Win's Aloo Gobi

This weekend, we survived one more of our marathon Diwali party - which we tend to style as day-long open houses. It's lovely hosting hundreds of friends, but let's just say that I'm a tad tired the rest of the week! Sree's friends are an amazing crew - one of them, Betty, has a great blog that you'll see here. Betty's personal revelations on Diwali reminded me about how much we take for granted in Indian festivals, hospitality and quirky expectations (of course, we expect 300 people to take off their shoes before coming into our home!) I've used one of Betty's luminous photo here.

S's friend Win stopped to chat on his way out and mentioned reading this blog. I urged him to send me his own favorite Indian recipe. Here it is.

Says Win:

"I like this because it uses my stove, oven & microwave to speed things along . . ..

I roast my cauliflower using the technique from Cook's Illustrated. (Oven preheated to 475; Cauliflower head into 8 equal wedges so that core and florets remain intact; season with oil, salt and pepper, bake for 20 minutes making sure to flip the peices mid-way to brown both sides.)

I put red bliss potatoes cut to be an inch or so in all directions in a loosely covered bowl with a little water in the microwave and push cook-potato.

I cut up an onion or two and cook it relatively slowly in butter and olive oil liberally dosed with curry (powder), maybe 1/4 cup, until soft.
I cut up the cauliflower in pieces about the same size as the potatoes or maybe a little bigger and mix everything together with plain yogurt to give it sauce.

I could imagine doing the recipe without the yogurt.

I also may add leftover cooked peas for color if I have them around.
Enjoy!"