Tuesday Cooking

OK, that's kind of a lie, since we cooked this on Sunday, but since I put Sunday Yoga Thoughts on things that occurred to me on Thursday, what the hell.

On Friday, I went to lunch with Ted's Auntie Sondra, and we had Indian buffet. I'm not a huge fan of the buffet, but this one was pretty good. We went to Saroor, if you're ever in Walnut Creek. One of the items on the buffet, which I had never tried before, was Aloo Gobi. Boy, it was yummy.

So, on Sunday, when Ted woke up and declared that we were having curry for dinner that night, I raised my hands in thanks to the Lord. Hooray! Curry! So, I decided I would make curried pumpkin and aloo gobi as side dishes. I searched the internet for recipes, and decided upon this one, which I found here:

Aloo Gobi

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 large onion, peeled and cut into small pieces
Large bunch of fresh coriander, separated into stalks and leaves and roughly chopped
Small green chilies, chopped into small pieces (or one teaspoon chili powder)
1 large cauliflower, leaves removed and cut evenly into eighths
3 large potatoes, peeled and cut into even pieces
1 LARGE 28oz can of diced tomatoes with juice (or two regular cans)
Fresh ginger, peeled and grated
Fresh garlic, chopped
1 Teaspoon Cumin seeds
2 Teaspoons Turmeric
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Teaspoons Garam Masala


Heat vegetable oil in a large saucepan.

Add the chopped onion and one tablespoon of cumin seeds to the oil.

Stir together and cook until onions become creamy, golden, and translucent.

Add chopped coriander stalks, two teaspoons of turmeric, and one teaspoon of salt.

Add chopped chillis (according to taste)

Stir tomatoes into onion mixture.

Add ginger and garlic; mix thoroughly.

Add potatoes and cauliflower to the sauce plus a few tablespoons of water (ensuring that the mixture doesn't stick to the saucepan).

Ensure that the potatoes and cauliflower are coated with the curry sauce.

Cover and allow to simmer for twenty minutes (or until potatoes are cooked).

Add two teaspoons of Garam Masala and stir.

Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves on top of the curry.

Turn off the heat, cover, and leave for as long as possible before serving.

The only problem ws that it says garlic and ginger, but it doesn't really say how much of either. So I used 2 cloves of garlic, and maybe 2 inches of ginger root. For the pepper, I used 1/2 of a jalapeno, no seeds. Maya and her friend would be eating too, so I didn't want it TOO hot. It was very yummy.

Our kitchen is very small, so if you're going to cook like this, you have to cook in shifts. Ted had to work for a couple of hours on Sunday, so I made the pumpkin and aloo gobi while he was at work, and he came home and made curried lamb, rice, and roti. Mmmm. Roti. Anyway, when we saw how much food we had, we quickly called Cherry and Eric to come join us for dinner. Eric can usually be counted on to eat a lot of food, and they both really like Indian, so they were a natural choice. Cherry brought lovely homemade sauces to pour over ice cream, and some ice cream, and we feasted. What a lovely evening it was. :)

Speaking of cooking, Maya made a beautiful coconut pie on Saturday for her cousin's birthday party. It turned out wonderfully, and everyone scarfed it down. I was proud of her, because I was only there for guidance, she did almost all of it herself. I can tell she will be a great cook by the time she grows up.