Dum ki arbi

#myrecipe
By Chandana Guptha

Jan, 17th

562

Servings
4 persons
Cook Time
30 minutes
Ingredients
17 - 19

Ingredients

  • Arbi
  • Water
  • Salt
  • Oil
  • Cloves
  • Cinnamon
  • Cardamom
  • Caraway
  • Bay leaf
  • Onion
  • Ginger garlic
  • Ghee
  • Onion
  • Cumin
  • Curd
  • Nutmeg
  • Turmeric powder
  • Red chilli powder
  • Cumin powder

Instructions

  • Cooking Arbi Rinse 250 grams arbi very well in water. Scrub off the mud with a brush and rinse them well. Place the rinsed arbi in a pressure cooker. Add ½ teaspoon salt. Pour 1.5 cups water for pressure cooking. Pressure cook for 1 whistle or 5 to 6 minutes on medium to medium-high flame. When pressure falls naturally on its own, remove lid. Drain all water and let the arbi cool completely. Peel and then slightly flatten and press each arbi. If the arbi is large, then you can halve them in two pieces. With a fork, poke holes on the flattened arbi. Keep aside. Making Spice Powder When the arbi is getting cooked in the pressure cooker, you can do the remaining preparation. Take the following spices in a spice grinder or a small dry grinder jar – 1 black cardamom, 4 cloves, 1 inch cinnamon, 1 small to medium tej patta and ½ teaspoon shahi jeera. Grind to semi fine or fine powder. Remove this powder in small bowl and keep aside. In the same jar, add ½ cup roughly chopped onion, 1 teaspoon chopped garlic and 1 teaspoon chopped ginger. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons water and grind to a smooth paste. Keep aside. For Frying Arbi On a medium flame heat 2 tablespoons mustard oil. When the mustard oil begins to smoke, reduce the flame. Then add the arbi pieces. Fry on medium-low to medium flame. You can also use any other oil instead of mustard oil. When lightly golden turn over each piece. Continue to fry the second side. Flip a couple of times and fry the arbi pieces till crisp and golden. Fry the arbi in batches. You can even deep fry arbi if you want. The outer coating of fried arbi should be crisp and golden. Place the fried arbi on kitchen paper towels. Keep aside. Frying Onions Heat 1 to 2 tablespoon ghee in a small pan. Sunflower oil can be used instead of ghee. Add ½ cup thinly sliced onions. Stirring often begin to fry the onions. Fry onions till they turn golden. Keep this entire mixture of the fried onions with the ghee aside. Making Dum Arbi Gravy Beat ¼ cup full fat curd till smooth. Keep aside. Heat 2 tablespoons ghee in a pan. Sunflower oil can be used instead of ghee. Add ½ teaspoon cumin seeds and let them splutter. Then add the ground onion paste. Mix well and begin to sauté on a medium-low flame. Stirring often sauté the paste till its becomes thick and you see ghee releasing from the sides. The color of the onion paste has to change. Now switch off the flame and add the beaten curd. As soon as you add curd, mix it briskly with the onion paste. Mix very well. Then keep the pan back on the stove top and begin to sauté on a low to medium-low flame. Stir non-stop when cooking curd and onion mixture. Sauté till you see ghee releasing at the sides and on the top. Add the ground spice powder. Then add the following spice powders – ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder, ½ teaspoon kashmiri red chilli powder and ½ teaspoon coriander powder. Mix very well. Continue to sauté the masala. Sauté till the masala thickens and you can clearly see ghee from the sides. Add 1 cup water and mix very well. 1 cup water gives a thick gravy. For a medium consistency or a slightly thinner gravy you can add 1.5 to 2 cups water. Season with salt as per taste. Add the fried arbi pieces. Now add the fried onion mixture along with the residue ghee in which the onions were fried. Reserve 1 to 2 tablespoons fried onions for garnish. Mix very well. Cover the pan with a moist kitchen towel. Then cover tightly with a lid. Wrap the moist kitchen towel on top of the lid if its big in size. Dum cook on a low flame for 12 to 14 minutes. Then switch off flame. Wait for 5 to 6 minutes and then open the lid. Serve dum ki arbi hot.