Pahari Aloo Palda - Himachal Pradesh Special

Himachal Pradesh is a state in North India with Jammu and Kashmir in north as border, Punjab in west and Haryana and Uttarakhand in the south east and by Tibet in the east.Obviously the cuisine of Himachal Pradesh has influence of Punjabi and Tibetan style of cooking. Himchal Pradesh people like very spicy food and the most important food is dal and rice.Rotis are made in daily basis, traditionally Himachali cuisine is dominated by wheat bread and red meat.However like the rest of North India, Himachali cuisine also goes for basic dishes like rice, lentil broth,dish of vegetables and rotis, eventhough they love to make thick, rich gravies with aromatic spices abundantly.Pahari cuisine is a part of Himachal Pradesh cuisine and its have it origin from the beautiful Kangra valley which is in Himalayas. Pahar means mountains and thus their cuisine is named as Pahari cuisine.Some of the popular dishes from this Pahari cuisine is Katta, Palda, Channa Madra,Tudkiya Bhath,Mungodi curry,pakodas etc.

I chosed this potatoes in yogurt gravy aka Aloo Palda from here, this dish goes for a yogurt based gravy and its one of the easiest and delicious gravy i have tasted till now. Potatoes cooked slowly in rice-yogurt gives this wonderful looking dish and the cooking process is very simple to make this dish very much quickly. I loved this dish thoroughly with rice served along with pickle and papads. A different gravy to cook and enjoy with rice definitely.

Recipe Source: The Food Fairy
2nos Potatoes (sliced lengthwise as fingers)
1/2cup Onion (sliced)
1no Black cardamom
1inch Cinnamon stick
5nos Cloves
1/2tsp Cumin seeds
a Pinch Asafoetida powder
2tsp Coriander powder
1/2tsp Turmeric powder
1/2tsp Garam masala powder
1tbsp Raw rice
2nos Green cardamoms
1cup Yogurt
Ghee or Oil

Grind the rice with green cardamoms as fine paste and keep aside.

Add 4cups of water to the yogurt, whisk it and keep aside.

Heat oil, fry the black cardamom, cinnamon stick,cloves, asafoetida powder, cumin seeds.

Add the onions and cook until they turns transculent.

Now add the coriander powder, turmeric powder, garam masala,salt.

Saute for few minutes, add the sliced potato finers, cook in medium flame until the potatoes are almost cooked.

Now add the grounded rice paste, whisked yogurt,keep stirring on medium flame until the gravy turns bit thick.

Serve hot.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 39

An InLinkz Link-up