Small whole potatoes, pricked and fried golden, then simmered slowly in yoghurt with Kashmiri chilli, fennel and dried ginger.
What makes it kashmiri dum aloo
Small potatoes, pricked and fried whole.
A yoghurt gravy with Kashmiri chilli, fennel and dried ginger.
No onion, garlic or tomato.
Where it comes from
A Kashmiri Pandit dish at heart — no onion, no garlic, no tomato — cooked for feasts and festivals and now on menus all over India. The potatoes are boiled, pricked all over and fried so the gravy soaks in, then left to cook slowly, on dum, in their sauce.
Its gravy follows the same logic as rogan josh: red from Kashmiri chilli, warm with fennel and dried ginger, softened with yoghurt.
How it varies
Punjabi dum aloo
A different dish: onion and tomato gravy, the potatoes often hollowed and stuffed.