Aloo Tama is quite an easy Nepali recipe. It is an authentic Nepali curry full of flavor. The natural Nepali spices use to make aloo tama adds mouthwatering flavor and gives an amazing aroma. It is especially eaten as a side dish. It goes best with plain rice, roti, or beaten rice.
Aloo tama recipe is quite easy to make. Like other traditional Nepali dishes, you don’t have to put much effort into preparing it. You will need all the basic ingredients and few special ingredients. And it doesn’t have much cook time as well.
This spicy yet delicious Nepali curry is famous everywhere in Nepal, especially in the Newari community. Aloo Tama is specially served in the traditional Newari party along with many traditional foods. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make at your home.
Here is a classic aloo tama recipe that you can easily make at home. You can make it during the rainy and winter season to keep your body temperature warm. The spices and ingredients used in the recipe help in maintaining body temperature.
So, let’s get started
Aloo Tama Recipe: Ingredients
- Bamboo Shoots (tama)- 50 grams
- Potatoes (aloo) – 3 medium size
- Black-eyed beans- one full cup
- Onion- one medium size
- Cumin seeds- half teaspoon
- Cumin powder- 1 teaspoon
- Fenugreek seeds- one teaspoon
- Coriander powder- 1 teaspoon
- Coriander leaves- few leaves
- Turmeric powder- 1 teaspoon
- Asafoetida- 1/4 teaspoon
- Ginger-garlic paste- 1 tablespoon
- Green chili- 1medium size
- Oil- two teaspoons
- Salt
Get ready with all these ingredients on the table to start preparing aloo tama.
Aloo Tama Recipe: Instructions
Aloo tama is a completely gluten-free vegetarian food. However, some households in Nepal prefer to add soup of buff curry to give aloo tama a meaty flavor. You can also add few tablespoons of soup of buff curry to it, but it’s totally optional. If you are not making buff curry, you can go without its soup in the aloo tama.
Step 1:
The first step in making aloo tama is soaking black-eyed beans. Take a bowl, put one cup of black-eyed beans into it and add water. Cover the bowl with a lid and let it rest overnight.
Step 2:
The second step is to chop all the vegetables. So, start chopping one medium-size onion. You would also want to cut it into fine pieces. Transfer it to the bowl as well. Now you need to chop coriander leaves. Chop coriander leaves finely as possible. You also have to chop green chili.
Step 3:
Take three medium-size potatoes in a bowl. Wash it well. Then peel the skin of the potatoes. Chop the potatoes into cubes. You don’t have to be accurate while chopping the potatoes, but it’s better if you could make medium-size potato cubes. Transfer it into the bowl for later use.
Step 4:
Take a pressure cooker out of your kitchen cabinet because we are doing most of the cooking in a pressure cooker. In the pressure cooker, add two teaspoons of oil. Let it heat in a low-medium flame.
Step 5:
After the oil is heated, add half teaspoon fenugreek seeds and half teaspoon cumin seeds. Stir it. Roast it until it turns reddish.
Step 6:
Now you need to add finely chopped onion. Stir the mixture and let them cook for few minutes. You need to fry the onion until it becomes transparent. You have to keep stirring in intervals to avoid burning.
Step 7:
After the onion turns transparent, add chopped green chili. You can increase or decrease the amount of green chili according to your taste. Fry green chili for few seconds so that it can release it flavor.
Step 8:
Then add chopped potatoes and the soaked black-eyed beans. Before using black-eyed beans, drain the water and waste them. Give it a good mix.
Step 9:
Add one teaspoon salt or use it as per your taste. After that add half a teaspoon of turmeric powder. And you also need to add one tablespoon ginger-garlic paste. Stir it again. Let all the ingredients cook on a medium flame for 7 to 8 minutes. Cover the pressure cooker and allow it to cook. Keep stirring it in intervals.
Step 10:
After 8 minutes, you need to add one teaspoon coriander powder and one teaspoon cumin powder. Stir the mixture again. Let the spices release flavor, so cover the pressure cooker and allow it to cook for a minute or two.
Step 11:
Add one and half cups of water. Mix it. Lock the pressure cooker with its lid and cook it for three whistles.
Step 12:
Meanwhile, you can prepare soup bamboo. Take a pan and add one teaspoon of oil. Allow it to heat.
Step 13:
Then add 1/4 teaspoon asafoetida to the pan. Stir it for 6-7 seconds.
Step 15:
Add 50 grams of bamboo shoots. You need to fry it for about 7 minutes.
Step 16:
Till now, food in the pressure cook must have been ready. Turn off the flame. Don’t lift the weight to release pressure. Let it release pressure itself.
Step 17:
Open the pressure cooker and add the fried bamboo shoots.
Step 18:
Put the lid of the cooker. Allow it to cook for three whistles.
Step 19:
Turn off the flame after three whistles and open the lid of pressure cooker. Aloo tama must have been ready.
Step 20:
Transfer it into a bowl. For a final touch, garnish it with chopped coriander leaves.