DUM ALOO

I adapted this recipe from Manjula's Kitchen. She has a great collection of recipe videos at her site, and everything is really good. I modified the recipe a little by adding onions and tomatoes along with garlic and also substituted the regular powder with whole spices. This version was also tasted great. It went well with chapathis. I even added some fat-free half and half to make the gravy richer. This is a low-fat recipe since I shallow fried the onions instead of deep frying and used fat-free yogurt and half and half. I know that this is not the traditional way of preparing dum aloo, but this one is sure a winner. I cut the potatoes into small pieces for fast and even cooking since I used very less oil and cooked them in a nonstick pan.

INGREDIENTS:
TO ROAST AND GRIND:
1. Sesame seeds, 1 tablespoon.
2. Fennel seeds, ½ teaspoon.
3. Coriander seeds, 1 tablespoon.
4. Dried coconut powder, 1 teaspoon.
5. Dried red chilies, 1-2.

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
1. Medium-size potatoes, 2.
2. Medium size red onion, 1.
3. Tomato, small, 1.
4. Green chilies, 1-2. (I have used mild Korean peppers).
5. Ginger-garlic paste, 1 teaspoon.
6. Besan, 1 tablespoon.
7. Paprika powder, 1 tablespoon.
8. Garam masala, 1 teaspoon.
9. Yogurt, 1 tablespoon.
10. Fresh cream or half and half, ¼ cup. (I have used fat-free half and half here)
11. Salt as per taste.
12. Lemon juice, 1 tablespoon.

PREPARATION:
Peel the potatoes and dice them into small bite-size pieces. The potato cubes can be deep-fried or shallow-fried until they are brown and tender. Drain the potatoes into a paper towel and let it cool. Roast all the ingredients given under roast and grind and let it cool. Grind it to a smooth paste by adding some water. In the same pan used for roasting, add the besan powder and keep frying it for 5 minutes under low flame until it loses its raw smell and transfer the besan to a plate. Take the blended contents into a bowl and add yogurt, besan, cream, salt, paprika powder, garam masala and mix everything well. Dice the onions, tomatoes, and green chilies finely. Heat the same pan used for roasting and add the diced onions and fry them for a few minutes until they are brown. Then add the diced tomatoes, green chilies, and ginger-garlic paste and keep sautéing until everything is well blended. Now add 1 cup of water, the paste, mix everything well and cook closed for 5 minutes under medium flame. After 5 minutes, add the fried potatoes along with chopped cilantro and let everything cook for a few more minutes until the desired consistency is reached. Serve hot dum aloo with any types of breads or chapathis.