When Rihanna of Garlic Breath from France wrote to me about her totally Indian Thanksgiving menu , I was so thrilled. Just like how excited we are to hear someone else speak our mother tongue, it is exactly that elation I experience when I see Americans, Europeans and so many others take an avid interest in Indian cuisine. Barbara, Emma and Susan, are some of those wonderful people who aren’t afraid of the variety of Indian spices. On the contrary, go all out and embrace the various colours, flavours and textures of the great Indian food fabric. Food blogs have made it so convenient to get straight into the kitchens of the world and take a page out of their family traditions of food.
I can’t imagine a more diverse cuisine where a single country’s cuisine is sub divided into some gazillion cuisines, each one as dissimilar as chalk from cheese.
This simple vegetable side dish is dedicated to all the people of the world who are totally in love with Indian food.
Gobhi-Mutter
Cauliflower and peas sauteed in Indian spices
Time taken – 20 minutes
Category – Indian vegetables, Side, Low fat, Antioxidant rich
Recipe for Gobhi-Mutter - Indian Cauliflower and peas curry
Ingredients
Method
- Putting them together: Wash the cauliflower florets thoroughly in salted water and drain. Keep aside.
- In a kadai / wok, take 1-2 tsp of vegetable oil. Splutter the mustard and cumin seeds. Throw in the mashed garlic, saute for 30 seconds. Don't brown / burn it.
- Put in the florets and green peas, along with the spices and salt. Cover the wok with a fitting deep dish (thali) and pour a cup of water over the dish. This will dry cook the vegetables without adding water into the wok and the steam generated will also keep them from sticking to the bottom of the wok or burning.
- After 10 minutes, carefully lift up the covering dish with a pair of tongs and check if the veggies are cooked. 10 minutes are enough for the dish to be cooked well, if the vegetables are fresh.
- Check for salt and remove into a bowl. You may garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.
Oh great! I love it when I am the first one to comment which is not often. Nandita, I make exactly the same gobi aloo and i lov it too. Dev takes it to school rolled up in a paratha. Its these simple dishes that bring great comfort to the body and soul.i too was shocked when i saw the balti prefix attached to all the dishes in an indian restaurant in the UK
thanks for explaining about the balti title. I never knew it until I was in the UK and everything was balti this and balti that 🙂 Our Indian food is its own genre now (I’m posting more on it soon) but I could see no similarities between it and this balti stuff. The recipes you post are more recognizable to me 😀 Thanks for sharing the Gobhi Mutter 😀 I never had a name for it before 🙂 I agree that it is hurtful when one’s cuisine is not appreciated individually and on its own merit!
Yummy — do you cater to the west coast?Its strange — i have never come across the word Balti. Its probably because i’m in California — which is more like an extension of Mexico and India and where the Americans feel like foreigners.
I make gobhi matar too and I dont discard the stems. Remove the tough exterior and inner soft stem can be used. Perfect with phulkas.
Yuuum, what should I bring? A nice bottle of wine? I wish I could have a Noel dinner like that!
Balti is Bangladeshi? I thot it was related to Afghan or something ilke that..hehehe . Thanks
I love Indian food although sometimes it is very spicy for me… Truly admire the blend of spices that Indian cuisine has!
Could you have meant the UK instead of the US where you saw the preponderance of “Balti” cuisines? Long resident in the US I too was surprised when I landed in the UK and saw the popularity of Balti/Bangladeshi “curry houses” there. They are cheap, quite flavorful, and frankly a lot close to “Indian” food than some of the restaurants in the US that call themselves Indian.
I first got interested in the Baltic form of cuisine when I came across a book “The Balti Cookbook” by Shehzad Husain several years ago in Singapore. Actually Balti food is not Bangladeshi. It is from a region called ‘Baltistan’ in the Himalayan ranges also called Little Tibet, although many references refute it and say that Balti cuisine originated in UK a decade ago more as a fusion cuisine to bring the flavours of India’s north/Pakistan to England. That version is quite accurate too. Balti cuisine derives its flavours from Punjabi and Kashmiri cooking. I have been cooking traditional Balti dishes for a few years now [mostly meat dishes] in a traditional kadai [a trademark of Balti Cuisine] and the food is yummy. It is quite similar to the ‘dum’ taste prevalent in Hyderabadi/Awadh cooking. So although not widespread in India [I never knew about it while I was in India for 23 years], Balti cuisine is quite Indian 🙂
The close-up shot of the curry looks FABULOUS !!! Nice spread for a Indian Christmas ! Tried you lasooni dal palak again today, used masoor instead of moong. Tasted good, but loved the toor and moong combo.
