Niramish Alur Dom / No onion garlic Bengali style Dum Aloo

The house is quiet again.
Even though it was a well meaning visit by the in laws, it did not do much to cheer me up.
Only, made me ache for Bapi all the more.
Sankaranti came and went. I did make some pithas for Papa and Mummy too.
But my heart was not in them ... though I did try my best.

No ... I am giving in to moroseness again.
I have promised myself less morbidity in my posts ... so no more of it.
But I hope you will forgive me if I digress once in a while, though.

Winter has come late this time.
The days and the evenings have suddenly turned very cold. All I long for is to snuggle into a blanket and not come out at all.
Which is why, these days I have started to  cook in bulk on some days.
And use the other days to catch up on other things.
Like ... read a little.
Or knit a little.
Or do the laundry.
Or catch a movie.
Or do just plain nothing. It requires an effort ... but it is fun.
I have done it before and loved it. But right now, I wish I did not indulge in it.
Because as soon as I am idle, my mind starts its journey backwards and all the painful memories come rushing back.
So for a while, I will keep moving.

That led me to make a chart.
I selected days of the week to devote them to either cooking, making masalas, grind the pastes to freeze, preparing the atta or do the laundry ... all in bulk.
So far, it has been working well for me.
Gives me, if not whole , at least part of a day. And the evenings.
Keeping my fingers crossed.

 I had made this Alur dom sometime back and had liked it so much that I jotted down the recipe in my ToPost folder.
But I got to click some photographs only recently ... hence making this quick post.
Had made this for my pure vegetarian in laws and surprisingly, they loved it too.
(Surprised because it has the Bengali bhaja moshla ... something they are not used to.)

I could not resist adding some fresh green peas as it is winter.
You can make it plain at other times too.

How to :


Boil 4 large sized potatoes.
( I add some salt to the water when boiling them. )
Crush them and keep aside.

Grate 2 medium sized tomatoes and around 1"ginger.

Heat mustard oil.

Add 1 black cardamom + 2 whole red chilli.
Add the tomato + ginger.

Fry well for a while on high heat.
Add haldi powder + red chilli powder + dhaniya powder(2 tsp) + jeera powder(1 tsp).

Fry well till oil starts to leave sides.

Add the potato + salt + a little sugar.

Toss well. Keep mixing on low flame.

Cover and keep for 10 mins .... checking and stirring in between.

No water. But then I used a non stick kadahi.
You are not using one, you might need to check and if needed, give a sprinkle of water once in a while so that it does not burn at the bottom.

Finally add bhaja moshla , switch off heat and cover and let it stand for 5 mins.

If the tomatoes are not tangy enough, give a squirt of lemon all over it.
You may add a sprinkle of fresh coriander leaves too.

This goes best with parathas or luchis.
Or even hot rotis too.

I love to eat the leftovers( if any ) with some puffed rice.
The very Rajasthani B loves to sprinkle some namkeen on it.

Enjoy whichever way you like.
Just serve it hot.