Bandh Aloo

Ingredients

•  500 g potatoes, cut lengthwise and soaked in water
• 75 g oil/ ghee

For the tempering

• 10 black pepper corns
• 8 cloves
• 1 black cardamom
• 3 green cardamoms
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/4 inch cinnamon
• 125 g onions, sliced
• 15 garlic cloves, sliced length wise
• 1/2 inch ginger, scraped
• 7 whole red chillies
• 4 tsp poppy seeds, soaked in water for 30 mins and ground
• 125 g yugurt, well beaten
• 2 tbsp coriander seeds, pounded
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp tumeric

Method

Heat oil or ghee in a degchi or any pan or a pressure cooker to smoking point and add the whole spices. As they crackle, add half the sliced onions and fry on medium heat till very light golden brown.

Add the potatoes and stir on full heat.

Add salt and turmeric and fry for 3 min on medium heat. Ensure that the onions are very light golden before adding the potatoes as they will become darker when fried with the potatoes.

Add rest of the onions, garlic, ginger, whole red chillies, ground poppy ceeds, yugurt, pounded coriander seeds, salt and turmeric and mix well. Cook on medium flame for 3 min stirring occasionally.

Add about 150 ml water and bring it to a boil. Simmer the flame, cover and cook till the potatoes are cooked and the oil rises to the top. Add a few whole green chillies and coriander for garnish and cover for 1 min. Open the lid and serve. If you keep it for longer before serving, the dish will soak in the water, hence add some boiling water to achieve the desired consistency.

When cooking in a pressure cooker: add less water and just when the whistle goes up once, remove it from flame.

You can also cook mutton or chicken using this recipe. For mutton or chicken put 200 ml of water.