April 13, 2015

Spicy Indian Potato Cauliflower Aloo Gobi

Spicy, Indian, Potato, Cauliflower, Aloo Gobi, dry curry, vegetarian, curry, vegetable,  印式干, 咖喱, 土豆, 烩, 花椰菜, recipe
By Published: 2015-04-13
Every once in a while we like to dip into far away cuisines for a taste of the exotic, to travel by dint of our tastebuds.  It's so much fun to treat yourself to a completely different world of textures, tastes and aromas!  

One of the old cuisines that I find really interesting (besides Chinese cuisine, of course)  is Indian cuisine.  What a spectacular, varied and long lived food culture!  

Recently we had a serious craving for Indian food and thus whipped up a mini Indian feast for ourselves.  Gorgeously spice infused vegetarian and meat dishes paired against a tart and refreshing cucumber yogurt dish, all of this eaten with deliciously fresh handmade chapatis.  This is the yummilicious vegetarian dish we made, the Spicy Indian Potato Cauliflower, also known as Aloo Gobi.

Spicy, Indian, Potato, Cauliflower, Aloo Gobi, dry curry, vegetarian, curry, vegetable,  印式干, 咖喱, 土豆, 烩, 花椰菜, recipe

My very first (and still most favorite) Indian cookbook, Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cookery, was a revelation to me and my first serious immersion in the wonderful world of spices.  Through this cookbook I entered the fascinating world of Indian food and fell in love.  I read and read, pondering over a myriad of spices that I had never even heard of before - it was all so exciting!  

I remember rushing out and about town with a long handwritten list of these new spices, looking everywhere to find all these exotic spices. Suddenly, for the first time in my life, I had a shelf packed full of colorful, heavenly scented spices.  There is nothing quite like your very own shelf of spices, is there?  

Spicy, Indian, Potato, Cauliflower, Aloo Gobi, dry curry, vegetarian, curry, vegetable,  印式干, 咖喱, 土豆, 烩, 花椰菜, recipe

Speaking of spices, one reason we decided to cook up this Indian dinner is because we got a chance recently to try out some freshly ground spices from a new Hong Kong (and international) online supplier of spices called Regency Spices.  They say that their difference is that their spices are really super fresh, freshly packed and ground when ordered, not like the usual tepid pre-ground spices that sit forever on store shelves.  They challenged us to taste the difference.  Obviously, the fresher the spice is, the more tasty and aromatic it is.  

So far, with the Regency spices we've tried the answer is yes, their spices really are fresher than the average bear, and wow, wow, it sure does make a difference when the spices are fresher.  Such intense, pungent aromas does make for tastier food!

Spicy, Indian, Potato, Cauliflower, Aloo Gobi, dry curry, vegetarian, curry, vegetable,  印式干, 咖喱, 土豆, 烩, 花椰菜, recipe
Mix the spices thoroughly with potatoes and cauliflower

This easy to prepare vegetarian Spicy (but not hot spicy!) Indian Potato Cauliflower dish is a dry curry which means there is a lot of deliciously savoury veggies in a bed of soft, clingy sauce.  I loooove this dish, it's one of the first Indian recipes I tried from Madhur Jaffrey's cookbook...so yummilicious...so comforting.  

It's not much to look at...but then you take a bite and then, wait, maybe one more bite...and just one bite more please!  Earthy, pungent, warm flavors caressing your taste buds.  Nom, nom!   Everyone who has ever tried Aloo Gobi would have to agree!

Take a trip around the world, treat yourself to an Indian Feast!  Along with this Spicy Indian Potato Cauliflower vegetarian dish we also made a gorgeous Spiced Baked Chicken Masaledar Murghi, a tart and refreshing Cucumber and Yogurt Salad Raita, and fresh Homemade Chapatis!  

Hope you all like this spicy Indian feast as much as we did!

Spicy, Indian, Potato, Cauliflower, Aloo Gobi, dry curry, vegetarian, curry, vegetable,  印式干, 咖喱, 土豆, 烩, 花椰菜, recipe
Spicy Indian Potato Cauliflower Aloo Gobi
(adapted from recipe in Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cookery and also from Regency Spice family recipe here)   (Prep time: 5 mins  Cook time: 25 mins)

Ingredients:


Directions:

Wash and peel and dice potatoes.  Wash and cut cauliflower into bite size flowerets.  

Heat your oil in wok until hot.  Add mustard seeds and cumin seeds, stir until the mustard seeds pop and fragrance rises.  Add grated ginger and stir.  Add in potatoes, cauliflowers, sugar, salt, ground cumin, ground coriander, turmeric, cayenne pepper (if using) and stir gently until throughly mixed.

Turn heat to low, cover and cook for 20 mins or until the potatoes are soft and tender.  Check every once in a while and add a couple of sprinkles of water if dry.  You don't want the bottom to burn but you want to keep the sauce kinda dry and not runny.  (If you like it a bit more saucy, as we do, adjust with a bit more water.)  

When potatoes are done turn off heat, add lemon juice, and stir in.  Top with chopped coriander and serve hot.

Tip:  To eat wrap up a bit of spicy potato or cauliflower in a hot chapati, add a slice of spiced baked chicken, a splash of cucumber yogurt and munch away.

Google

0 comments:

Post a Comment