Kashmiri Dum Aloo (potatoes in a spicy yoghurt sauce)

Potatoes are mega versatile and, as such, can stretch a little further than boiling, mashing or chipping.

Kashmiri dum aloo is fantastic for several reasons, namely:

- I say so

- It's saucy

- It's spicy

- It's dead cheap to make

As the name of the dish might imply, it hails from the area of Kashmir... People often ask me what distinguishes the Kashmiri version from the regular north Indian style. Actually, no one's ever asked me that, but to answer nevertheless: it's all in the use of crushed fennel seeds which add a nice warm aniseed note.

Serves: 4

Cost per person: 1.5 zl (30 UK pence, 50 US cents, 36 Euro cents)

What you need:

- around 300-400g of small potatoes

- 2 tsp fennel seeds (crushed)

- 1 tsp coriander powder

- 1/3 tsp chilli powder

- 1 tsp salt

- 1 small onion coarsely chopped

- 2 cloves garlic (minced)

- 1 inch ginger (minced)

- 1 tsp cumin seeds

- 3 green cardamons

- 2 cloves

- 100-200g of plain yoghurt

Let's go!

1. Wash some small potatoes (or maybe new potatoes if they're in season). Leave the skins on! Deep fry in hot oil until golden (around 10 minutes). If deep frying scares you, steam them instead!

2. Prep the other stuff. You could start off by grinding down 2 tsp of fennel seeds in a pestle and mortar into a coarse powder.

3. Make a paste by adding a little water to the fennel, coriander and chilli powder.

4. Get the other stuff ready.

5. Hot oil in a pan. Cumin seeds in, closely followed by the other whole spices.

6. Get the onion in and brown it off (15 minutes)

7. Whip the potatoes out and leave to one side in a sieve.

8. Turmeric in

9. Add the fennel/ coriander/ chilli spice paste

10. Get some yoghurt in there!

11. Get the heat low and gently mix in the yoghurt

12. Time for the spuds!

13. Doesn't it look good! Let it sit and those flavours will develop in the potatoes. Reheat when you're hungry!

14. Serve with rice or whatever.

Let's see what this cost:

- potatoes: 1 zl

- yoghurt: 2 zl

- rice: 1.60 zl

- the rest: approx. 1.40 zl

Total: 6 zl

Serves: 4

Cost per person: 1.50 zl

Palak Paneer (cottage cheese pieces in a spinach sauce)

When vegetarian meals taste this good, you forget about meat completely. Palak paneer is an Indian classic which is universally popular both in its homeland and in UK restaurants too.

Palak - spinach

Paneer - a kind of hard Indian cottage cheese, good for cooking because it doesn't melt

Serves: 4

Cost per person: 3 zl (60 UK pence, 60 Indian rupees)

What you need for the paneer:

- 1 1/2 litres of full fat fresh milk

- the juice of 1-2 lemons

What you need for the palak (spinach) sauce:

- around 350g of spinach

- 2 onions finely sliced or chopped

- 2 cloves garlic minced

- 1 inch ginger minced

- 2 green chillies sliced

- 2 black cardamons

- decent piece of cinnamon bark

- 1-2 cloves

- salt to taste

- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

- 1 tsp cumin seeds

- 2 bay leaves (optional)

- 1/2 tsp pepper corns

- 1/2 tsp turmeric

- 1/3 tsp chilli powder

- 1 tsp coriander powder

- a dash of freshly grated nutmeg (optional)

- a splash of lemon juice (optional)

- 1 tsp fenugreek leaves (kasouri methi)

- a dash of cream

Let's start with the paneer:

1. Gently heat up the milk in a large pan until just about boiling. Squeeze in the lemon juice and stir until the curds separate from the whey.

2. Strain out the curds into a cheese cloth. I didn't have one, so I used a poor quality tea towel (clean!) instead. Poor quality is good because there are bigger gaps between the fibres which allows the liquid to filter out.

3. wrap the cloth round the curds and squeeze, squeeze and squeeze some more until you can't squeeze any more water out of it. Press under a heavy object (e.g. a pan filled with water) for 2 hours till it sets. Remove from the cloth.

4. Cut up into cubes

An alternative to this is just go out and find a hard cottage cheese or equivalent from a shop. Saves the hassle. For example, Lidl do quite a good Balkan style cheese which works quite well (careful, though - it does melt eventually). In the UK, Asian shops will sell real paneer.

