The Tasty Indian Potato Dish That Can Be Thrown Right In An Instant Pot

A flexible part of almost every cuisine, the potato comes in many flavorful forms, from a mayo dressing-coated salad to a deep-fried chip. When it comes to Indian dishes, there's no richer way to embrace the starchy ingredient than simmering it in an aromatic curry sauce. Enter the Punjabi classic, dum aloo. Made up of steamed, peeled new potatoes bathed in a spice-punctuated sauce, the "dum" part refers to the way the meal is cooked on low heat in a sealed pot or by steam, while "aloo" is the Hindi word for potato. 

As the potato is one of the more popular vegetables in Indian cooking, there are numerous regional ways to prepare dum aloo, including Kashmiri and Bengali styles. No matter the avenue that's chosen, this recipe always promises a flavorful dinner. The other positive aspect of this dish? Its traditional cooking method translates perfectly to the pressure cooker, making it an easy weeknight meal you can prepare with minimal fuss. 

To start with, you'll want to gather the bulk of your aromatics. Turmeric, coriander, garam masala, cumin, chili powder, cardamom, and ginger will all work well in the curry sauce. Some recipes will call for the addition of dried fenugreek leaves, which have a sweet, earthy flavor, or fennel seeds, which can bring a hint of sweet licorice. Either works nicely to add a bit of sweet spice to your sauce. Once you have your spices sorted, you can make your curry base. 

Next, you'll turn on your Instant Pot's sauté function and briefly cook a base of tomato paste, onions, garlic, and the main fresh spices mentioned above. After all the flavors begin to blend, you'll add in your peeled potatoes (chopped into wedges if the potatoes are large) and about 1/2 cup of water. From there, you'll pressure-cook this mix for about eight minutes. After a quick release, you'll find perfectly tender potatoes waiting in a gorgeous curry sauce. 

The final steps are all about imparting tasty finishing touches, like stirring a bit of milk or yogurt into the sauce to add a tangy, creamy element, or adding a bit of chopped cilantro to the mix. Either way, this is a vegetarian dish that'll be the ideal comfort food entry for meatless Mondays.