Dum aloo recipe – Easy, delicious, creamy & flavorful restaurant style dum aloo recipe made of spicy onion, tomatoes, cashews & yogurt gravy. Dum aloo is one of the classic Indian dishes served in a special meals like weddings, celebrations or festivals . Dum aloo goes great with ghee rice, plain basmati rice, jeera rice, lachha paratha, plain paratha, puri, naan or roti.
In restaurants to make dum aloo recipe, most times potatoes are deep fried which impart a great unique melt-in-the-mouth texture to the potatoes. They turn light, tender, delicious and flavorful when added to the spicy gravy. This texture can however not be got by just boiling or steaming them.
For a home cooked dum aloo recipe to make the dish healthy, the potatoes can be boiled and used. However I have parboiled them for 3 to 4 mins, then fried them in 3 to 4 tbsp oil for 3 to 4 mins. Then drained the oil and fried until golden. Then they are added to the gravy and dum cooked for a brief time. The dum cooking process makes the aloo very flavorful and delicious.
More Indian potato recipes
Potato curry
Aloo gobi
Potato kurma
Dum aloo recipe
Dum aloo recipe
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
Ingredients for dum aloo recipe
- 250 grams potatoes (about 25 small baby potatoes)
- 1 cup onions cubed or 2 large
- 1 tomato ripe medium deseeded ( do not use sour tomato)
- 10 cashew nuts or almonds
- 1 to 2 tbsp oil
- 1 green chilli slit
- 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
- salt as needed
- 3 tbsps thick curd or dahi or plain yogurt ( do not use sour one)
- 2 tbsp coriander leaves chopped
Spices for dum aloo recipe
- 1 bay leaf -very small or half – tej patta
- 1 green cardamom or ealichi
- ½ to ¾ tsp garam masala
- ½ to ¾ tsp coriander powder
- ½ to ¾ tsp kashmiri chilli powder
- 1/8 tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp kasuri methi or dried fenugreek leaves
Instructions
Preparation for dum aloo recipe
- Wash and peel potatoes. If using large potatoes, then cube them to equal size. If using baby potatoes make sure all are of the same size. Prick them with a fork to ensure they get cooked from inside as well.
Preparing aloo for dum aloo
- Option 1 -Boil the potatoes in 3 cups water until almost cooked or al dente (not mushy). OROption 2 Parboil them for 3 to 4 mins. Then cool & shallow fry them in 3 to 4 tbsp of oil until golden. Set them aside. Parboiled and then fried potatoes taste best in the gravy.
- Make a fine paste of cashews, onions and tomatoes. Keep this aside.
Making dum aloo recipe
- Heat a pan with oil, and saute bay leaf and cardamom. Fry ginger garlic paste until the raw smell goes.
- Add the onion tomato paste and saute until the raw smell goes away and the paste thickens slightly.
- Next add chili powder, garam masala, salt and turmeric. Saute until the masala smells good and leave the sides of the pan.
- Pour curd and saute until it turns thick.
- Add potatoes and ½ to ¾ cup water. Stir well and bring the mixture to a boil.
- Cover with a tight lid or foil. Dum cook on a low heat for 5 to 7 minutes. At this stage the gravy must be thick and potatoes fully cooked.
- Sprinkle crushed kasuri methi. Stir and cook for just another minute. switch off.
- Sprinkle coriander leaves and transfer dum aloo to a serving bowl. Keep covered until dum aloo is served.
Notes
Nutrition
Preparation for dum aloo recipe
1. I have used baby potatoes, but they can be replaced with cubed medium sized potatoes. Wash, peel, cube if large and prick them with fork randomly a few times. If using uneven sized baby potatoes, cut the large size ones to make all of them of the same size. This way they cook evenly.
Preparing potatoes
2. Option 1 – Boil the potatoes in 3 cups of water until almost cooked or al dente (not mushy). Remove from water and keep aside.
OR
Option 2 – Parboil potatoes for just 3 to 4 mins. Cool & then fry them in 3 to 4 tbsps of oil until golden. You can shallow fry, deep fry or pan fry until golden.
I prefer to parboil first and then fry them for 3 mins in oil.
