Goyna Aloor Dum is a splendid Bengali potato curry that's enriched with luxurious pastes of poppy seeds, cashews, and melon seeds. The potatoes are decoratively shaped before being parboiled and fried, then slowly simmered in a luscious gravy fragrant with fresh spices. Though it requires some prep work, this showstopping dum aloo is utterly worth the effort. The result is tender potatoes in an aromatic, silky-smooth curry - perfect with rice, dal, or flatbread.
Sunrise tip: For a richer curry, add a splash of thick coconut milk along with the water when simmering the potatoes in the gravy.
Time: 10 minutes
For the poppy seed paste, drain the soaked poppy seeds and grind to a smooth paste. Set aside.
For the green chilli-coriander paste, grind 4 green chillies with 1/2 cup coriander leaves to a fine paste. Set aside.
For the cashew-charmagaz paste, drain and grind the soaked cashews and melon seeds to a smooth paste. Set aside.
Time: 10 minutes
Slice the peeled potatoes into thick rounds, about 1-1.5 cm thick.
Use cookie cutters to cut out decorative shapes from the potato slices. You can use any shape you like - hearts, stars, flowers, etc.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the shaped potato pieces and parboil for 3-4 minutes until just tender. Drain well.
Heat 1/4 cup oil in a kadai or deep pan. Fry the parboiled potato pieces until lightly golden and partially cooked. Drain on absorbent paper and set aside.
Time: 5 minutes
In the same pan, heat the remaining 1/4 cup oil. Reduce heat to medium.
Add cumin seeds, bay leaves, and whole red chilli. Let them sizzle and turn fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Time: 8 minutes
Add the green chilli-coriander paste and tomato puree. Sauté until the oil starts to separate from the masala.
Stir in the poppy seed paste and mix well.
Add Sunrise Haldi Powder, Sunrise Jeera Powder, Sunrise Dhania Powder, Sunrise Lal Mirch Powder, sugar, and salt. Mix with a splash of water to combine.
Time: 5 minutes
Stir in the cashew-charmagaz paste until well blended with the masala.
Sauté until the oil starts to release again.
Time: 12 minutes
Gently add the partially cooked potato pieces to the bubbling gravy. Stir lightly to coat the potatoes in the masala.
Pour in 1/2 to 1 cup water, depending on the consistency you prefer. Sprinkle in the aloo dum masala and Kashmiri mirch masala.
Stir lightly again. Cover and let the potatoes simmer in the gravy until fully cooked and tender, 8-10 minutes. Add a splash more water if needed.
Time: 5 minutes
Once the potatoes are cooked through, taste and adjust salt if needed.
Garnish liberally with fresh coriander leaves.
Serve piping hot with rice, dal, roti, or paratha. The Goyna Aloor Dum tastes even better the next day!
Side Dish: Steamed rice, jeera rice, roti, paratha, luchi
Accompaniments: Dal, raita, pickle, papad, chutney