I cooked: Aloo Gobi (Indian Butter Spiced Potato and Cauliflower) (MasterChef)

Gosh, I do love these cook-alongs... it makes me get out of my comfort zone and cook something which I do not usually cook at home. So, for my third entry for "Cook Like A MasterChef", I will be sharing a recipe for an Indian butter spiced potatoes and cauliflower dish, better known as Aloo Gobi.

Aloo Gobi is a traditional North Indian vegetarian curry made with potatoes (aloo), cauliflower (gobi) and Indian spices. The recipe I chose to use is taken off MasterChef Australia, by their sponsor Western Star. The ingredients were easily accessible in KL and the recipe was easy and straightforward.

Although the black mustard seeds (biji sawi) and garam masala are listed as optional on the original recipe, try not to skip these ingredients (unless you cannot get hold of them) since I feel that they are essential spices in this dish. Personally, I felt that the yoghurt wasn't a necessary addition, I liked the dish more without the yoghurt as the taste of the spices were more prevalent. Btw, I only added half the yoghurt amount as stated in original recipe so do tweak this as you please. I used freshly grated turmeric instead of ground turmeric, which gives it the dish a lovely vibrant yellow hue (but what a chore trying to remove the stain from your fingers and plates!).

Overall, we loved this aloo gobi recipe, and will definitely be making it more often from now on.  I do hope that you will give this a try at home.



Aloo gobi (Indian Butter Spiced Potato and Cauliflower)
Recipe adapted from MasterChef Australia
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients
100g butter (you can also use ghee or 2 tbsp vegetable oil)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, finely grated
2 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds (jintan putih)
1 tsp turmeric (I used freshly grated turmeric)

1 tsp garam masala
400g potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
300g cauliflower, cut into large florets

1 cup water
2 long green chillies, finely sliced (I used red chillies)
1/4 cup coriander leaves, to garnish

Scallions, finely chopped, to garnish (optional)
200g fresh natural yogurt, for serving (I used 100g but this could be omitted)

Salt and pepper to taste

Grated turmeric

The ingredients for aloo gobi

Black mustard seeds and cumin seeds

1. In a large frying pan or wok over medium high heat, melt butter, then add onion, garlic, ginger and spices (turmeric, black mustard seeds, cumin seeds and garam masala) and cook for 2 minutes until fragrant and onions are golden.

2. Add potatoes, and gently fry for 1 minute. Then add the water and season to taste with salt and some pepper, stir to coat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

3. Remove the lid and stir in cauliflower and chilli, and cook for a further 10 minutes, until cauliflower and potatoes are tender and glossy. There should only be just enough liquid to moisten the vegetables.

4. To serve, spoon onto a serving platter, scatter with coriander and scallion and drizzle with yogurt.

This is another nice way of getting your children to eat cauliflower!

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I am submitting this to the "Cook Like a MasterChef" bloghop which I am co-hosting with Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Anuja of Simple Baking. To join, simply cook or bake any recipe (from the contestants, judges or even sponsors) from any MasterChef websites or cookbooks (any countries) and blog hop with us for the whole month of September 2012.

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Please mention Cook like a Star in your post and link back to Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Anuja of Simple Baking and Baby Sumo of Eat your heart out.

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