3. I drained off the oil and pan roasted until golden. I do this just to avoid heating oil for a long time. Set these aside.
4. Add cubed onions, deseeded tomatoes and cashews to a blender jar. I am not sure if you can skip cashews. But they lend a richness to the gravy.
5. Make a smooth paste.
How to make dum aloo recipe
6. Heat the pan with little oil. Add bay leaf & green cardamom. Saute just for a minute. Add ginger garlic paste and green chili. Saute until the raw smell goes off.
7. Add the ground paste.
8. Saute until the paste thickens and raw smell goes away.
9. Add salt, turmeric, red chilli powder and garam masala. I used this punjabi garam masala.
10. Saute until the onion tomato masala begins to leave the sides of the pan. Make sure the raw smell has completely gone before you proceed with the next step.
11. Add fresh curd / yogurt. Please note: Do not use sour curd / yogurt.
12. Saute until it thickens and bubbles.
13. Add the fried potatoes and then ½ cup water. If needed add ¼ cup more.
14. Bring the gravy to a boil. Cover with a air tight lid or foil. Then dum cook on a very low flame for 5 to 7 mins. Check whether the potatoes are soft cooked. Make sure the gravy has reached a thick consistency. It thickens a bit more when cooled.
15. Add crushed kasuri methi. Cook for just a minute. Switch off.
Transfer to a serving bowl. Keep dum aloo covered until you serve. Serve with plain paratha, laccha paratha, naan, roti, plain basmathi rice or jeera rice.
Mel says
Hi Swasthi,
The recipe states to use methi (fenugreek seeds?) or fenugreek leaves. I’ve read that the flavors of the seeds and leaves are different. Is that true? Will the dish taste different depending on which one I use? Can the two be used interchangeably?
Also, I just bought a bag of dried fenugreek leaves. Is there an efficient way to separate the leaves from the stems or a brand you recommend that has less leaves?
Thank you very much,
Mel
swasthi says
Hi Mel
I have mentioned it as dried fenugreek leaves. We use the leaves along with the stems as most of the flavor comes from the stems.I usually keep the leaves in the fridge. They will turn crisp. Just before adding to the curries, I crush them in my palm and add. The stems will get crushed as they are crisp and turn to small bits. The flavor comes out well this way. Hope this helps.
jo says
sooper receipe… thank you soo much . u r great . heliping lot of people by sharing healthy receipies
swasthi says
Welcome Jo
Thank you so much.
Shwetha says
Please update crab curry .I follow only ur website..
Thanks.
swasthi says
Hi Shwetha
I do not know how to make crab curry. We don’t eat
Shewta says
I made this dum aloo, ghee rice, vegetables pakora for a small party. All turned out fabulous. My guests were astonished as my cooking skills as I am just 19 years. Thank you di for the blog
swasthi says
Hi Shweta
You are welcome. Thank you so much for the comment. Very happy to know you could make good food. Thanks again
🙂
Drishti says
Yummy 😋
Nimmy says
Hey swasthi,
Dum aloo is my favourite recipe from your blog and made it a lot of times. Can you please be clear about frying potatoes in the recipe. I get confused about it as it is not clear. 🙏 for the 😋 recipes.
swasthi says
Hi Nimmy
Thank you very much for the comment. I found out what you meant. I will update it. Thanks again for trying.
Anshu says
Yummy dum aloo 😋.
I made this for a potluck and every one loved it very much. Thank you
swasthi says
Welcome Anshu
So glad to know it came out good. Thanks for the comment.
Suparna says
Hi, lovely recipe. Will surely try, is there an option to print it out? i cant find one and will be great if i could print this.
Drishtie says
Hi,
I couldn’t grind the tomatoes and onions and cashews without adding water to them and then I cooked them. Is that ok?
swasthi says
Hi,
Yes that’s ok. You will need to cook longer for the moisture to evaporate.
Drishtie says
Hi,
I really like your recipes but they only make small quantities and I don’t know how to increase them properly as I have just started to learn to cook. How would we increase it for the dum aloo to make a large quantity?
Sincerely,
Drishtie
swasthi says
Hi Drishtie
Thank you. This recipe serves 4, to make 8 servings just double the recipe
SARBJIT SINGH says
I prepare dum aalloos as per your method so tasty every one enjoyed the dish thanks for making my family happy
swasthi says
Thanks for trying
R says
Excellent recipe. Came out so well and so easy to make. Thanks for sharing.
swasthi says
Welcome
Thanks for the comment
Siya rahul says
Yummy. I made this. Turned out very good.
swasthi says
Thanks for trying
Happy to know you liked it
Shaurya says
It’s Soo dam easy dam aloo recipe…
Thanks allot for sharing the information….
It’s just mouth watering ….
It’s amazing one… Thanks allot yaar….
swasthi says
Welcome Shaurya
Thank you
Radha says
I see in the description section you mentioned to boil the potato for 2-3 minutes however in the picture it looks like you have fried them. Whats the best way to prepare the aloo?
swasthi says
Hi Radha
The recipe clearly calls for par boiling for 3 mins. Then drain them and fry them in oil. i have deep fried them just for 3 mins and then drained off the oil. Allowed them to fry in the same pan until golden.
It is always good to parboil aloo, then partially or fully deep fry them until golden. This gives a unique mouth melting texture to the potato
shruti says
Can I give this for lunch to office and school
swasthi says
Hi Shruti
Yes this keeps good in lunch box in air con or AC rooms. If the climate is too hot it turns sour due to the addition of curd. Not sure how it would be in insulated box
Krish says
Perfect ingredients! Thanks for sharing this mouthwatering recipe! I saw your instructions two days back and decided to make it on the weekend. I just made this today, and it came out very well! Best homemade dum aloo that tasted better than a restaurant.
swasthi says
Welcome Krish
Happy to know dum aloo turned out good. Thanks for trying and sharing the outcome
J Ganesh says
Hi Madam. Greetings from me. U have given a good explanation of preparing dum aloo. But what happens is we r not able to get small potatoes all thru the year in our town.
One more thing is that i thought this to be a non-veg item until i read ur recipe details along with photos.
5 stars at any time.
swasthi says
Hi,
Thanks for the comment. You can make this dum aloo using large potatoes. Just cut them to cubes of 1 to 2 inches and use them in the recipe. It works good.
Raj says
amazing madam u r just amazing
swasthi says
Thanks a lot
Ruchi Sharma says
awesome presentation easy to understand and remember… keep posting and send notification on all vegetarian receipes and eggless cakes
swasthi says
Thanks Ruchi. Yes i will be sharing eggless cakes
Shipra Shreya says
Amazing recipe thanks a lot!
swasthi says
Welcome Shipra
rhea das says
The taste was very sweet… none liked it .. I hv followed each n every step vry carefully still this happend… m vry dissapointed.
swasthi says
Hi Rhea
Wonder from where the sweet taste came in your dum aloo after using so many spices, garam masala, chili powder,green chili and no sugar. Have you used sweetened curd? You could have fixed it with simple steps. Add some chopped green chilies and cook the gravy for sometime. Squeeze in some drops of lemon juice. The sweet taste gets balanced
Tanmay Agrawal says
Very Helpful! !!?
swasthi says
Thank you
Uday Khanna says
Thanks dear, being away from home. I miss my wife dishes. Hope I would be able to surprise her once we met .
swasthi says
Welcome Uday Khanna
Yes I assure you will be able to make very good food following my recipes. Have a good day. Thank you
Anchal says
Nice recipes
Harmohini says
I missed cashewnuts as i didnt have at home, and fried onions in beginning instead of patatoes coz i misread. Despite that, it was yum, next time ill follow steps carefully. Thanx a lot for the recipepp
swasthi says
Welcome and thanks for trying
Glad to know you like it.
Rohith says
The best recipe , tried it and it turned out yummieeee 🙂
Rohith says
5 stars actually 3 was by mistake
swasthi says
Thanks for trying and sharing the outcome.
Liza rose says
My favourite receipe I love dum aloo
………..(THANKS RECEIPE SHARE KARNE KE LIYE)……..
swasthi says
Welcome Liza
Prasad says
So nice presentation!!!
GOD BLESS YOU!!
swasthi says
Thank you
🙂