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.
Ingredients
-
2
tablespoons
vegetable oil
-
1
teaspoon
black mustard seeds
-
1
teaspoon
cumin seeds
-
3
whole
cloves
-
2
teaspoons
garam masala (or curry powder)
-
1/4
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)
-
1/2
cup
water
-
2
teaspoons
mild honey
-
1
tablespoon
lemon juice
-
cilantro (or scallions for garnish)
Steps
-
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.
One of my favorite dishes as well. I like the thought of adding in the peas and will try that variant next time. I think it might work well with edamame or favas too. I would make this today but it's so sunny and warm (Bay Area) that my grill is calling!
this is one of my fav indian dishes!! ive never had the courage to try making it myself (mainly because i dont really know how to use the spices) but this doesn't look too bad!
Delicious! Ever tried making this classic dish with sweet potatoes? I imagine that the starchy sweetness will make the spices' flavours shine even more!
Hey there.. I followed you from my friend Diva's = ) Hope you don't mind. I love spice, anything really. I have to be honest and say I've never tried this before but I love Middle Easter dishes.
I love Indian food but always feel it is a lot of effort to get all the herbs and spices together – however, if I can make something as delicious as this – then I wouldn't mind at all!
Ahh love the sound of the complex spice bouquet in this recipe Marc! I bet that's what really makes it sing!
I'm nuts about Indian food. Love all the colors, the aromas, the flavors. I've never heard of this particular dish though. It looks great! I'll hold on to this recipe.Magda
I've been craving Indian food a lot lately, and this looks just fantastic! The peas are a great addition, and I want this for lunch.
I am going to make this today. You just check SippitySup in a day or two if you don't believe me. I have everything I need in the pantry so I don't even have to leave the house to start. Well, actually I don't have black mustard seeds, but I do have yellow. I know they are not as pungent… but you gotta jump when the inspiration hits. Thanks for the inspiration. GREG
Man, I've been craving Indian food for months, but my husband is leery because of how much baby poop looks like curry (early, breastmilk poo). It's true, though. Looks like Vindaloo. I might settle for kari raisu instead. In the meanwhile, I shall just gaze lovingly at your photos and dream.
I love that I’m a herbivore at heart and went carnivorous this week whilst you went the completely opposite! Agree that Indian food is easy to prepare and relatively cheap as well. Strange that I hardly ever cook Indian and only get curry cravings when my kitchen’s completely void of anything edible or fresh. This is saved for dinner on Saturday methinks!’, ‘0
Thanks for stop by on my blog and words. Love the vibrant yellow (add by cumin) on this dishSounds delicious, and I also love love cauliflower . Beautiful
Glad you liked it:-) If you keep it covered at a gentle simmer, itshould be enough (it shouldn't be soupy/saucy), but if it looks likeit's going to start to burn, by all means add more water.
Marc,I am craving this right now! I don't cook Indian food, but have most of these ingredients and buy cauliflower weekly.Can't wait to try this…..love the cilantro at the end.Thanks for posting it.
Hi Monica, “aloo” means potato, so it gets added in with the spices as
per the recipe.
I love aloo gobi and both recipes sound great. What are the 5 spices (or more) for that bengali mix of panch phoran?
a little tweaking .. and .. amaaaaaaaaaazing 😀
I was searching for the same information and my search ends here after reviewing this post..Thanks for this great share!!
Did you mean “Wild” or “Whole” cumin seeds?
Oops! It was supposed to be whole. Nice catch!
Looks and sounds amazing. I’ll try it soon.
How much is 1/2 piece ginger?
This ended up being extremely watery and bland.
Hi Annick, sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy it. It should not have been watery. If it was, you probably needed to cook it longer without the lid to let the extra water evaporate as stated in step 4. Hope that helps.
How many people does this serve?
I adore Aloo Gobi and have eaten it from takeaways, restaurants, 2 Indian weddings, 1 Diwali celebration, and a lot of meals in the homes of my Indian and Punjabi friends. My all time favourite, and the one I cook all the time has the subtle inclusion of Methi ( fenugreek) which seems to bring out the delicate cauliflower flavour. The one ingredient I have never seen used is honey, or sugar. I was curious, so I tried it and I’m sorry to say my Punjabi friends and I hated it! It may appeal to American palates which seem to… Read more »
Hey
I’m an Indian and I’ve never seen a version of aloo gobi that uses honey. So I was wondering what aloo gobi tastes like with honey? And what purpose does it serve.
Thanks
Hi Nix, I learned how to make this from a Gujarati and apparently adding sugar is a unique trait to the Gujarati style of making things. I like it because it balances out the acidity and salt but if you don’t like it you can leave it out. As for using honey vs, sugar, I try not to use refined sugars which is typically why I recommend using honey or raw sugar.
I made this recipe yesterday. I don’t like to leave negative comments but I feel that anyone considering spending the time & effort to cook this should know that it does not taste good. I am American but I have eaten this dish many times at Indian restaurants and Aloo Gobi is usually delicious. I have also cooked Indian food at home and it’s usually wonderful. This recipe does not taste like any Aloo Gobi that I have ever had and I’m sure that it is because of the honey in the recipe. If for some reason you decide to… Read more »
Another good one!
I’m just scrolling through your recipe list (hence me leaving comments all over the place), and I have to say, I am in awe of your output. And the consistently high quality of it. I make new recipes from your website regularly, so I thought I’d scroll through and recognise a fair amount of recipes. Instead I now realise I’ve only experienced a smidge of what you have to offer as a chef. Wow! Keep doing what you’re doing.
Hi Nadine, thanks so much for taking the time to go through my back catalog. I’ve been at this for almost 12 years now which is why there are are so many recipes😀