It’s an open secret that we Bongs are so on with our fishes and sweets but maybe it’s not a hot topic that we are also inseparable from potatoes. If you conduct a survey you’ll come to know most of Bengalis simply can’t live without potato. They consume it at least once a day, be it in any form; from boiled, smashed to fried, curry, you name it, we will have that happily.
Amongst all yummy dishes the hot favorite is alur torkari aka runny potato curry. And this runny curry truly belongs to the streets of Kolkata. I bet you can’t find a better potato curry anywhere. No way! This curry is served with kachuri, poori, radhaballavi or simply fulko luchi in almost every streets and crossings of Kolkata.
Like rest of Kolkata my childhood place also had similar kind of food joints. And as a foodie kid I used to spend most of my weekends mornings there. I always treasure a special love for this typical potato curry though I’m very much unfriendly with potatoes (except our finger chips 😛 ).
Recently I came across a similar type of recipe in the PreeOccupied blog. Though it was all about a Patna Halwai I found it very much familiar to our alur torkari. So I picked it up immediately, tried and tested this mouth watering yet nostalgic recipe. And trust me now I won’t miss that Kolkattaiya Alur Torkarianymore.
I made few changes in the original recipe of PreeOccupied according to my need and taste buds. As I’m allergic to funnel seeds, I skipped that one and added peppercorn and yellow mustard seeds. I also added pinch of asafetida to get a Hing Ting Chhot Fot touch 🙂
Ingredients:
Medium sized potato: 12-13
Bengal gram daal: ½ cup
Dry red whole chilies: 5-6
Asafetida/hing: 1 pinch
Panch foron: 1 tbsp (I used peppercorn, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, nigella seeds and yellow mustard seeds)
Turmeric powder: 1 tsp
Red chilli powder: 1 tsp
Coriander powder: 1 tsp
Cumin powder: 1 tsp
Sugar: 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Mustard oil: 3 tbsp
Warm water: 2½ cups
Preparation:
Wash and clean the daal under running water and soak in 1 cup of water for 3-4 hrs. If you are in hurry like me use warm water and soak for 1.5 hrs. By the time daal will be soften.
Peel and cut the potatoes into quarter. Though I actually never seen any road side stall serving ‘alur torkari’ with peeled potatoes, I liked to follow bit hygienic alternative. Frankly speaking I tried to keep their jackets on but I found them so dirty couldn’t dare to follow the streets. You can definitely go with your own path.
Take a heavy bottomed wok or pressure cooker. Add oil and wait until you get the smokey flavor.
Add asafetida, dry red whole chilies and paanch foron. Let them splatter.
Add potatoes and sauté for 1 min or until all pieces get coated with the oil and masala.
Add daal and keep a good stir and cook for another 2/3 mins.
Now add all the rest dry ingredients and keep mixing.
At this point you can choose any one option before you proceed further from pressure cooker and wok.
If you continue cooking on wok add 3 cups water, sugar and salt. Give it a good stir and leave it covered until potatoes and daal will be done. But remember by using wok you are increasing your cooking time.
If you are opting for pressure cooker option like me, add 2½ cups water, sugar and salt. Bring it to boil and leave it with the weight on for 1-2 whistles depending on your cooker.( Mine took 2 whistles)
By the lovely smell of typical streets of North Kolkata you will understand your “alur torkari’ is done.
Now make some fulko luchi or poori to serve with it.
I made some spicy-n-pepper flavored luchi to shake-n-break my dinner table 😉
For the Spice-n-Pepper flavored luchi:
Add some salt, black pepper powder, white pepper powder, red chilli powder/chilli flakes along with a pinch of hing to the all purpose flour (maida).
Use warm water to make a soft dough. Knead well. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and keep aside for 30 mins. Don’t let the towel dry completely.
Take out small balls out of the dough and roll out with rolling pin to make small circles.
deep fry them in enough oil. Check the temperature of the oil. Try to keep it constant by keeping the flame medium low to medium high. You need to adjust the flame almost continuously. So don’t panic and stay calm. It actually needs loads of patience and practice. (seriously, Ask you mom!)
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