The Musette: Aloo Gobi

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This hearty cauliflower and potato curry is probably the most common and basic vegetable curry you will find anywhere in India. Originally from the Punjab, it’s a firm favourite across the Indian sub-continent and Pakistan. Cheap, filling and generally vegan, it’s a recipe everyone needs in their curry repertoire. But one of the disadvantages of its universal appeal is that there is no such thing as a universal recipe.Yes, there are as many recipes as there are Indians!

This is my vegan take on Atul Kochhar’s recipe from Simple Indian. I don’t generally make amendments to recipes from Michelin starred chefs, but I’m sure he won’t mind.

Ingredients (enough for 4 hungry cyclists)

  • 4 medium waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
  • 1 large cauliflower, split into florets
  • 1 small finely chopped onion
  • 2 tsp black onion seeds
  • 4 cloves
  • 4 cardamon pods
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 sticks cinnamon
  • 2 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp chilli powder (or to taste)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 250ml (1 cup) passata
  • 5 -10 tbsp filtered water
  • 2 tbsp coriander leaves, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp garam masala

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 6 (400°F/350°F fan),   put potatoes and cauliflower florets on a baking tray, spritz with a little vegetable oil and bake in oven until cooked and a little charred round the edges, approx. 40 minutes.

2. After 30 minutes, heat finely chopped onion in 1 tsp vegetable oil in a deep frying pan (skillet) until transluscent. Do not allow it to colour. Then add onion seeds, cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamon pods and bay leaves. Cook for a minute or two until the spices start to crackle.

3. Add the passata, water, chilli powder, salt and tumeric to the pan stirring well and now add the cauliflower and potato which should be almost but not quite cooked. Gently cook through for 5-10 minutes until you can easily pierce with a fork.

4. Taste sauce to check seasoning, add coriander and garam masala and serve with rice or an Indian flat bread.

5. Or, like me, omit final seasoning, leave to cool, put in the fridge overnight and heat up the following day before adding coriander and garam masala.

Sheree’s Handy Hints

1. Cut the florets slightly bigger than the potatoes so they cook in roughly the same time as the potatoes, rather than overcooking and disintegrating before the potatoes are done.

2. You can, of course, serve this as a main dish, or as a side. Typically, I’ll serve it with a “wetter” dish such as dhal and either boiled basmati rice or some roti and some hot and spicy pickles.

31 thoughts on “The Musette: Aloo Gobi”

  4. cathynative77@gmail.com Pastor Cathy Native

    On Sat, Apr 25, 2020 at 11:18 AM View from the Back wrote:

    > Sheree posted: “This hearty cauliflower and potato curry is probably the > most common and basic vegetable curry you will find anywhere in India. > Originally from the Punjab, it’s a firm favourite across the Indian > sub-continent and Pakistan. Cheap, filling and generally ve” >

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  7. So glad someone’s cooking Indian! I see a lot of Italian on my timeline and people usually associate my country’s food with being excessively spicy and curry like. While this is a dry vegetable that we cook and often eat with dal and curd. Looks great by the way!! 🙂 Curious to know how did you make the dal?? Make sure you add more water and like you said make it “wetter”.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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