After going through a phase of steaks, roasts and confits, I was feeling my inner herbivore crying out for some love. These primal urges come and go, especially in winter when there just aren’t many appealing veggies in the markets. It’s probably my body’s way of telling me that I need less protein and more fiber. That said, I’m a carnivore at heart and the thought of having something as prosaic as a salad for dinner puts a real kibosh my appetite. My solution is to turn to the food of my South Asian brothers (and sisters)
Make it Easy.
You can greatly speed things up by making these caramelized onion cubes ahead of time and keeping them in your freezer. When you make the Aloo Gobi, just fry the spices, add the garlic and ginger and fry until fragrant, then throw 2 onion cubes in along with the other ingredients.
I love Indian food because it’s inexpensive and relatively simple to prepare, but more importantly, it never fails to light up my eyes, nose and tastebuds with its piquant flavours and vivid colours — even on the dreariest of days. Aloo Gobi is one of my favourites, because it’s filling, without being a total carb bomb and the leftovers are good for a couple lunches during the week.
It may look like there are a lot of ingredients that go into this dish, but if you cook Indian food with any frequency, you should have most of these ingredients in your pantry already. I’ve given this version of Aloo Gobi my own twist with the addition of some honey and lemon juice balance out the salt and spices. I like to serve this with some pulao which is essentially an Indian pilaf, but it’s also fantastic with some plain basmati rice or naan.
Units
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 3 whole cloves
- 2 teaspoons garam masala (or curry powder)
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 3 cloves garlic (grated)
- 1.25 centimeters fresh ginger (grated)
- 2 medium onions (minced)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 medium yukon gold potatoes (cut into 1/2)
- 1 small head cauliflower (cut into bite-sized pieces)
- ½ cup water
- 2 teaspoons mild honey
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- cilantro (or scallions for garnish)
Instructions
- Add the oil, mustard seeds, cumin, cloves, garam masala and turmeric to a pan over medium high heat. Fry the spices until fragrant. Be careful not to burn them.
- Turn down the heat to medium low, then add the garlic, ginger, onions and salt. Fry, stirring regularly until the onions are caramelized (40 minutes to an hour).
- Add the potatoes, cauliflower, water and honey. Cover and cook for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally and to make sure there's a little water at the bottom. If the pan is dry, add a little more water to prevent burning.
- Once the cauliflower and potatoes are done, remove the lid and allow any extra water to evaporate. Add the lemon juice, plate and garnish cilantro or scallions.
Cris says
It was a bit on the sweeter side, especially after having caramelised the onions but it was interesting to try it this way. I would put less or maybe try no sugar next time to compare.
I added curry leaves to mine, and also put it in the oven for 20 minutes at 220 C (cut down stove time by half) which gave it a bit of crunch and dried out the sauce. The flavours were excellent, thanks Marc! I will be making this again.
Marc Matsumoto says
Great call on the curry leaves! I learned a lot of my Indian dishes from a chef from Gujarat, and apparently sweetness is one of the defining characteristics of food from the region, but feel free to leave it out.