Bong’s are usually purely non vegetarians. On a regular day they include vegetable curries in their diet, but for special occasion the vegetarian dish has to be spicy and rich in flavor. Dam Aloo, known as Aloo’r Dam in Bengali is a popular vegetarian dish that Bengalese enjoy with Luchi (deep fried bread made with flour) or Kachuri. This works as a starter for elaborate Bengali main course in special Bengali occasions like Weddings.
On a holiday, for lunch, I can only make this starter part of the Bengali main course. But making the Luchi or Kachori will require more time commitment. So today we settled to have our lunch with Bong style Dam Aloo with readymade paratha.
If you are wondering what to make for side dish for a Thanksgiving dinner, you can definitely consider this dish. Little spice would definitely spice up the dinner.
Priya Banerjee
Yields 4
5 minPrep Time
20 minCook Time
25 minTotal Time

Ingredients
- 6 medium size potatoes
- 2 tomatoes
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 and 1/2 inch of ginger root
- 1/4 teaspoon of hing or Asfoetida
- 1 teaspoon of Turmeric powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder. You can use more to spice it up
- 2 teaspoon of cumin seeds
- 2 dried red chili
- 1/2 teaspoon of panch phoron
Instructions
- Boil the potatoes in a pressure cooker or instant pot or microwave or in stove top. Do not put cold water on the the hot potato as it breaks up the potatoes.
- Peel the potatoes and cut it in half or 1/4th based on the size of the potatoes
- Crush the ginger and garlic in a blender and make a paste.
- Cut the tomatoes in small pieces.
- In a skillet heat one tablespoon of oil and fry the potatoes until it starts to turn light brown. Take the potatoes out of the skillet.
- Add cumin, and asfoetida in the oil.
- Add the ginger garlic paste in the oil. Let it fry for 30 sec.
- Add tomatoes in the oil and fry it for 3 min.
- Add cumin powder, turmeric powder, chili powder in the pan and saute until the oil separates out. Add little of bit water as necessary and based on the amount of gravy you want to keep.
- Add salt, sugar to taste.
- Add the potatoes and let it cook for 3 to 4 min.
- In a separate skillet, fry the rest of the cumin seeds, panch phoron and dried red chili until the cumin seeds turns dark brown.
- Crush the fried masala in a blender and add the powder on top of the dam aloo before removing the pan from the stove.
- Add little more dry masala for garnish.
Comments