Monday 18 February 2013

Indian Sunshine

Aloo Gobi Mattar- Curry di Patate, Cavolofiore e Piselli
Aloo Gobi Mattar- Curried Potato, Cauliflower and Peas


Summer is still such a loooong way away, it is cold, dark and dreary and warming, hearty meals are still the order of the day... or the evening for that matter! Like this spicy, satisfying bowl of yummy potatoes, cauliflower and peas- who ever would have thought that such ordinary ingredients could be turned into such a delicious meal? Well... I would for sure! And the entire population of India too!

This is my favorite kind of food- quick, easy, healthy and tasty! I am not usually a great fan of cauliflower- sure, it tastes just fine- but it is... well... really nothing special. And it does smell a little "iffy" whilst it is cooking. So this was the first in a long time that I bought some- just a half of a medium sized one, as I live alone, but it was still plenty for me to try out 2 dishes this evening and I have come to the conclusion that I have been missing out! Because prepared in the right way, cauliflower can taste really wonderful! This is the first dish that is proof of that shocking fact!


This was wonderfully quick and easy to prepare. I scrubbed and diced a medium sized potato into bite-sized chunks and cut a quarter of the cauliflower into its separate little "florets" and popped them into my steamer- potatoes at the bottom, cauliflower on top... and let them do their thing for 5-6 minutes- just long enough to par-boil them... and long enough to give me time to start with all of the delicious spices that would go into this curry...

So, in a dry frying pan, I began to toast a half teaspoon of mustard, cumin and fennel seed, until they began to jump about and pop. I then added a pat of clarified butter and about 1 tablespoon of finely chopped ginger. I stirred these ingredients together so that the flavors would develop nicely, then drained the vegetables, which were more than half done by now and added them into the frying pan. I added about a teaspoon each of both turmeric and garam masala and stirred everything well so that the spices became equally distributed. At this point I also added a handful of frozen peas, salt, pepper and a little more clarified butter, so that everything could begin browning nicely.

After 2-3 minutes, I deglazed the pan with a good splash of boiling water and added a half of a relatively finely sliced red onion. In went a little pinch of sugar, a squeeze of lemon and on went the lid for 2-3 minutes, in which time everything had steamed a little, the water had been absorbed nicely and everything was coming together wonderfully... the smell was amazingly yummy! A final drizzle of melted clarified butter, a sprinkle of chili flakes and a few sprigs of parsley and supper was served! And doesn't it look good? You know you want to try it!

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