Aloo Gobi Recipe

Make the best Aloo Gobi that’s simply delicious, flavor packed & healthy! There is nothing more comforting for an Indian soul than a bowl of fresh cooked sabzi (veggies) served with some hot fluffy Basmati Rice, puffed rotis or Chapati and Dal Tadka. Aloo Gobi is a pure comfort food if you love the magical Indian flavors. Made with pantry staples, this Aloo Gobi is surely going to win your heart for its simplicity & delicious flavors.

About Aloo Gobi

Aloo Gobi is a simple Indian vegetarian dish made with potatoes, cauliflower, spices and herbs. The dish gets its name from the Hindi words, – ‘Aloo’ translates to ‘potatoes’ and ‘Gobi’ to ‘Cauliflower’. It is a popular everyday dish from the Indian sub-continent and is made in numerous ways.

Actually Aloo Gobi is a dry dish (with no sauce/gravy) but you will also find semi dry and curried versions (gravy) often. In fact every family & restaurant has their own recipe.

Surprisingly Aloo Gobi in each standard restaurant tastes so much different & unique from the other.

My Recipe

My family is a huge fan of this dish and they love it anytime. In this post I share 2 versions of the dish – semi dry and gravy. The semi dry version is made by simply stir frying the ingredients.

Aloo & Gobi are a match made in the heaven! Stir frying them with spices and herbs, not only brings out the natural earthy flavor of potatoes and nutty aroma of cauliflower but also help them soak up the flavors of the spices.

This potato & cauliflower curry goes well with roti, rice, Plain Paratha or with flavored rice like Jeera Rice and Ghee Rice. For a restaurant kind meal, serve the gravy with Butter Naan.

What is special about cooking aloo gobi?

All the ingredients used to make Indian sabzis (curries) are used here as well but the cooking process in not the same. Aloo and gobi both have different cook times so adding them to the pan at different stages is crucial.

A perfectly made aloo gobi has soft cooked potatoes & slightly crunchy cauliflower that’s not soggy.

In a lot of standard Indian restaurants, both these veggies are mostly deep fried until golden and crisp. A spicy onion tomato masala is made and then the fried veggies are stir fried or simmered with it.

Deep frying the veggies makes a huge difference as they cook down to a lighter texture and bring out the natural flavour.

My homemade Aloo Gobi stir fry (Recipe 1) is healthy, easy to make in one pan and tastes delicious too. It also goes well in the school and office lunch boxes. I mostly make the restaurant style gravy version on the weekends or occasions, to go with our favorite jeera rice and butter naan.

This is how my homestyle gravy looks like but a lot more healthier than the restaurant version. For the recipe scroll down where I show the process with the step by step pictures. If you want you can also bake the cauliflower and potatoes in the oven or air fry them before simmering with the gravy.

More Cauliflower Recipes
Cauliflower Stir Fry
Gobi Manchurian
Gobi 65
Cauliflower Curry
Cauliflower Pakoda
Cauliflower Kurma

How to Make Aloo Gobi (Recipe 1- Stepwise photos)

Preparation

1. Prepare the following ingredients:

• Peel & cube 2 medium potatoes to make 1½ cup pieces of ¾ by ¾ inch each. Keep them immersed in water until required.
• Chop a cauliflower head, to make 2 cups (180 grams) florets, chopped to 1½ inch. Optionally add the florets to slightly hot water and rest for 3 to 4 mins. Later rinse them well and drain.
• Fine chop 1 medium onion, to make ¾ to 1 cup chopped onions
• Deseed & fine chop 2 medium tomatoes to make ¾ to 1 cup (or use 1 to 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon ginger garlic minced or paste
• 1 green chili slit or chopped (optional)

Stir Fry Potatoes

2. Pour 2 tablespoons oil to a heavy bottom pan and heat it. Add cumin seeds. When they begin to sizzle, add 1 tablespoon ginger garlic. Saute just for 30 seconds.

3. Add fine chopped onion & chopped green chili. Fry them until onions turn transparent.

4. Drain the potatoes from water and add them. Fry for 2 to 3 mins.

5. Next cover and cook until they are half done. If the potatoes dry out, then sprinkle little water and cook.

Stir Fry Potato & Cauliflower

6. When the potatoes are half cooked, add cauliflower and stir fry for 3 mins. Then add

• ¾ to 1¼ teaspoon red chili powder
• 1 to 1½ teaspoon garam masala (adjust as needed)
• ¾ to 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• ½ to ¾ teaspoon Roasted Cumin Powder
• ¼ teaspoon turmeric

7. Mix all of them well. Sprinkle some water (about 2 to 3 tablespoons) all over or across the sides of the pan. This prevents the dish from becoming dry. Cook covered, stirring after every few minutes, until both potatoes and cauliflower are almost tender. Sprinkle salt and mix. Cover and cook again until potatoes are soft & fully cooked. The cauliflower should remain slightly crunchy.

