Alur Dom (Bengali Aloo Dum)

Preparation

1. Rinse the potatoes very well. If using baby potatoes, then remove the mud or dirt lodged in the peels with a soft brush.
2. Then parboil or par-cook the potatoes in a steamer or pressure cooker. You can also cook the potatoes in the Instant Pot.
3. To cook potatoes in a stovetop pressure cooker, place the potatoes in a 3 litre cooker. Add water almost covering them. Pressure cook for 1 whistle on medium to medium-high heat.
4. For baby potatoes, cook on high heat until the cooker comes to a full pressure and you can hear the whistle/vent weight making noise or moving. At this point switch off the heat and let the pressure drop naturally in the cooker.
5. When the pressure falls naturally in the cooker, then only open the lid.
6. Remove the par-cooked potatoes carefully with the helps of tongs and set aside to cool on a plate.
7. Once the potatoes are parboiled/half cooked, let them cool at room temperature. Then remove the peels and dice them. For baby potatoes you can keep the peels and prick the potatoes with a fork. An optional step.
8. When the potatoes are cooking, you do the following prep.
9. Grind the onion, ginger and garlic in a grinder or blender. No need to any water while grinding. Make a semi-fine paste or a smooth paste.
10. Chop the tomatoes and blend them in a mixer-grinder or blender to get a fine, smooth puree. You can also finely chop the tomato instead.
11. Grind the cloves and cinnamon sticks in a dry grinder or coffee grinder to a fine powder. You can also choose to crush both these spices finely in a mortar-pestle.
12. Sprinkle ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder all over on the potatoes and mix gently.

Making alur dum

1. Heat mustard oil in a pan. Keep heat to medium. Fry the potatoes till light golden turning over as needed. Remove with a slotted spoon and place them on kitchen paper towels to absorb extra oil.
2. Lower the heat and in the same oil, fry the tej patta until fragrant for a few seconds.
3. Add the onion-ginger-garlic paste. Stirring often sauté on medium-low heat till oil starts to leaves the mixture and till the paste becomes a light brown.
4. Add the tomato puree, the remaining ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder, red chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, salt and sugar.
5. Mix well and sauté on medium-low to medium heat till the oil begins to leave the sides of the onion-tomato masala paste. The masala would also look glossy and thicken.
6. Then add the fried potatoes and stir to combine till the masala coats the potatoes evenly.
7. Add 1 cup water together with the ground cinnamon and cloves powder.
8. You can also add about ¼ teaspoon of garam masala powder instead of the cinnamon and cloves powder.If adding garam masala, then add it towards the end once the dish is cooked.
9. Gently mix taking care that the potatoes do not crumble or break.
10. Simmer on a low heat till the gravy thickens. The gravy has to coat the potatoes well. If you prefer a medium consistency gravy, add some more water.
11. When serving add a teaspoon of ghee on the Aloor Dum. Serve Bengali Alur Dom hot with luchi or poori.