Now let's do the sauce!

1. Wash the spinach and transfer to a pan with a small amount of water. Bring to the boil and simmer it all down till the spinach is soft. DON'T cover the pan! The spinach will lose its fantastic colour if you do!

2. Meanwhile.... Prep the other stuff. Spices ready... Chop up the onions and chillies. Mince the ginger and garlic

3. Whizz up the spinach in a blender

4. Heat up a good dash of vegetable oil in a pan. Cumin seeds in, followed shortly by the other whole spices.

5. Onions in. Add a pinch of salt. Fry on low-medium heat till reduced in size and golden in colour - should take around 15 minutes.

6. When the onions are getting there, get the chillies, ginger and garlic in there and fry out the rawness for a minute or two.

7. Whack in the powder spices and stir in for a few seconds to release their aroma. Yeah!!

8. Hang around no longer! Get the spinach in!

9. If you're feeling crazy, you could grate in a small amount of fresh nutmeg at this point.

10. Chuck the rest of those spices in! Cook on a low heat for around 5 minutes. Check the seasoning and add a little more salt if you like and if your blood pressure is up to it.

11. Dash in a little cream! Don't worry about the extra 20 calories this adds. It's irrelevant and the anxiety will make you miserable.

12. Check the flavour - you might notice it needs a splash of lemon juice. If so, splash away!

13. Remember the fenugreek leaves? Here they are

Get them in!

14. Paneer in! Stir around gently and turn off the heat. Let it sit and absorb the flavours. Reheat later to serve.

Serve with rice and maybe another vegetarian dish of your choice. Kashmiri dum aloo makes a good plate partner.

What did this cost:

Paneer: 4 zl

Spinach: 4 zl

Rice: 1.60 zl

Other ingredients: approx. 2.40zl

Total: 12 zl

Serves: 4

Cost per person: 3 zl

Chickpea and Spinach Curry

The protein of the chickpeas!
The vitamins of the spinach and tomatoes!
The health-giving properties of the spices!
The metabolism boost of the chillies!

How healthy can a dish be? 

Well, I pushed the boat out a bit on the oil.. Chickpea curries like a little extra oil - it brings out the best in them!

This is robust vegan cuisine at its best - no faffing around with carrot cakes in my kitchen! We want flavour! We want punch! 

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Chickpea and Spinach Curry!

Serves: 4
Cost per person: 2.23 zl (45 UK pence, 53 Euro cents)

You'll need:

- 2 good handfuls of dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and boiled for 90 minutes
- 1 nice handful of fresh spinach, chopped up 
- 2 medium-large tomatoes, skinned and pureed
- 1 large clove of garlic, minced
- 1 inch ginger, minced
- 1 large mild green chilli
- 1 small hot green chilli
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- veg oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/4 tsp red chilli powder
- salt to taste
- a splash of lemon juice

Let's get cracking!

First of all, let's prep the ingredients:

1. Soak the chickpeas overnight. Boil for 90 minutes (don't salt the water!) until soft. Or just push the boat out and buy a tin!

2. Puree the ginger, garlic and mild green chilli in a coffee grinder

3. Get the spices ready

4. Puree the tomato

5. Chop up the onion real fine, baby!

6. Wash the spinach really really well. Really well! Chop up.

7. Oil in a wok. Cumin seeds in

8. After around 10 seconds, onion in

You want to cook on a low medium heat for around 10 minutes till they look like this:

9. Get the pureed ginger, garlic and mild green chilli in there! Cook out the rawness for around a minute

10. Slice the hot green chilli and add at this stage

11. Spices in. Mix in well for a few seconds

12. Tomatoes in. Cook out for around 5 minutes. Salt a little to taste

13. Wilt down the spinach ...

... till it looks like this:

14. Add the chickpeas. Add a slash of lemon juice to life the flavour. Check the seasoning. Simmer for another 5 minutes. You're done! Serve with rice.

What did this end up costing?

- Chickpeas: 1 zl
- Tomatoes: 2 zl
- chillies: 0.50 zl
- Spinach: 1 zl
- Rice: 2.40 zl
- The rest: 2 zl

Grand total: 8.90 zl
Serves: 4
Per person: 2.23 zl