aloo ghobi
After my minor triumph of finally making some successful Indian food with the dhal makhani recipe, I decided I was on a roll and should cook some more.
Potatoes and cauliflower are two of my favourite vegetables at the moment, so I decided to give them a whirl in the Indian classic that combines the two, aloo ghobi. This is based on a recipe from a small book on “curries” that I picked up in an op-shop a zillion years ago for 25 cents. I only kept the book because it had a great weight to volume measurement converter for all kinds of ingredients.
This is a dryish vegetable dish. It has very little sauce and what sauce there is reminds me of making kasoundi, though on a smaller scale. The partly steamed vegetables are then finished in the sauce, which cooks away to almost nothing, just flavouring and coating the vegetables.
- 3 medium potatoes, cut into bite size pieces
- ½ medium cauliflower broken into small florets
- ¾ cup frozen peas
- 2 tbsp oil (I used rice bran oil)
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 2-3cm knob of ginger, finely grated
- 6 cloves of garlic crushed
- 300ml tomato puree or 2-3 large diced fresh tomatoes
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp garam masala
- ½ tsp ground red chilli (more or less to taste)
- salt
- fresh coriander for garnish
- Heat the oil in a large pan
- Add the turmeric and onions and saute for 5 minutes
- Add the ginger and garlic and continue to saute for another 2 minutes
- Add the tomato, mix and cook until the sauce reduces to a thickish paste.
- Steam the potato for 5 minutes and then add the cauliflower and steam for another 3 minutes. Both should be almost done.
- Add the ground coriander, garam masala, chilli and cumin to the tomato sauce.
- Add the potatoes, cauliflower and peas and mix gently to coat all the veg completely.
- Season with salt to taste.
- Cover and cook until the vegetables are just tender.
- Garnish with fresh coriander.