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.