Dahi Aloo is delicious recipe of potatoes simmered in spiced and tangy yogurt sauce. It is also called Dahi Wale Aloo and is best served with roti, chapati or steamed rice.
Rinse and then boil/steam potatoes till they are completely cooked.
You can cook them in a 3 litre stovetop pressure cooker with 2 cups water for 3 to 4 whistles. Or choose to steam them in an Instant Pot or steamer pan or electric cooker adding water as needed.
When the pressure drops on its own in the cooker, then only remove the lid. Carefully remove the potatoes with a pair of tongs and set aside to cool.
When the potatoes are still warm, peel them. Crumble and keep aside.
In another bowl, take the fresh curd or dahi (yogurt) and whisk till smooth.
Add 2 to 2.5 tablespoons of besan (gram flour).
Next add 1.5 cups water and whisk this mixture till smooth. There should be no tiny lumps of gram flour in this slurry mixture
Chop the onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and green chilies finely.
Making dahi aloo
In a pan heat 2 tbsp oil and add cumin seeds. Fry on low heat till the cumin seeds crackle and change color.
Then add finely chopped onions.
Stirring often sauté onions on low to medium-low heat till the onions turn translucent and are softened.
Add finely chopped ginger, finely chopped garlic and finely chopped green chilies. Stir and sauté for half a minute on low to medium-low heat.
Next add curry leaves and asafoetida. Sauté on low to medium-low heat for about half a minute.
Now add finely chopped tomatoes.
Stir and saute on medium-low to medium heat or till the tomatoes become pulpy and you see oil leaving sides of the masala mixture.
Add turmeric powder, red chili powder and coriander powder. For a spicier gravy add ¼ to ½ teaspoon more of the red chili powder. Stir and mix very well.
Now add the boiled crumbled potatoes. Stir and sauté for about 2 minutes on low to medium-low heat.
Keep the flame to a low or turn off the heat and then add the curd and gram flour slurry.
As soon as you add the curd slurry, stir immediately. Stir and mix thoroughly.
Simmer the gravy for 8 to 10 minutes on a low heat. If the gravy becomes thick, then you can add some water.
Season with salt as per taste.
Stir to mix and then add garam masala powder and 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves. Switch off the heat.
Lastly, stir and serve Dahi Aloo with either chapati or roti or steamed rice. It also goes very well with cumin rice or peas pulao.
Notes
To make recipes like these that uses curd or dahi, it is best to use fresh homemade curd.
For a more fancier and richer version of the recipe, you can choose to shallow fry or deep fry raw potato cubes until light golden, instead of boiling or steaming them.
To thicken the yogurt sauce gram flour is used. If you are not a fan of gram flour, try using cornflour (cornstarch) or rice flour or tapioca flour. But keep in mind that the taste of the dish will be different when you use these flours.