I took my mind off kitchen gadget experiments and focused on other interesting projects this week.
First I tried to organise a big dancing evening to Guilty Pleasures, a cheesy club night at Koko Camden. An invitation to skin a cat may have received a more rapturous response.
“I’m not paying £18 to dance to cheesy music.”
“Are you seriously taking clubbin’ advice from the Daily Telegraph??”
Then I decided to ditch my 80s-style superbitch look and brighten up my wardrobe. This worked slightly better and I can’t wait to unveil my new look at tomorrow’s karaoke party (may the Lord help them all).
In the midst of party planning and serious shopping, I also managed to cook two very delicious version of potato and cauliflower curry - aloo gobi and aloo phulkophir dalna.
Aloo gobi is the dry North Indian way to make it and aloo phulkophir dalna is the Bengali curried style.
I received requests for both recipes and it’s a great way to show how the same dish can differ hugely depending on the part of India it comes from.
I’ll start with aloo gobi, the dish immortalised by the unreasonable aunty in Gurindar Chaddha’s Bend it Like Beckham. It is eaten regularly by North Indians and Punjabis, especially in winter when cauliflowers are in season.
This recipe serves four:
400gms cauliflower, cut into large florets
4 large new potatoes halved or two large normal potatoes peeled and quartered
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped fine
Half inch ginger, grated
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
Half tsp garam masala
Quarter tsp turmeric powder
Half tsp chilli powder
1 tbsp oil
Fresh coriander to garnish
Salt to taste
Heat the oil and fry the onion, garlic and ginger. Throw in the potatoes, all the powders apart from the garam masalas, add a tiny bit of water, cover the pot and cook the potatoes.
Don’t add too much water but make sure there is just enough to cook the potatoes.
When the potatoes are almost cooked (you will be able to insert a fork into the potatoes with some difficulty), add in the cauliflower.
Again, cover the pot and cook until the cauliflowers become soft and a fork can be inserted into them easily.
It’s very important to add the cauliflower when the potatoes are almost cooked or they’ll be overcooked.
Add salt and sprinkle garam masala and fresh coriander to finish. This dish should be served bone dry, ideally with some naan or roti.
9 Comments
yum!
i actually bought the cawliflower after your email, in anticipation…!
Mallika,
I’m looking forward to trying this version of aloo gobi. It sounds terrific! Your description of the Bengali version sounds awesome too!!
Can’t wait to try them both. I think the Bengali version must be the version I encounter most often in Indian restaurants near me.
Marc
yum. love cauliflower. thanks for this recipe
also love your new blog look
I made the Aloo Gobi. I did well for a first try, but I have some questions.
I would like the cauliflower to be more coated in the seasonings than they were. The potatoes turned out tasty, but I think salt should be added to the water to bring out the flavors more. I added salt at the end, and it helped, but it was not as flavorful through and through as I had hoped.
Also, I think I might sauté onions in a separate pan and add them at the end. The onions I added were so limp and without flavor after the cooking process that they didn’t seem to add much to the dish.
I think I might not use the chilli powder next time and just get the added heat from the garam masalas as it’s a bit hotter than I am used to.
What do you think of the idea of sauteing the onions and adding them later? I would still put onions in at the beginning, but did you find them limp and tasteless by the end of cooking? And what would you do to better coat the cauliflower with the flavors from the spices?
The cauliflower in your picture is not what mine looked like. Mine didn’t have anywhere near that beautiful color. Maybe I did something wrong?
Marc - Oh nooooooooooooo. I wish I was there to see what went wrong first time. Are you sure you used all the correct spices? Maybe it’s something to do with their strength? I wish I knew what went wrong with the colour.
With the onions, all they could give to the dish they would have anyway by then end. So no need to worry about them being tasteless. With Indian cooking, it’s more about how things come together. usually the onions go limp and mashed up anyway.
With the flavour, you really need to go in quite vigorously and stir the raw cauliflower to get it coated with all the masalas. As the potatoes go in first, the cauliflowers need more tlc to make sure they get their fair share of masalas.
Finally, will you try using a bit more of the powdered spices next time? Just in case they are weaker than what I get here? Oh and also, salt early on is always a good idea.
Don’t let this put you off, will you?
VB
M
x
Mallika,
I tried this recipe and it was finger licking good. No more mushy cauliflower.
Thanks!
I have made this twice now and it comes out quite well. I’m very happy with it. Thanks for the recipe!
One question - the “chilli powder” to which you refer - is that cayenne pepper or a different type? It turns out well with cayenne pepper but is very spicy and I just wanted to make sure that was correct.
Hi Teressa
Lovely to hear from you.
It is cayenne pepper. In England, we just call it chilli powder because it’s a mix of many different types of chillies. Generally, I tend to keep this on the low side, because I’m terrible with chillies. But it’s impossible to say how strong each brand of cayenne pepper is, so please add a little at a time and see how you go.
Hope this helps!
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