Anupama – this is quite a staple in our home esp in winters when we get white filled up cauliflowers.Sarina – so now you know the name, you cna make several variations, by substituting peas with other starchy vegetables.Kamath- Ooops, I don’t cater!Krithika – I use the delicate stems too, just discard the woody bits, they are quite tasteless. A friend’s mom actually makes a pickle with the thick cauliflower stems. Nothing to waste.Rianna – Hey thanks for the virtual French wine dear friend! Im sure such a menu is very much within reach, much faster to cook than most other elaborate cusines.Injipennu- I must admit that my knowledge about Balti was from hearsay and not any research, so I could be wrong, see Snehal’s comment above. She seems to be familiar with the truth abt that cuisine.Poplar – Its not spicy as in HOT, but just spicy as in fragrant and tasteful :)Snehal – Thanks for correcting me. While Balti cuisine may be Indian – all of Indian isnt Balti, thats what I meant. :)Priya – thanks dear! That dal recipe is so popular, I must convey it to the chef at Marriott – because it was their recipe
Gobhi-matar…reminds me of my mom’s cooking. She is a wonderful cook. I really like the snaps of your gobhi-matar. Good job… :-)Thanks, Nidhi.
That looks so yummy! Did you use fresh green peas? It looks nice and green.
Hi Nandita! Thanks for mentioning me. I truly love Indian food, though there are so many different regions and varities that it will take me a lifetime to explore it all.I have to admit that I bought some “Balti Seasoning” from Penzey’s spice store (online) just because I was curious. I hadn’t ever heard of it before, and maybe I didn’t use it correctly but I wasn’t impressed. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised — premixed seasonings are never as good as mixing the spices yourself, as your excellent recipes prove.
Nandita, I too feel astonished and happy whenever I encounter some non indian cooking Indian.Then my better half says ” well, don’t u cook non indian so much?” Nice subji.. i used to like alu mutter gobi together..So u can sing.. alu mutter gobi, ….(any name) ki topi..
Hi Nandita, great recipe, I make it often. Your picture really captures the flavour of the dish beautifully. Thanks for sharing….~smile~
Nidhi- Welcome to saffron trail and thanks for the nice wordsRP- yes fresh green peas – absolutely in season in India at this time of the year and less than 50 cents for a Kilo :DSusan – I admire you gals for getting into the depths of cuisines other than your own – hence the heartfelt mention. Thanks!Shaheen – nice song HeheheDilip – sorry if you were bugged posting and reposting comment, comment moderation is enabled and hence you couldn’t see yours immediately on posting. Welcome to this space and hope to see you around. Thanks for the kind words.
Nandita,I am waiting for the theme for this month’s WBB to be announced. Is it happening or is it on break for holidays?
I’m always happy to try something Indian, especially when it comes recommended by you.
nice blog. great going. wish u all the best.are there any sites for 1. indian names (6languages at least or it isn’t indian!!! 🙂 )for veg, spices etc2. nutritional value of local veg, and regular recipes of day to day use..hope u put up this info on the blog if available…Raj
Hi nandita,Nice recipe with our traditional gobi mutter, 🙂 , feels like making it just now. :)) .well , just wanted to ask if i miss to see any post of yours for the next WBB event. if so, just do me a favor and let me know whats the theme is. thanks -Pooja
Thank you for the explanations … and the nice vegetarian recepy.In France, a lot of new “BOLLYWOOD” cookbooks were recently released … nothing traditional but very flashy as the LILLE 3000 celebrations !http://www.lille3000.com/
made gobhi mutter just now.. turned out fabulous. I was having chopped up aloo at hand.. so added that as well. Thanks!
I just made Gobi mutter it took me just fifteen minutes and it tastes so good! Thanks so much I am gonna follow your link now more often. Keep posting more recipes such as these! Its great for amateur cooks like me 🙂