOD!

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  7. Yummy, and definitely a true Bong soul food....Hope you had a great colourful Holi with family.

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  8. Just wanted to let you know - it's "coriander", not "corriander" as you keep spelling in your all recipes involving this spice!

    Sami

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    1. Really??? Did you just do a spell check or actually try out this recipe??

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  9. I think we spellled it "corriander' in India, something to do with British English. i will get back to you with more correct information regarding this.

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    1. Hmm..colour becomes color ..flavour becomes flavor ..and so on..British English is diff than US English..

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    2. True, but coriander is still coriander (not corriander) in all forms of English!
      BTW, it has nothing to do with Indian/British/American English- this is just a spelling mistake. I've lived in India my entire life and it has always been c-o-r-i-a-n-d-e-r.

      Sorry, didn't mean to nitpick or be critical!

      Sami

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    3. Thanks Sami, guess you are right (if not proven otherwise) :-D. Please do keep a lookout for other such mistakes on my blog too and let me know. It is critical to be "Critical".

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  10. Quiet delicious but need to make the bhaja masala first I guess. Love your pictures and Happy Holi!

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    Replies
    1. Without the Bhaja masla you can increase the corriander pwd and add little garam masala too

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  11. That certainly looks delicious. I am all for simple and tasty aloo dum. The other dum recipe takes too much time.

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    Replies
    1. The other alu dom that we make is also similar but has onion paste which I am sure your DH would be only too happy to make :)

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  12. Darun hoyeche dekhte and nice recipe...........

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  13. moms' recipes are the best! :) i've been sent a whole bunch of them recently and i am going crazy trying them all.

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    Replies
    1. I love it how your Mom sends the recipes along with the gorgeous pics.

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  14. this alur dom would have been perfect with some luchis this morning...btw wasn't aware of any vegetables apart from potatoes...aren't they synonymous?

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    1. Hey you couch potato. As Vani said veg=fish or mutton for you :)

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  15. Niramish Aloor dom with adda , yeah thats how we make but we dont add yogurt..Got to check the bhaja moshla post..This looks so delicious Sandeepa..and wish I can have that with garam luchis on "Holi" day breakfast after fully soaked up with colours..Lovely..Wish you and yours a very Happy Holi..hugs and smiles

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    Replies
    1. Jaya

      Yogurt is very little to make the paste. My mother use yogurt to make the spice paste instead of water.

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  16. LOL to passion to run away. I feel blessed that the bongs have so many delicious recipes without onion. Simple homey and comfort.Will soon link to yours and will try with the methi and bhaja moshla next time.

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  17. Bong Mom - I recently tasted this Niramish Dum Aloo at a Bong thela served with two Parathas. The Potatoes were soft cooked, had a tangy finish and were garnished with chopped onions, coriander. I now realise yoghurt adding to the tang which was a great compliment to the Alu. Thanks for sharing this. I will surely be making it soon.

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  18. Yes,yes,yes,niramish all the way1 I'm SO not comfortable with onion-garlic1 Don't know why. Just don't like them. I make everything niramish-vegetables,chicken,fish...almost everything!

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  19. I'm really sorry to inform you that this cannot be a Bengali dish. Niramish, maybe. But not Bengali. It has no mustard oil. Who are you kidding? :-D

    So here's a question, what if I made it with mustard oil? Does it become less vegetarian because mustard oil also invokes passion?

    And, here's another, what is White Oil?

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    1. Arre kya re white oil nahi pata ? Safed tel. Okay honestly I don't know. But all non-mustard, non-olive, non-sesame oil is white for me. I switched to peanut btw.

      You might be right on mustard oil and passion track but go ahead and make it. Ideally it needs shuddh ghee.

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  20. barir baire thekeo, your blog still gives me the feeling that bangali khabar na khete peleo, dekhte pabo! :P

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  21. Yummy, I am drooling here :)

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  22. Whoa, 4 types of chilies in different forms, plus the peppercorns in the bhaja masala! Looks lovely.

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  23. This looks really very healthy and delicious too....thanx dear 4 sharing this...nice space nice recipes n nice clicks too.happy to visit here...
    Maha

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  24. this recipe is a keeper - made it on sunday night - the best alu dum I've had [ or made!] Also have a bottle of bhaja masala now thanks to your earlier post!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Nina. I am glad I learned it too.

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  25. The bhaja masla addition is unique - must try this recipe out next time . Chhoto alu ekhono paoa jachhey !

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  26. bhaang er nesha katate gele ektu carbs naa holey ki hoy.. jaai hok, eita holir porer din baashi kheteo khub bhalo lage .. my 2 cents.

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  27. Thanks for it, i tried and it came out fabulous

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  28. I had plans to start cooking after I finished my grads. Now that my finals are over, I started with this recipe tonight. Even though i missed out on a few ingredients like the star anise and coriander leaves, everyone at home simply loved it and I got oodles of compliments! Thank you for this "fatafati" recipe..! Ever so grateful :)

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  29. Good to read but tough to cook,
    The tougher it is to cook, the tastier it gets.
    Nice one.

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  30. Good to read but tough to cook,
    The tougher it is to cook, the tastier it gets.
    Nice one.

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  31. You have made me nostalgic for my beloved Kolkata! I have followed your blog for many years now but I have not posted so far. I was thinking of niramish aloor dom and I saw your recipe which had been bookmarked but not tried out so far. Today is the day. Thank you!

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