Asma Khan’s aloo dum

Celebrated chef Asma Khan shares her recipe for perfect aloo dum. Serve these  spiced new potatoes alongside your favourite Indian dishes, or to accompany Asma’s first-class railway curry.

Asma says:” Aloo dum and lutchi (or luchi, a puffy deep-fried flatbread) is a classic Bengali combination, served everywhere from street carts in the heart of Calcutta’s commercial district to Sunday brunch at home. It’s classic comfort food. Versions of this kind of potato dish with a thick sauce exist from Kashmir to Kanyakumari (the southern tip of India). The small potatoes with their thick, clingy sauce make the perfect accompaniment for any meal. My perfect partnering would be with choler dal (chana dal), which is also a combination served at traditional Bengali wedding banquet.”

One of the UK’s most high-profile female restaurateurs, Asma was brought up in Kolkata, India. She came to the UK in 1991 and studied law in London. After obtaining a PhD in 2012, Asma started a supper club in her home before moving it into a Soho pub. Its success led, in 2017, to the opening of her acclaimed restaurant, Darjeeling Express, in Soho, where she led an all-female team of home cooks, mostly immigrants. She was the first UK chef to be profiled on the hit Netflix documentary series Chef’s Table. These recipes are from her third cookery book, Monsoon (DK £26).