Today, I want to write about something comforting, familiar, something that smells like my mom’s kitchen. This one is called the Dalna. These are no onion no garlic recipes, always curries, always eaten with rice and always made on days when the Bongs decide to stay away from meat, mostly a Saturday or sometimes a Thursday. We eat it on nights when a dal sounds heavy or tedious.

Name: Aloo Fulkopir Dalna/Potato Cauliflower Curry
Prep Time: 10 minutes to chop and ready everything

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Recipe Source: Passed down generations

Serves: 2-3 people

You need:

1 cauliflower, small florets separated, thoroughly rinsed
2 potatoes, cubed, peeled
1 big tomato, skinned, chopped
1 tsp cumin / jeera seeds
1/2 tsp hing / asafoetida
1 bay leaf / tej patta
2 tbsp, ginger paste
1 tsp turmeric powder
1-2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp jeera / cumin powder
1 tbsp coriander / dhania powder
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
Lots of coriander leaves
Oil / Ghee
Salt
Here’s what you do:
– Heal some ghee in a kadhai. Once its sizzling, add the turmeric, asafoetida, jeera, bay leaf, red chilli powder and ginger paste. Mix and then add the potatoes.

– Once the potatoes are lightly fried, add the cauliflower florets. Mix. Add salt. Add tomatoes. Cover and cook on medium flame for 3-4 minutes.

– Add cumin powder, salt and mix well. Add a dash of water, cover and cook for 2-3 minutes, high flame.

– Now add the coriander power. Mix. Adjust salt. Add some more water, enough to make a not too thin but not too thick gravy. Cover and cook, high flame, for 5 minutes.

– Check that the cauliflower and potatoes are cooked through. Add a dash of garam masala powder. Turn off the heat. Garnish generously with coriander leaves. Serve steaming hot with steamed white rice and fried papads.

Reema Prasanna is a personal and corporate baking coach from Mumbai, blogs about her experiments in the kitchen, records recipes from India, and in another parallel dimension, she is also a Search Engine Marketing Professional, fiction writer and maniacal utensil & kitchen tool collector.

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