Vrat Wale Aloo (No Onion & Garlic)
Apr 14, 2024
Vrat Wale Aloo is a simple potato curry made with minimal ingredients and uses no onion and no garlic. In north Indian, this dish is especially made during the fasting season of Navratri!
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During the fasting season of Navratri, this Vrat Wale Aloo sabzi is extremely popular in homes in North India. Since it’s meant for fasting, this sabzi doesn’t have any onion, garlic or the regular Indian spices. It’s very simple to make and comes together in no time. During fasting, we eat it with kuttu ki puri.
Vrat means fast so these vrat wale aloo is a potato dish which is made especially during religious fasts like Navratri, Ekadashi etc. There are some rules which need to be followed when it comes to food if you keep these fasts like you can’t eat salt, usually no grains, onion or garlic is allowed either.
I personally never kept these fasts growing up but my parents always did. So during Navratri days mom made sabudana khichdi, sabudana vada, lassi etc. And for dinner she mostly made kuttu ki puri (which are gluten free by the way) with these vrat wale aloo. And I never got bored of it because I loved this combo!
About This Recipe
Potatoes are actually cooked in several ways during Navratri. We make it dry as well (sookhe aloo) with cumin seeds, ginger and chilies and we also make this curry version with tomatoes. I love both the versions and make them often during Navratri. We also cook potatoes with yogurt during fasting and make Dahi Aloo (dahi=yogurt).
These vrat wale aloo is probably the simplest potato curry recipe ever. It doesn’t use any spice other than whole cumin seeds and is flavored with fresh ginger and cilantro. You would think it’s so basic that it might lack flavor, but that’s far from the truth. I find it so wholesome and comforting, it’s basic yet full of flavor! This recipe comes together very quickly, if you have some boiled potatoes on hand then you can make this in no time.
How to Make Vrat Wale Aloo
First gather all your ingredients
To make vrat wale aloo, we first need to boil the potatoes. Add 2 medium potatoes or 3 small (around 420 grams) to a pressure cooker. Add water until they are half covered with it and then close the lid. Pressure cook for 7 to 8 whistles on medium-high heat and then let the pressure release naturally. Peel the potatoes and crush them (after they have cooled down a bit) with your hands and set them aside. Do not mash them, they need to be crushed with hands in these uneven pieces.
The time it would take to cook the potatoes will depend on the size of the potatoes (and not the amount). So if you have big size potatoes, they would need more whistles whereas baby potatoes would cook faster.
I have used a traditional stove-top pressure cooker to cook the potatoes but you can cook the potatoes in an Instant Pot. Add water to the main pot and place potatoes on a trivet. You would need to cook on high pressure for 12 to 14 minutes, depending on the size of the potatoes.
Now, heat 1 tablespoon of oil or ghee in a kadai or pan on medium heat. I used oil. Once the oil is hot, add 1 teaspoon cumin seeds and let it sizzle for a few seconds.
Then add 1-inch chopped ginger and 1 chopped green chili to the kadai. Sauté for 30 seconds to 1 minute until the ginger starts to turn golden brown in color.
Now, add 2 pureed tomatoes (around 250 grams) to the kadai and stir. Cook the tomatoes for 4 to 5 minutes on medium heat, stirring often.
Add the crushed potatoes into the kadai.
Stir until the potatoes are well coated with the masala.
Then add 2 cups of water (16 oz/480ml) and stir. Add 1 teaspoon of sendha namak/rock salt (or regular salt if not making this for fast) and 1/8 teaspoon of ground black pepper. Adjust the salt and pepper as per your taste.
Let this boil for around 8 to 9 minutes on medium heat.
This curry will thicken during this time and will continue to thicken as it cools down. The vrat wale aloo are now done. Garnish with 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro. You can also squeeze in some fresh lemon juice if you like. Serve hot with kuttu ki puri! You can adjust the consistency of the sabzi as needed.
Serving Suggestions
These vrat wale aloo can be enjoyed with kuttu puri, kuttu paratha. If you are not making this for fasts, you can enjoy this with spinach puris, roti or even boiled rice.
Manali’s Tips
- I have used Yukon gold potatoes for this recipe and they work well. But you can also use russet potatoes. Definitely time the pressure cooking time according to how big or small the potatoes are.
- Although this dish comes together quickly, if you want to do some planning ahead, boil the potatoes and keep them refrigerated. Once you are ready to make the recipe, take them out of the fridge, peel them and then crush them and use in the recipe.
- You can add hing (asafoetida) and ajwain (carom seeds) in this recipe if you eat them during fast.
- I have used fresh tomato puree here. Usually canned tomato puree is a good substitute for fresh but in this recipe, I really think puree made from fresh tomatoes works best. Since this dish doesn’t have any spice, the flavor depends on the use of fresh tomato, ginger and chilies. And so I would recommend using fresh tomato puree for this recipe.
Vrat Wale Aloo (No Onion & Garlic)
Ingredients
- 2-3 medium potatoes around 420 grams
- 1 tablespoon oil or ghee, I used oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 inch ginger chopped
- 1 green chili finely chopped, or more to taste
- 2 medium tomatoes around 250 grams, pureed
- 2 cups water and more as needed
- 1 teaspoon sendha namak rock salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper or more as needed
- 2 tablespoons cilantro chopped
- lemon juice optional
Instructions
- Start by boiling the potatoes first. Place potatoes in a pressure cooker with enough water and pressure cook for 7 to 8 whistles until they are cooked. Open the lid once pressure drops off, and peel them. Once they have cooled down a little and you can handle them easily, crush them using your hands. Do not mash them, you want broken pieces of boiled potatoes. You can also cook the potatoes using your instant pot or on stove-top. Set them aside.
- Heat oil or ghee in a kadai on medium heat. Once hot, add the cumin seeds and let it sizzle for 30 seconds. Then add the chopped ginger and green chili and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute until the ginger starts changing color.
- Then add the pureed tomatoes and stir. Cook the tomatoes for around 4 to 5 minutes stirring often.
- Now add the boiled and crushed potatoes. Mix and add 2 cups of water. Also add the salt and pepper and mix well. Now let this curry boil for 8 to 9 minutes on medium heat.
- The curry will thicken during this time and will continue to thicken as it cools down. Garnish with cilantro, you can also squeeze in some lemon juice if you like. Serve vrat wale aloo hot with kuttu ki puri.
Notes
- You can add spices like ground coriander, turmeric etc. if you are not making this recipe for fasting. Also, use regular salt in place of rock salt in that case.
- This thickens as it cools down so you might need to adjust the consistency by adding more water while reheating.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
