Easy Aloo Gobi with Potato and Cauliflower

Aloo gobi is one of those dishes that doesn’t look particularly complicated because, really, it isn’t. It’s essentially potatoes and cauliflower cooked with onion, chilli, ginger, garlic and plenty of spices, but the combination works brilliantly and makes something much more interesting than a pan of vegetables on the side.

I’ve made this without oil and I cook everything in a large lidded frying pan with just a couple of tablespoons of water. The potatoes and cauliflower cook together with cumin, coriander and turmeric, soaking up all those flavours rather than sitting in a big curry sauce.

You can eat it as a simple meat-free main meal or make it as part of a bigger curry night. I probably think of aloo gobi more as a side dish, especially because there are so many other curries I could put alongside it, but with potatoes in there it’s certainly substantial enough to eat on its own if that’s what you fancy.

If you’re planning a meat-free curry night, you’ll find plenty more ideas in my vegetarian curry recipes collection.

What actually is aloo gobi?

Aloo gobi is an Indian dish based around potatoes and cauliflower – aloo referring to potato and gobi to cauliflower.

There are lots of versions, as you’d expect with a dish cooked by so many different people and families. Some are drier, some have more sauce and the exact mixture of spices varies.

Mine is a fairly dry version cooked in one pan with onion, cumin, coriander, turmeric, fresh chilli, ginger and plenty of garlic. There’s no tomato sauce or coconut milk here, which also helps distinguish it from my easy vegetable curry and cauliflower and chickpea curry.

I wouldn’t claim mine is the definitive or most authentic way of making aloo gobi because I’m a woman from Nottinghamshire cooking the version I enjoy! What I can tell you is exactly how I make mine and what has worked for me.

What you’ll need

The main ingredients are three medium potatoes and one large cauliflower, along with two onions. Cutting the potato into reasonably small, even pieces and breaking the cauliflower into small florets is worth doing because everything needs to cook at roughly the same speed.

For the flavour, I use ground cumin, ground coriander and turmeric, then add fresh ginger, garlic and two sliced red chillies. Eight cloves of garlic might sound like quite a lot when you see it written down, but this makes four portions and there’s plenty of potato and cauliflower for it to flavour.

Fresh coriander goes through at the end rather than spending the whole cooking time in the pan.

I usually serve mine with a dollop of Greek yoghurt. If you’re keeping the whole meal vegan, simply leave that off or use a plant-based yoghurt instead.

How I make aloo gobi

You’ll need a large frying pan with a lid because the lid is quite important here. You’re using very little added liquid, so covering the pan helps the potatoes and cauliflower cook through rather than simply browning on the outside.

Start with the onion over a medium heat and cook it gently until it’s beginning to soften. Add the cumin, coriander and turmeric along with the crushed garlic and grated ginger, then cook for another couple of minutes while stirring regularly.

At this point I add just two tablespoons of water, followed by the diced potatoes, small cauliflower florets and sliced chillies. It can be tempting to look at the pan and think there’s nowhere near enough liquid, but don’t automatically pour a mug of water into it. This is supposed to be a fairly dry aloo gobi rather than a potato and cauliflower soup!

Put the lid on and cook it for around 15 minutes before checking the potatoes. If they’re tender, you’re pretty much there. If they’re still firm, put the lid back on and give them another five minutes before checking again.

One reader who made this told me hers needed slightly longer because the vegetables were still a little hard at the original time, but she loved the finished dish and the spicing. That’s exactly why I’d rather tell you to check the potatoes than pretend every potato in Britain cooks in precisely 15 minutes.

Once everything is cooked to your liking, take the pan off the heat and stir through the chopped fresh coriander.

Getting the potatoes and cauliflower cooked at the same time

This is probably the only slightly awkward bit of aloo gobi. Potatoes and cauliflower don’t always cook at exactly the same rate, especially if you’ve got huge chunks of potato and tiny cauliflower florets.

I try to cut the potatoes fairly evenly and keep the cauliflower florets small. Don’t get a ruler out – life’s too short – but avoid having one potato chunk the size of a golf ball next to another the size of a pea.

