#21 Stuffed Aloo or Bharwan Aloo

I love North Indian dishes as much as South Indian ones. Being raised in Maharashtra I have grown to love Paneer-matar, Rajma and Aloo-Gobi, and many more favorites. R loves to eat rotis, parathas and naan with any type of protein curry so that give me many opportunities to cook up out NI favorites. Sometimes, I try out innovative sides for rotis and end up 'customizing' to suit our taste.
I tried to make this recipe "Benarasi Bharwan Aloo" by Sanjeev Kapoor using Cream Cheese instead of the Paneer that the great Chef used to stuff the potatoes.  That is how I ended up with this one. We enjoyed this dish but you can make it your own...
http://www.sanjeevkapoor.com/benarasi-bharwan-aloo.aspx

Ingredients:
Any kind of average sized or baby potatoes-7(Russet potatoes may not work well as they are too big)
Cream Cheese-4 ounces(1/2 the Philadelphia cheese pack)
Fennel seeds- 1 tspn
Oil to pan fry- 1/2 cup + 2 Tblspn
Fresh Cilantro chopped 2 Tblspn
green chillies chopped- 4
Raisins- 12
Cashewnuts chopped- 10
Asafoetida- 1 pinch
cumin seeds-1 tspn
ginger grated- 1/2 tspn
Tomato puree- 2 cups(canned puree may be used)
Turmeric powder-1/2 tspn
Red Chilli powder- 1/2 tspn
Jaggery/Brown sugar- 1/4 cup
Fresh sour cream- 2 Tblspn

Method:
1. Boil to cook the potatoes with skin. Peel and halve potatoes. Wipe dry. Pan fry the potato halves in as much oil as needed to brown all sides. Scoop out the middle of each half potato.
2. Chop the scooped out portion of the potatoes. Add cream cheese, cilantro, green chillies, raisins, cashewnuts and salt. Mix well together.
3. Stuff the scooped out potato halves with this filling.
4. Heat the 2 Tblspn of oil in a Pan. Add asofoetida, roasted fennel seeds, cumin seeds, ginger and saute. Add tomato puree and mix well.
5. Add turmeric and chilli powder and 1/2 cup water cooking for four minutes.
6. Add jaggery and salt to taste. Add the stuffed potatoes to the hot gravy and cook on low heat for anther four to five minutes. Reduce gravy until thick.
7. Add sour cream and serve hot.