A simple authentic recipe for Aloo Gobi (Indian-Spiced Potatoes and Cauliflower) that will delight your tastebuds. This easy stovetop method requires only one pan and is very simple to make. Serve it up with naan, fluffy basmati rice or roti! Vegan-adaptable and gluten-free.
Aloo Gobi is a simple yet delicious vegetarian dish from India featuring cauliflower and potatoes and fragrant spices. I could eat this every day!
We’re back from our three-week adventure in Northern India and I just couldn’t wait to share this recipe for Aloo Gobi with you. What I loved about the food on this trip was the incredible variety of veggies, delicious spice combinations and how it was all mostly vegetarian. Food heaven!
Simple ingredients, veggie-driven with incredible flavors. Pretty much my favorite way to eat. This recipe pretty much sums up the food experience, and I hope you give it a go! I think you’ll be happy. 😉
What is Aloo Gobi?
In Hindi, Aloo translates to potatoes and Gobi translates to Cauliflower. Aloo Gobi is a classic Indian (and Pakistani) dish that is vegetarian and varies slightly from region to region depending on where you are.
It’s a “dry” stir-fry of sorts, made with cauliflower, potatoes and spices- most commonly turmeric, whole cumin seeds and curry leaves.
Ingredients in Aloo Gobi
- ghee (or sub coconut oil or peanut oil– but ghee tastes best!)
- aromatics: shallot or onion, garlic and ginger
- fresh chili: serrano chile
- curry leaves (optional)
- salt and spices: teaspoon whole cumin seeds, black mustard seeds, ground turmeric powder, paprika (or red chili powder) asafoetida, ground coriander powder – or feel free to sub garam masala in a pinch!
- Fresh tomato
- Potatoes
- Cauliflower
- Garnishes: Cilantro or scallions
How to make Aloo Gobi
Saute shallot, garlic, ginger, and the serrano chili pepper in a large skillet with ghee (or sub coconut oil). Add whole cumin seeds, spices, curry leaves, and a diced tomato.
Cook this down until it is almost a paste. Add cauliflower florets, potatoes and a little water, and steam, covered for about 15 minutes.
Cut the cauliflower into small, uniform, bite-sized pieces.
Cook the spices and diced tomato down until it almost becomes a paste.
Here is where all the flavor comes from!
Add the cauliflower, potatoes, salt and water and cover and simmer until tender for 15 minutes.
Feel free to add other veggies here- green peas are good here too!
Once the cauliflower and potatoes are tender, uncover, and let all the liquid cook off, until fairly dry. Garnish with cilantro and, voila, it is done! Easy Peasy.
(Alternatively, you can roast the cauliflower and potatoes- but doing it this way( on the stovetop) saves a step and saves using an extra pan- so much easier!)
Uncover, then cook off any excess liquid. Give a taste and just heat level to your liking. If you want it spicier, and a little cayenne pepper.
Spoon it into a serving dish and scrape out all the goodness from the bottom of the pan, placing it over the top.
Garnish with fresh cilantro or scallions.
The tomato adds just the right amount of acidity. You can also try a pinch of mango powder if so inclined, or a squeeze of lime juice.
Store in the fridge for up to 4 days in an air-tight container, or freeze for up to 3 months.
What to serve Aloo Gobi With?
- Emerald Dal
- Instant Pot Tikka Masala
- Palak Paneer
- Raita!
- Mint Chutney
- Indian Butter Chicken
- Basmati rice
- Naan Bread
- Authentic Chai!
- Chai Cookies!
And here you have it, tasty, delicious, easy… Aloo Gobi, straight from India.
xoxoxo
Print
Aloo Gobi Recipe (Indian-Spiced Cauliflower & Potatoes)
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 25
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: side, vegetarian
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: Indian
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Flavorful Aloo Gobi! Indian-Spiced Potatoes and Cauliflower with Masala Spices- an easy authentic healthy Indian classic that can be made on the stovetop! Vegan adaptable.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons ghee (or sub coconut oil or peanut oil- but ghee tastes best!)
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely chopped
- 1 serrano chile, split down the middle, stem intact
- 8–10 curry leaves (optional)
- 2 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika ( or chili powder)
- 1/2 teaspoon asafoetida
- 1 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1 medium tomato, finely diced, with juices
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups diced potatoes ( 3/4 inch dice)
- 1 small head cauliflower, cut into small bite-sized florets (about 5 cups)
- Garnish: Cilantro or scallions
Instructions
- Heat ghee in a large skillet over medium heat. Add shallot, garlic, ginger and serrano chili and saute until fragrant and golden, about 3-4 minutes. Add curry leaves, cumin seeds and mustard seeds and saute 1-2 minutes.
- Lower heat and add remaining spices – turmeric, paprika, asafoetida, coriander- along with tomato with its juices. Cook the tomatoes down on low heat for about 4-5 minutes until they begin to break down.
- Add salt and water, give a good stir scraping up any browned bits.
- Add potatoes and cauliflower, toss to coat. Cover, bring to a gentle simmer over med-low heat and cook, covered until fork-tender, about 15 minutes. Uncover and reduce, until all the remaining liquid is gone, stirring occasionally. You want this fairly dry ( the ghee will keep it moist).
