Fast Gobi Aloo

  I had planned this as a side dish to my chicken dopiaza, but ended up eating it straight off the plate for supper. 

Gobi Aloo - 

A South Asian cauliflower and potato dish, gobi aloo is not something I've tried before.  I love curry, but I'm not a fan of cauliflower, so have avoided trying it. 

But when you get a small tub, pre-shredded "cous-cous" style, for 20p, you have to push your boundaries.

My preference for side dishes when eating South Asian food are chapatis, saag aloo, or dhal.  Wow,  I could write a whole blog on dhal and never get even a tenth of a percent of it right.  Love my spicy lentils I do.  Maybe another time.

A quick research of recipes tells me what I already know:  I can't make it like anyone else, or "authentically"  Still going to try this.  

On to our ingredients - we have our cauli, handily chopped up.  With a purchase of some spuds from our local co-op, some veg I had around, the usual cupboard spice suspects, plus, one of my little home-dried chilies to hand, we can fill up and get some punch for very little moolah.

Ingredients (per person)

• 1/3 (approx) head of cauliflower, chopped finely.  
• 3 or 4 new potatoes, preferably cooked or par-boiled.
• 1/2 onion, chopped finely.
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped / smashed
• 1 chunk of ginger as big as your whole thumb, shredded.
• 2 handfuls of cherry tomatoes or 1 handful plus 1 salad tomato - chopped very finely, juice reserved.
• 1/2 bunch chopped coriander or as I did, cheated and used a tsp of puree
• Vegetable Oil - about 5 - 6 tbsp**
• Spices
• 1 large tbsp generic curry powder
• 1 large tbsp garam masala 
• Add any extra mix of spices you like.  Tumeric, coriander seed, curry leaf, etc would go well.  I was missing these, but they would rock.

Method

...Hrm, the packet instructions say to stir fry the cauliflower for 4 minutes, and the baby spuds I picked up need 8 minutes in the microwave, so before that I'll prep the veg...

1.   Heat a pan as hot as possible. Whack the dry spices in and toast...
2.   Chop the onion, garlic, tomatoes and cauliflower, quickly, finely.
3. Get your spuds on.  This would be easier if I had pre-cooked potato*
4.   Turn off the dang smoke alarm when the spices start to smoke, dang dang, (sorry)
5.   Right! - Add the oil to the spice mix, and cook the cauliflower in it for 2 minutes. Stir fry thoroughly.
6.  Add the onion, garlic, ginger and coriander - stir fry for two minutes
7. Now add the potatoes and tomatoes and smash them up a bit.  
8. Reduce the heat, add some liquid (stock or water or more tomatoes, as I did), 
9. Season with salt and pepper, and let it stew for about 15-20 minutes until everything is tender.
10. Let cool and garnish with coriander sprigs, or as I did here, some parsely.

*munch*

So the original stir-fried cauli, pre-curried, was pretty decent - you didn't get that overwhelming odour or taste of brassicas you normally do.  But after I work some trickery on it...

That is goood!  Very, very filling (thanks potatoes and cauli!), very spicy and piquant  (thanks, garam masala and wee dried chilli!) and most of all, very satisfying.  

 I am thinking though that if I were to make changes to my recipe...

 - *new potatoes gave texture but I suspect a leftover baked potato works even better.

 - Add stock instead of water - If using tomato, use 1/3 tin of canned + juice.

 - Can't have too much curry powder.  Well, you can, but use 2 tbsps of each.

 - ** I needed a LOT of oil for this.  5-6 tbsp may not be enough, but it kept things from burning, and added... an almost restaurant like authenticity, dare I say it.

Definitely a recipe that I would guess is better slow cooked.  But if it says stir fry the cauliflower, quick gobi aloo is better than none at all.  

Ticked all the boxes for tonight - reduced items, lots of healthy veg, tasty, used up what was in the larder.  

