Aloo Gobi Mattar

Mallika Basu - Aloo Gobi Mattar

Posted 24th June 2009

My annual Greenfinger’s Day came and went this year. Planting pots and pruning hedges hardly feature in my top ten things to get flustered about these days.

One sunny morning, I opened our balcony door to let the first seasonal rays of sunshine in. A breath of fresh air. A joy in my step. A view of dead leaves.

Lovely.

My father-in-law took pity on me and decided to lead the charge on the gardening project. I extracted my fluorescent gardening gloves and scissors in preparation.

“Those are kitchen scissors.”

Yes, I know dad.

“When did you last water these plants”

Two weeks ago.

“You know plants need water to survive?”

That’s only a small technical oversight!

We spent the evening clearing up, replanting courgette and tomato plants my sister-in-law had ambitiously donated to me. Dad did, that is. I made every excuse to leap back into the flat: dinner, baby, strange itch in my little finger.

One week of watering later, I have two courgette flowers and a thriving collection of flowers (identity unknown). I won’t swamp you with courgette curries yet, but here’s a winter to summer Aloo Gobi Mattar or cauliflower, potato and pea stir fry to celebrate seasonal changes.

Feeds 2:

  • 1 small cauliflower
  • Half mug green shelled peas (I used freshly frozen)
  • 1 medium potato
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • Half tsp cumin powder
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • Half tsp chilli powder
  • Half tsp turmeric powder
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • Salt to taste

 

Cut the cauliflower into large florets and wash them in a colander. Don’t make them too small or they’ll fall apart when you cook them.

Peel and chop the potato into little pieces. Mix the spice powders with two tablespoons of warm water. Bring a large frying pan to heat on medium with the tablespoon of oil. When it’s hot, add the cumin seeds and as they sizzle up, spice powder mix.

As this bubbles up, toss in the potatoes and cauliflower, cover and cook for 10 minutes adding a tablespoon of water if you need to to prevent the spices from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

When a fork inserted into the cauliflower goes in easily, stir in the peas, add salt to taste and cook for a a minute.

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