After 15 minutes, test a piece of potato rather than relying purely on the clock. If it still has too much bite, carry on cooking in five-minute bursts with the lid on.

I’d much rather cook it for another five or ten minutes than serve crunchy potato because a recipe told me the arbitrary 15 minutes were up.

Is this aloo gobi spicy?

There are two fresh red chillies in my recipe, but chilli heat varies enormously and so does everyone’s idea of what counts as spicy.

If you’re cooking for someone who doesn’t enjoy much heat, use less chilli or choose a milder variety. You can always add heat to your own portion afterwards, whereas there’s not much you can do when someone has taken one mouthful and is sitting at the table looking betrayed.

The cumin, coriander, turmeric, ginger and garlic provide plenty of flavour even if you reduce the chilli.

If you’re making several dishes for a curry night, I actually quite like having some milder dishes alongside a hotter curry rather than making absolutely everything blow-your-head-off spicy.

Can I use frozen cauliflower?

You can experiment with frozen cauliflower, but bear in mind that it doesn’t necessarily behave exactly like fresh cauliflower.

It can release more moisture as it cooks and may soften more quickly, so I wouldn’t automatically assume the timing will be identical. Because the potato needs enough time to cook, you may find you’re better adding frozen cauliflower later rather than cooking it for the entire time.

The recipe as I’ve tested it uses fresh cauliflower, so that’s still what I’d recommend if you’re making it for the first time.

Do I have to make it without oil?

No. This version happens to be cooked without oil because that’s how I originally developed it, but that doesn’t mean adding oil somehow ruins aloo gobi.

If you normally fry your onions and spices in a little oil and prefer the flavour or texture that gives you, there’s nothing wrong with doing that.

What can I serve with aloo gobi?

You can eat it on its own, but I think it’s particularly good as part of a curry night because it gives you something quite different from all the saucy dishes.

I’d serve it alongside something such as my one-pot chickpea curry, easy Quorn curry or vegetable curry, depending on what else you’re making.

Rice works well too, although because aloo gobi already contains plenty of potato, I don’t automatically think it needs a huge pile of rice. If you’re making several dishes, a smaller amount of rice with a few curries and sides is usually more than enough.

My air fryer onion bhajis would be lovely alongside it, and you can find more ideas in my main curry recipes collection.

Can I make aloo gobi ahead?

Yes, and I’ve found it keeps well in the fridge for around three days.

I actually think dishes like this are quite handy for leftovers because you can make a larger amount as part of a curry night and then have whatever remains for lunch the following day.

Cool leftovers promptly, refrigerate them and reheat thoroughly when you’re ready to eat them. Because the dish isn’t swimming in sauce, you may find it needs a tiny splash of water when reheating to stop it catching on the pan.

Can I change the vegetables?

You can experiment, but once you take out the potato or cauliflower you’re obviously moving away from aloo gobi and towards a general vegetable curry.

If you want carrots, peppers, greens and whatever else needs using from the fridge, I’d start with my easy vegetable curry instead because that’s designed to be a mixed vegetable dish.

Likewise, if you’ve got cauliflower but would rather have something with a tomato sauce and chickpeas, my cauliflower and chickpea curry is a better fit.

Sometimes adapting a recipe is useful; other times there’s already another recipe that does the job without turning the original into something it was never supposed to be.

More vegetarian curry ideas

Because I’ve been vegetarian since I was 10, there are quite a few meat-free curries scattered around Just Average Jen now, ranging from really simple recipes to ones with a much longer spice list.

My cauliflower and chickpea curry is a good next choice if you’ve got cauliflower left over, while my one-pot chickpea curry includes lentils, spinach and broccoli and is much more of a complete one-pot dinner.

There’s also my Instant Pot vegetable curry if you want to put your pressure cooker to work, and the slightly unusual but surprisingly tasty mushy pea curry.

I’ve brought all of those together in my vegetarian curry recipes, or you can browse the main curry recipes hub if you’re feeding vegetarians and meat eaters at the same time.

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