Where it comes from
Kashmiri Pandit cooking avoids onion and garlic entirely, so depth comes from asafoetida, dried ginger and fennel powder. The red is Kashmiri chilli — colour without punishment.
Method
- 1
Prick and fry
20:00Boil the potatoes just until tender, peel, prick all over with a fork, and fry in smoking-then-cooled mustard oil until golden.
- 2
Bloom the hing
02:00In the same oil on low heat, add asafoetida and cardamom, then chilli powder off the flame so it does not burn.
- 3
Temper the yoghurt
08:00Add whisked yoghurt slowly, stirring constantly on low heat so it does not split. Add fennel and ginger powder.
- 4
Dum
20:00Return the potatoes, cover tightly, and cook on the lowest heat until the gravy clings to each potato.
Cook's notes
- Heat mustard oil to smoking point then cool slightly — it removes the raw pungency.
- Pricking the potatoes is what lets the gravy get inside.
