Aloo Gobhi

Cauliflower is the other half, and turmeric is what makes it yellow.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (ghee).

Ingredients

• 500 g potatoes, in 3 cm chunks
• 1 medium cauliflower, in florets
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon black cumin seeds
• 10 curry leaves
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground red chilli
• 1/4 teaspoon asafoetida
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 tablespoons ghee
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 30 g coriander, stalks and leaves, chopped

Method

1. CAULIFLOWER IS THE OTHER HALF, AND TURMERIC IS WHAT MAKES IT YELLOW. Its article gives the name as the recipe -- potatoes, aloo, and cauliflower, gobhi, with Indian spices -- and then explains the colour: it is YELLOWISH because of the turmeric. That is worth saying because it is the one thing people get wrong here, reaching for tomato or chilli to colour a dish that is supposed to look pale gold. The vegetables are equal partners too: half a kilo of potato to a whole cauliflower, not potato with cauliflower in it.
2. IT IS A DRY DISH, NOT A GRAVY. Two tomatoes for four people, cooked down to nothing. If there is sauce in the bowl, there was too much liquid.
3. THE CAULIFLOWER GOES IN AFTER THE POTATO AND THE PAN IS NOT CROWDED. Potato first, eight minutes, then the florets. Cauliflower cooked as long as potato collapses into threads.
4. ITS ARTICLE NAMES TWO THINGS THAT ARE OCCASIONAL AND THEY ARE WORTH HAVING. Black cumin and curry leaves. The black cumin is smokier than ordinary jeera and the curry leaves go into the hot fat first.
5. THE CORIANDER STALKS GO IN EARLY, THE LEAVES AT THE END. Its article lists coriander stalks among the common ingredients, which is unusual enough to follow: chopped fine, into the onions, where they cook down and taste quite different from the leaf.
6. THE ASAFOETIDA IS A QUARTER TEASPOON AND IT GOES IN THE FAT. Any more and it takes over; raw, it is unpleasant.
7. THE VEGETABLES ARE TURNED, NOT STIRRED. A spatula under and over, every few minutes. Stirring breaks the florets and the dish turns to mash.
8. IT IS COOKED UNCOVERED ONCE THE TOMATO HAS GONE. Steam trapped under a lid is what makes a watery aloo gobhi.
9. IT IS EATEN WITH A FLATBREAD. Chapati, as on its own page, or Paratha, as on its own page.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes