Aloo Gobi: Definitely not a Star Wars character

Ingredients:

Alright, due to technical difficulties I don’t have an establishing shot. But here’s what you’re going to need:

An onion
Fresh or jarred ginger
One hot pepper, any kind
Olive oil
2 cloves of minced garlic (I use the kind in a jar)
Garam marsala
Cumin
Cayenne pepper (skip it if you're scared of hot food)
Tumeric
Salt
Veggie or chicken stock
A large potato
Half a medium–sized head of cauliflower
Cilantro
Peas or edamame

I’m talking about onion, homeskillet

Chop up your onion, grate about a tablespoon of ginger, mince your two cloves of garlic (or scoop out about two tablespoons), and chop up your hot pepper. Be sure to remove the pepper seeds if spicy food freaks you out. Heat up your pan with some olive oil. Sauté everything up, stirring occasionally until the onions are translucent.

Back to the cutting board

Meanwhile, cube your potato. Break up the cauliflower into bite–appropriate chunks.

Time to spice things up

Add a tsp of garam marsala, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/4 tsp of tumeric, 1/4 tsp of cayenne. Mix it up, stirring constantly to coat things and to minimize anything sticking to the pan.

Spices: An aside

So, garam marsala. It’s more or less the Cajun spice mix or Italian seasoning of the Indian cooking world. I don’t know that I have ever seen it prepackaged in the stores, but I suspect you can find it. If not, why not make your own? You can keep it in a little Tupperware jar and have it available year round. There’s a bunch of recipes for it out there, but here’s what I normally do:

2 tablespoons of cumin, coriander, and black pepper
1 teaspoon or ground cardamom or cinnamon, and powdered ginger
A dash of allspice

Tada! Congratulations, you made your very own spice!

Potatoes: Not just the main ingredient of vodka

Add half a cup of broth, and the potato. Stir things around to make sure everything is doused with spice. Cover the pan and wait 8-10 minutes, stirring a couple times.

Cauliflower

Add your cauliflower. Stir and cover for another 8-10 minutes. Side note: If you are using frozen peas, now would be the time to add them as well. Once the potatoes are tender add a handful of chopped fresh cilantro, and about half a can of peas (or some fresh edamame if you're being fancy). Let things simmer and work its mojo for about 5 more minutes.

Fin

Here’s a pic of the final product. This is dish that just gets better each day you let it sit in the fridge, though it’s yummy on the first day as well. Rice or bread make great additions, and I suggest pairing aloo gobi with a nice, light beer like Sapporo, Summit, or even Red Stripe.