Aloo Gobi

There's something comforting about a warm, spicy, and flavor-packed bowl of Indian curry.

This aloo gobi recipe is the essence of Indian home cooking (in this case Northern-Indian, Punjab cooking).

It's an easy meal with simple ingredients in one pot and with little effort.

There are countless variations of Aloo Gobi, from dry to gravy, from homecooked to restaurant-style aloo gobi masala.

This one's the classic dry recipe for aloo gobi, without much sauce or gravy, and we think it's best served as a starter, side dish, or a quick and healthy lunch wrapped in a roti, chapati, or in tortilla wrap.

If you want something saucier, we have plenty of Indian-inspired curries on this site.

You can try our cauliflower curry, eggplant curry, chickpea curry, and lentil curry.

They are all delicious and packed with fresh vegetables, warm spices, and fragrant aromas.

But now let's see what you'll need to make this delicious curry with aloo and gobhi.

Potatoes

Yellow Yukon gold potatoes (aloo) are the first main ingredient of aloo gobhi.

We tried this recipe with other types of potatoes, like Russet potatoes and new potatoes, and they all worked well.

We like to make aloo gobi with peeled potatoes, but if you'd like to keep the peel on, that's fine too.

Cauliflower

Cauliflower (gobhi) is the second main ingredient in this curry. Use fresh cauliflower florets as they keep their shape and texture better than frozen ones.

Oil

We like to use extra virgin olive oil for all our curry recipes.

Substitute avocado oil, canola oil, or other vegetable oil for olive oil.

Onion

You can use white or yellow onion.

Ginger

We recommend fresh ginger. You can use it with or without the peel. We like grating the ginger into a paste that gets well distributed in the curry, but you can also slice it thinly.

Garlic

Fresh garlic is king in Indian home cooking; avoid garlic powder. Like the ginger, we grate the garlic and turn it into a paste.

Spices

We use cumin seeds, turmeric powder, coriander powder, and red pepper flakes as base spices for aloo gobi.

We also like to add a teaspoon of garam masala once the dish is cooked to infuse it with fragrant, sweet, tangy, and warm aromas.

Other spices you can add to your aloo gobi are fenugreek leaves (Kasuri methi), mango powder (amchur), red chili powder, fresh chillies, cayenne pepper, asafoetida, black cumin, and curry leaves.

Important: take our recipe as a guideline and add more or fewer spices based on your tastes and spice strength. Our recipe is mild and a good start for most people.

Salt and pepper

We use fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Garnish

Garnish aloo gobi with cilantro or fresh coriander. If you don't like cilantro, try fresh flat-leaf parsley.

You can top the curry with yogurt or non-dairy yogurt, lemon or lime wedges, and sour cream from cashews.

First, finely chop the onion, peel and chop the potatoes into bite-size pieces and separate the florets from the cauliflower head.

What's most important here is that cauliflower and potato pieces are about the same size.

Warm up the oil in a large skillet (we use enameled cast iron, but stainless steel works equally well).

Add cumin seeds and toast them for 30 seconds in the hot oil, moving them around the pan with a wooden spatula.

Add chopped onion and fry on medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring often.

Now add turmeric powder, coriander powder, red pepper flakes, grated garlic, and grated ginger, and fry for one more minute, moving the spices around the pan.

Add 1 cup of water and the potatoes, and let simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes.

Add cauliflower florets, one more cup of water, salt, and black pepper.

Stir well, then cover with a lid cracked open and simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes and the cauliflower florets are fork tender.

Stir often to prevent the veggies from sticking to the pan, and add more water if the pan gets too dry.

Tip: the potatoes should be very soft, and the cauliflower should be al dente.

When the vegetables are cooked, turn the heat off, add freshly chopped cilantro and garam masala, and give it a final stir.

Let it cool down for a few minutes to allow the flavors to meld, then serve it as a starter, main, or side dish.

Air Fryer or Oven Roasted Aloo Gobi

If you like your veggies crunchy and even more flavorful, try air frying them before adding them to the skillet with the spices.

Toss potatoes in olive oil and air fry them for 18 minutes at 400°F or 200°C. Toss cauliflower florets in olive oil and air fry them for 15 minutes at 400°F or 200°C.

Alternatively, you can roast cauliflower florets and potatoes in the oven at 400°F or 200°C for about 30 minutes.

Once roasted or air-fried, add the potatoes and cauliflower to the pot with the toasted spices, add one cup of water, simmer for 10 minutes, then finish with garam masala and cilantro.

As a main dish

• Wrapped in a roti, chapati, paratha, tortilla, or homemade piadina with freshly squeezed lemon juice or lime juice and a dollop of vegan sour cream.
• On top of basmati rice, jeera rice, or whole grain rice, with homemade cashew sour cream and fresh cilantro.
• With naan bread brushed with garlic and olive oil, mango chutney, and cucumber yogurt sauce.
• In tacos with avocado spread, leafy greens, and tomato salsa.

As a side dish

With protein-rich and tasty main dishes:

• Red lentil soup (celery, carrot, onion, garlic, rosemary, bay leaves, vegetable broth, etc.)
• Lentil curry (red lentils, coconut milk, turmeric, curry, garam masala, garlic, etc.)
• Easy lentil vegetable soup (brown lentils, spinach, carrot, celery, canned tomatoes, etc.)
• Rice and lentil mujaddara (rice, caramelized onions, spring onions, cinnamon, turmeric, etc.)

Make Ahead: aloo gobi is an excellent recipe to make ahead because its flavor gets even better the day after. We recommend it for meal prep.

Refrigerator: keep leftovers in an airtight container if the fridge for up to 3 days.

Freezer: let cool down completely, transfer to a freezer-friendly bag, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight or in the microwave.

Reheat: warm it in the microwave for a couple of minutes with a splash of water.

More Cauliflower Recipes

If you like cooking with cauliflower, get more dinner ideas from these wholesome and easy cauliflower recipes:

• Whole roasted cauliflower (harissa sauce, tahini dressing, chimichurri, toasted almonds, etc.)
• Cauliflower lentil salad (canned lentils, roasted cauliflower, cumin, hazelnuts, olive oil, etc.)
• Easy cauliflower soup (potato, garlic, onion, thyme, nutmeg, vegetable broth, etc.)
• Cauliflower mashed potatoes (potato, milk, nutmeg, parmesan, or dairy-free cheese, etc.)
• Pasta with cauliflower (spaghetti, parsley, lemon, pine nuts, red pepper flakes, parmesan, etc.)

Get more ideas for flavorful and easy curries with these Indian-inspired dinners:

• Cauliflower curry (coconut milk, ginger, garlic, onion, curry, turmeric, coriander, etc.)
• Tofu curry (tofu cubes, canned tomatoes, ginger, garlic, coconut milk, vegetable broth, etc.)
• Sweet potato curry (sweet potato, ginger, turmeric, garlic, garam masala, parsley, etc.)
• Tofu butter chicken (tofu, tomato paste, vegan cream, parsley, curry, cumin, coriander, etc.)
• Chana masala (chickpeas, garlic, ginger, diced tomatoes, turmeric, cumin, coriander, etc.)

For many more side dishes ideas, check out our sides category page.

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