Fond- [of]-ue 💕

Cheap cheese fondue and crudities <3

 Valentine's Day has been and gone but whether you were spending it with a significant other, on your own, or with friends, a fondue can be suprisingly cheap, a romantic centrepiece, and even a way to get folks talking as well as eating together.

Normally a fondue pot is heated over a candle flame or small burner but I thought "Why not adapt this to the SupermarketValueKitchen® ?  The recipe and prep are simple!"  I was lucky enough to have a load of cheese left over plus some budget mozzarella I picked up

Ingredients (for 2)

• 1/2 a bottle of cheap white wine. 
• About 1kg of cheese, grated.  Cheese is not cheap though.  Ideally it should be Emmental or Gruyere, but any hard cheese will work.  I adapted and used some of the leftovers I had from Xmas, not ideal but we'll see how it tastes...
• Red Leicester
•  Mozzarella (which I got in a Reduced salad pack with some sun dried tomatoes) [PIC]
•  Curry Sauce flavour cheddar (don't ask...) [PIC]
• Manchego (probably the nearest I got to hard cheese) [PIC]
•  A dusting of Parmesan for flavour. 
• Half a small onion or a shallot, finely chopped.  I used a couple of chopped scallions, reduced, (as featured in our curry) 
• 1 large tsp cornflour, slaked in some water.  
• Herbs
• Rosemary and floral Boquet Garni type herbs like parsley, thyme, bay and tarragon (I think) work the best to flavour the wine but you shouldn't need much.
• 1 clove of garlic, smashed up with salt but still intact 
• A little vegetable oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste

 

Method

Rub your saucepan or fondue pot with the oil and the smashed garlic clove, just enough to season it a little.
Boil the wine, herbs, and chopped onions in the pot until the alcohol's gone and then reduce to a low simmer.  This will take a while depending on whether you're using a fondue set or a saucepan, so pay attention to how it smells.

Filter out the bay leaf or boquet garni if you used one, and gradually whisk in the cornflour.
Now *very slowly* add the grated cheese into the pot and allow to melt, constantly stirring all the while.  DON'T let it burn or sit for too long if you're making this on a stove, as I found out...  Keep the heat REALLY low and slow.  Watch the texture, you want runny but not liquid, and definitley not sticky, as when the sauce cools it'll harden too much.

 To Serve
The whole point of a fondue is that it is a centrepiece and you constantly go back to it to cook your food slightly in the mixture, then come back again, so choose lots of small things.  My favourite things to put in cheese fondue are:
 - Radishes.
 - Green beans.
 - Carrots, cut into batons.
 - Celery sticks with a little salt and chilli / curry powder on them.
 - Any other vegetables you like that eat well raw or slightly cooked - cauliflower, maybe?
 
 - Flatbreads or pittas, warmed and cut into strips.
 - Toasted slices of garlic baguette.
 - New potatoes, boiled

 - Cooked chicken and a dash of hot sauce on the side.
 -  Very rare strips of steak, which can cook through more in the pot if you leave them in.
 - Chorizo or other spicy sausages would work.  A good way to use up leftover salami from Xmas...
 - Sun dried tomatoes.  Maybe you got these in a Reduced salad pack with some mozarella...

You could also do nachos or just breadsticks - everything tastes better in fondue.

*munch*

Mine came out a bit burnt at the bottom, I think I turned the heat up a little too much and the wrong sort of cheese doesn't help, but this was an exceptionally good way to use up a lot of leftover dairy (yes, I know, I'm lucky that was the case, cheese doesn't normally last a day in my home...)  Gooey, fun, and made everything I/we dunked in it taste amazing.


The leftover sauce also makes a very nice Welsh Rarebit mixture if you add a large spoon of English mustard (or two of American/French) and 2 tbsps Worcester sauce to it.  Grab a couple of slices of toasted bread, spread the mixture on top,  put it under the grill for a few minutes and you have some delicious leftovers.

Result <3