Aloo Bori Jhal | Bori Aloor jhal
Potato and dried lentil dumplings in a mustard sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup Urad Dal Bori Biulir Daler Bori
- 2 Medium Sized Potatoes
- 1 tsp Nigella seeds
- 3 - 4 Green chillies
- 4 tbsp mustard oil
- 1 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 2 tbsp yellow mustard paste see notes
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Peel the potatoes, wash them and cut them into thin half moon shaped fingers. Keep the potatoes aside.
- In a kadai, take 2 tbsp of mustard oil and let it heat. Take a bowl of water and add a pinch of salt in that and keep aside.
- When the oil is hot, reduce the heat and add bori. Fry them till they are red and take them out and drop them in the bowl full of water. You need to control the temperature since bori burns fast.
- In the same kadai, add one more tbsp of oil and when it is hot, add one green chilli and nigella seeds. Let the spice temper and start releasing aroma.
- Then add the potatoes, sprinkle salt, turmeric powder, red chili powder and stir fry on high heat.
- Sprinkle some water if the spices start sticking to the bottom. Then reduce the flame and cover and cook till the potatoes are cooked.
- At that time, add yellow mustard paste and a cup of water and let it simmer and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Then discard the water in the bowl and add bori to the kadai. If the gravy has thickened too much, add a little bit of water. This dish has typically a thick consistency.
- Add some slit green chilies and check the seasoning. Adjust with salt if required.
- Finally, drizzle the balance mustard oil, give it a boil and turn off the heat.
- Serve alu bori jhal with steamed rice.
Notes
To make yellow mustard paste, take 1/2 cup of yellow mustard and soak it in water for 15 minutes. After that grind it with a little bit of mustard oil and milk (instead of water). It gives a stronger pungent taste to the mustard paste. Keep pulsing and adding little bit of milk to get the best result.
Once you use the required amount of paste, store the rest in the fridge for upto 3 days and in the freezer for upto a month. Whenever you want to use out of the freezer, take it out 15 minutes before the cook and keep on a bowl or plate of water. It doesn't take long for mustard to defrost in a hot country like ours. Just scrape out how much ever you need and keep the frozen part back in the freezer.
Alternately, you can pour mustard paste in ice cube tray and then freeze them. That way, you can use as many mustard cubes as you need.