Yes, Another Potato Curry

For those of you who found the Sag Aloo (Bombay Potatoes) recipe interesting, I
thought I'd share another Indian potato dish with you. This recipe utilises
considerably more spices than the Sag Aloo, but most of them you will already have in
your store cupboard.
I adapted this Cauliflower and Potato dish from a recipe by Atul Kochhar, one of
Britain's most innovative Indian chefs. It takes absolutely no time at all to make,
literally the time it takes to find the spices out of the cupboard (in my case, this
can sometimes be several hours), and chop the cauliflower and potatoes, plus a couple
of tomatoes.
Unlike some curries, there is no need to sauté onions beforehand to add that extra
element of flavour but the addition of Nigella (Onion) seeds and layering of spices
gives the distinctive "Indian Restaurant" flavour that is so hard to replicate at
home. Despite this, the cauliflower is never overpowered and I liken this dish to a
spicy cauliflower cheese (although it has no cheese in it).
Paul and I served the curry with some plain boiled basmati rice, but it would be
great served alongside a meat-based curry if you were preparing an Indian banquet. I
think it would also be just as good served alone, with just some Naan Bread to mop up
the deliciously fragrant sauce.
Just a couple of footnotes:
1) I used Crème Fraiche to stir through curry, although yoghurt is recommended and is
more traditional. I just happened not to have any in the house. I imagine you could
also use some sour cream.
2) I used more potatoes than the original recipe states, for no other reason than I'm
a potato fiend and I love them curried.
3) I have a feeling that some trimmed green beans would also be pretty fantastic in
this curry.
OK, there's not much more to write about this dish without treading over the same
territory that I approached with the Sag Aloo post, so, without further ado, here's
the recipe:
CAULIFLOWER AND POTATO CURRY - serves 4
adapted from a recipe by Atul Kocchar
Ingredients:
4 Medium Potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" cubes (or wedges)
A Cauliflower, cut into florets
3 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1 Teaspoon Nigella (Onion) Seeds
2 Cloves
2 Cardamom Pods
1 Bay Leaf
Half a Cinnamon Stick (or Cassia Bark if you can get it)
1 Teaspoon Turmeric
1/2 Teaspoon Chilli Powder (or to taste)
Salt
1 Teaspoon Sugar
300ml Hot Water
200g Yoghurt, Sour Cream or Crème Fraiche
2 Chopped Tomatoes (use good quality vine ones or home-grown)
Garam Masala for sprinkling (optional)
Coriander Leaves for Garnishing (I omitted the Coriander as I didn't have any)
METHOD:
Heat the oil in a sauté pan over medium high height. Throw in the diced potato and
cauliflower florets and fry for about 5 minutes. Parts of the potato and cauliflower
will be browned and crusted, other sides will remain lily-white but this adds to the
final flavour of the taste.
Remove from the pan and set to one side.
Turn the heat up to high and add a little more oil if the pan looks dry. Fry the Nigella Seeds, Bay Leaf, Cinnamon Stick, Cardamom Pods and Cloves until they start to crackle and smell fragrant. Take care because those Nigella Seeds really are little spitfires - they gob out miniscule balls of molten hot oil. All over your arms.
Put the potato and cauliflower back in the pan and mix well with the spices. Stir in the rest of the spices and cook for a minute more to allow all the flavours to mingle.
Pour over the water, bring to the boil, which won't take long because the pan is really hot, turn down to medium low and simmer, uncovered, until the potatoes are just tender.
Stir through the yoghurt/cream and the chopped tomatoes and simmer for another five minutes.
Taste for seasoning, adding salt or sugar if you feel it needs it.
Sprinkle with Garam Masala and chopped Coriander.
Serve and enjoy!

P.S. This is my entry for Vegetables, Beautiful Vegetables, held by Abby over at Eat The Right Stuff. Abby is on a campaign for everyone to eat more, more, more vegetables so get on over there with your favourite vegetable dish and join in the (healthy) fun!

P.P.S. Only just this morning we had confirmation that the bank has now complied with 2 demands from our Particulars of Claim! They haven't done anything financial yet, but this proves they're now taking us seriously!