Aloo Gobhi

You may have noticed the dramatic increase in the costs of everyday foods, particularly cauliflower. It’s almost double. If you know Punjabis at all you’ll know that they cook certain vegetables quite often in winters. Cauliflower is one such vegetable, and I did not bother to cook since December. However, I couldn’t resist for long, so last weekend when I saw a slight decrease in its cost I picked a big head of cauliflower to make aloo gobhi. The name literally translates to potatoes (aloo) with cauliflower (gobhi), It’s also the dish that became so associated with the film, ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ that (back in 2003) the DVD’s include an aloo gobhi cooking lesson from the director and her mom.

The term Aloo Gobhi generally refers to a Punjabi recipe, although the combination of potatoes and cauliflower are cooked all over India. Every household have their own versions, adding ingredients as per their taste and the availability. The basic ingredients however that you will find in most of the versions are onions, chilies, turmeric, ginger, garlic and garam masala. The use of ajwain is very prominent in Punjabi cooking. You will find other recipes on my blog that uses ajwain. It is especially good for the digestion. In case of stomach ache or indigestion, just take a tsp of ajwain with a pinch of salt (to cut the spice’s bitterness) and swallow with a glass of water. Ajwain…otherwise known as Carom Seeds is aromatic, slightly bitter and pungent and stronger in taste, so a little ajwain goes a long way.

This dish is meant to be quite dry when cooked, but if not done properly, can become soggy and spoils the taste and texture.

So, what I do is, after washing the florets I let them dry in colander for 15 minutes and cook in a wide wok or pan for easy stirring of the ingredients. I have noticed that the cauliflower that we get here have too much moisture compared to what we got in India. I never prepared aloo gobhi the way I do here.

Here, I partially cook the potatoes ( I use red skin potatoes as they are least starchy) before adding the florets. Then I cook everything covered for few minutes . The steam produced in the covered pan cooks the cauliflower faster. Then I cook off the excess liquid drawn from the cauliflower on high heat. I have cooked this dish in the oven before but the appearance of aloo gobhi cooked in a wok is quite different and gives you a very satisfying taste.

This dish is best eaten with chapati or paratha instead of naan or rice. And if you can save some for the next day sandwich it between 2 pieces of bread and take it to school or office for lunch.

Hope you will enjoy!