- Spoon into a serving dish, scraping all the goodness out of the bottom of the pan over top.
- Garnish with cilantro sprigs. Serve with naan, basmati rice or roti!
Notes
Curry leaves and asafoetida can be found at Asian Markets and both really elevate the dish. Curry leaves can come fresh or frozen – so check the freezer section if you don’t see fresh. Be sure to freeze any remaining curry leaves for another use so you always have on hand! (A ziplock bag or mason jar works great)
Curry Leaves are completely edible after they are cooked, but feel free to remove them as they can be a bit “awkward” to chew on.
Ghee tastes amazing here, but of course, you can absolutely make this vegan.
Leftovers are twice as delicious, allowing potatoes and cauliflower time to absorb all the amazing flavor.
Alternatively, you can roast the potatoes and cauliflower in an oven until tender, then mix with the shallot-tomato-spice mixture ( leaving the water out).
Serve with Naan, basmati rice or roti.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 1/4 cup
- Calories: 212
- Sugar: 7.3 g
- Sodium: 664.8 mg
- Fat: 9.8 g
- Saturated Fat: 5.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 28.6 g
- Fiber: 7.4 g
- Protein: 6.7 g
- Cholesterol: 22.9 mg
Just tried the aloo gobi. I;m a huge fan of Indian food and was excited to several recipes on the site. The Aloo Gobi was as good as our usual Indian food spot. One suggestion– use “mise en place” to prep for the cooking (ie, getting everything chopped, measured, and ready to go before beginning to cook) Doing that made it super easy to make the recipe. I also made the Emerald Dal at the same time (but had precooked the black lentils and prepped the ingredients as well) Great dinner with some brown basamati rice and naan. My partner told me he just had one criticism-I didn’t make enough. Will definitely go into the rotation. Thanks!
Ha! This is all great to hear Susan.
Another amazing dish–the flavors were phenomenal. We so enjoyed this over basmati rice. Easy to prepare, but the flavors make one think the dish required a huge amount of time and effort. I did not have curry leaves, but I will make sure to include them next time. One question: why leave the stem on the chili pepper? To make it easy to remove?
Yes it just keeps it more intact and easy to remove. Glad you enjoyed Carole!
DELICIOUS! Agree that curry leaves add something special. Served with Palek Paneer, Butter Chicken, Lemon Rice, Raita and Naan – all Sylvia’s versions which received nothing but Mmmm-yums at the table!
What a perfect feast! So happy you all enjoyed!
I love the flavor profile and used Miyokos vegan butter instead of ghee ~ Perfect!
Oh perfect! great to hear!
I made this tonight and it was a hit. Black forbidden rice on the side. I did add more water than the recipe suggested and thought the next time I make it a can of crushed tomatoes would help.
Thanks Karen!
I love this recipe. It is the second time that I have made it and I believe some edits may have been made to the recipe since the last time I made it. The recipe is even better now. The only change I made was to add some sweet potato because I was short on regular potato and cauliflower. Basically I had the same quantity of veggies though. I highly recommend making the naan and cilantro/mint sauce. Both are also really good. Also, it might be helpful to add the bit about pulling the curry leaves at the end in the ingredients note. I had the same question as the previous review.
Awesome Lynn, glad you enjoy this one with naan and the chutney- soooo good! I will note the recipe about the curry leaves- thanks! 🙂
Hello! I am a fairly recent big fan of your blog. It has taken some time, but I have made enough of your recipes (with my tweaks, of course) to know that they will always be flavorful! I have a question on this one. Do you use the curry leaves whole?? and if so, What do you do with the curry leaves once it is cooked? Are they edible? Do you just push them aside and not eat them? Do you remove them? Thanks so much!
Hi Kiki, thanks! Curry leaves: I usually use them whole and just push them aside and don’t eat them. They are totally edible after they are cooked, but not the best sensation having a whole curry leaf in your mouth.:)
Thanks so much for the quick reply! Making this right now! Oh, and I wanted to put it out there… your creamy mushroom soup is to die for! And I don’t like mushrooms! I try to cook with them for others and I’m try to learn to like them more since they have so many health benefits! The broth is just amazing! Guess I should put those notes in a comment on that recipe!
Thanks so much Kiki! Appreciate this!
Very easy and enjoyable recipe!
I substituted turnip for the potato, because I had it on hand, and it was quite good. Excellent pairing with your homemade naan recipe. Thank you for providing inspiration in the kitchen.
Ooo love that idea of turnips! Thanks Nicole.
Very good! This was my first time cooking Indian food and everyone loved it.
Wonderful April!
Delicious! We didn’t have a tomato so used 1/2 cup of salsa & served Aloo Gobi with roasted beets accompanied by a raspberry jam/balsamic vinegar/mandarin orange sauce and bbq’d ham steaks.
Perfect Mauren!
your recipes look great. just one comment. It would be helpful if you indicated the serving size for the nutritional content. I need to carefully watch my husband’s diet so this is critical to know. Thank you.
Sorry about that Erica- it is added now. 🙂
This is Delicious! I’ve made a lot of aloo gobi and this recipe is by far the best. Can’t wait to make again. Thank you so much!
So great to hear Vicky!
I’ve made this recipe at least five times now. I love it every time, thank you Sylvia 🙂
Thanks Angeli, appreciate you sharing!