• Rinse the baby potatoes well. Take 3.5 cups water in a pan. Add the potatoes.
• Boil the water on medium to high flame so that the potatoes are half cooked.
• Drain them and allow them to become warm or cool down at room temperature.
• Peel the potatoes. This task takes a lot of time, so do it while listening to music or watching your favorite tv show. If you want you can keep the peels too.
• Poke holes in the potatoes all over with the help of a fork, toothpick, or skewer. Halve them or you can keep them whole if they are small. This is done so that when cooking on dum, the potatoes absorb the flavors of the masala in which they are getting cooked.
• The fresh full-fat curd or yogurt whisk till smooth. Keep aside.
•  In a small bowl, take Kashmiri red chili powder and water.
• Mix and stir well to get a smooth mixture.

Frying Potatoes

• In a pan heat mustard oil till it begins to smoke.
• Add the parboiled peeled potatoes and begin to fry them on a low to medium flame.
• With a slotted spoon, turn them over while frying when one side is lightly golden.
• Remove the potatoes which are golden and crisp with a slotted spoon. Fry them well or else they remain uncooked from the center.
• Place them on kitchen paper towels, till golden and crisp Fry all the potatoes.
• If you want you can again poke holes in the fried potatoes. This is an optional step.

Making Kashmiri Dum Aloo

• Lower the flame. Remove the extra oil and keep 2 tbsp oil in the same pan. Let the oil temperature come down. In the same oil, add asafoetida powder. Stir well.
• Then add the red chili + water solution and stir well. Be careful as the mixture splutters.
• Now add the beaten curd. With a spoon or wired whisk, stir continuously when you are adding the curd so that the curd does not split. Add the curd on a low flame.
• After adding curd, add water and continue to stir.
• Stir and mix very well.
• Then add fennel powder. If you do not have ready fennel powder, you have to make it. On a pan or Tava Roast the fennel lightly. When cooled, then in a mortar & pestle pound the roasted fennel seed to a medium-fine powder. You can also grind in a small spice grinder or coffee grinder.
• Add the whole spices and ginger powder. Stir well.
• Now add the potatoes. Again stir.
• Season with salt and stir again.
• Cover the pan tightly with a lid. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes on a low to medium flame. Here we are cooking the potato gravy on dum.
• The gravy should become thick. 
• You can always add less or more water depending on how thick or thin you want the gravy. If you cook more, then the gravy will reduce more. So depending on what you prefer, you can cook for less or more time.
• Sprinkle some caraway seeds from the top (optional) and Kashmiri Aloo dum recipe serve hot with naan, rotis, or rice.