8. Add chopped tomatoes (or 1 to 2 tbsp tomato paste) (optional). Crush 1 tablespoon kasuri methi in your palms and sprinkle it here. Stir fry on a medium high heat until the tomato blends well with the aloo gobi masala. The raw flavor of the tomatoes should vanish. This just takes 2 to 3 mins. At this stage taste test and add more salt and ground spice spices if needed.

9. Sprinkle ½ to 1 teaspoon Amchur (optional) if using. Garnish aloo gobi with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice or roti. You can sprinkle lemon juice if you love the tang.

Serve Aloo gobi with roti, rice or paratha.

Pro Tips

1. Always sauté & cook potatoes until half done before adding the cauliflower. Potatoes take longer to cook than cauliflower so avoid adding them together to the pan.
2. Do not add salt till the potatoes are almost done. Adding salt will prevent them from cooking well since there is no water used.
3. The latter part of cooking has to be done on a low flame which helps the veggies to release some moisture and cook well without burning.
4. If using tomatoes do not add them until the potatoes are soft cooked. The acidity in tomatoes will prevent the aloo from cooking well.

More Potato recipes
Aloo matar
Punjabi Dum aloo
Jeera aloo
Quick aloo methi

Variations

1. This can be made without onion, tomatoes, garlic & even green chili. I do make this baby version for my young boys as they are fussy to eat it with all of those ingredients.
2. My recipe shared here has all of the above ingredients and makes the best aloo gobi. However leaving out onion or tomatoes is just okay and the dish still turns out good. Leaving out both makes the dish very dry so use more oil.
3. For a quicker version, just toss potatoes and cauliflower in spice powders along with little oil. Then grill them one after the other in a oven or air fryer. Make the onion tomato masala and then add the grilled potatoes and cauliflower to the masala.

Recipe 2 – Aloo Gobi Masala (Restaurant Style)

In restaurants, aloo and gobi is first deep fried to quicken the process and make the dish more delicious. For healthy home style, I have steamed them. You can also air fry or grill them in the oven.

Ingredients

• 1½ cup potato (2 medium potatoes, peeled & cubed to ¾ by ¾ inch )
• 2 cup cauliflower florets (180 grams)
• 1 cup onions (use sweet onions, avoid purple onions)
• 1½ to 2 cups tomatoes cubed
• 14 cashews or 3 tablespoons almond flour or ¼ cup cream
• 1 green chili slit
• 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste (or grated ginger garlic)
• 2 to 3 tablespoons oil
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• ¼ teaspoon turmeric
• 1½ teaspoon garam masala (adjust to taste)
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• ½ to ¾ teaspoon roasted cumin powder
• ¾ to 1¼ teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
• Salt as needed
• 1 tablespoon kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)

How to make Aloo gobi Masala (Stepwise photos)

1. If you want you can use chopped onions & chopped tomatoes in this recipe but I prefer to make a onion paste & tomato paste for a smoother restaurant style gravy. If you want to make a smooth sauce, cube the onions and make a fine paste without adding water. Set aside. Puree tomatoes with cashews until smooth. Set aside.

Make sure you don’t use pungent onions like purple onions as they can make the dish bitter. If your onions are too pungent you may boil them in 2 cups of water for 2 to 3 mins or saute them for 6 to 7 mins, cool and then puree them.

2. You should have a smooth puree. If you do not have a powerful blender, you may soak the cashews in half cup hot water for 15 mins before grinding.

3. You have 3 options to prepare your potatoes and cauliflower. They need to cooked partially (al dente) before adding to the sauce else they may take forever to cook in the sauce.

1. You can steam them in a steamer. First steam the potatoes until half done, then add the cauliflower. Steam till al dente and not mushy.
2. Or Pan fry or shallow fry them separately (one after the other) in 2 tablespoons oil until crisp & golden.
3. Or Air Fry them.

4. Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds. You can also optionally use 2 green cardamoms and 1 small bay leaf if you want. When the cumin seeds begin to sizzle, add ginger garlic paste and fry on a low heat until it smells good, for a minute or so.

5. Next add the onion paste. Saute on a medium to low heat until it turns golden.

6. This is a very important step else the sauce won’t taste good.

7. Add the tomato cashew puree.

8. Saute until the raw smell of tomatoes and onions has completely vanished. Add chilli, garam masala, coriander powder, cumin powder, red chili powder & salt.

9. Saute until the masala begins to smell good and the raw flavor of onions and tomatoes has gone.

10. Pour hot water and stir to make a runny gravy. Start with 1 cup hot water and add more as required. Cover and cook until the gravy thickens a bit, ideally until you see traces of oil on top. If you want you may add more hot water.

11. Add cauliflower and potatoes. Make sure your sauce is thick before adding the veggies as you won’t cook too long after adding them.

12. Stir and cook covered until the aloo gobi is cooked. Add crushed kasuri methi & chopped coriander leaves. Taste test and adjust salt and garam masala.

13. Cover and set aside for a few minutes before the aloo gobi soaks up the flavors. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with roti, rice or Butter naan.

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Aloo Gobi Recipe first published in May 2016. Updated & Republished in May 2023.