Vegetarian -- Day Five

Day Five
Breakfast:  bagel/cereal bar choice (Really, I can't believe I haven't made one breakfast yet.  Sad.)
Lunch:  spaghetti, sauteed cauliflower and broccoli, garlic bread
Dinner:  aloo gobi, samosas, pita (yes, wrong bread, I know)

Aloo gobi, samosa, chutney and pita

I love Indian food.  For real.  I think I might've died of food boredom without it.  It's so delicious.  If you've never had it, I'm sad for you.  The best thing for a first-timer is to head to your local Indian buffet and try some of everything.  Be brave.  You will love it.

One of my favorite buffet staples is aloo gobi.  Mmmm.  I love cauliflower.  But you know that already if you've read this blog lately.  Anyway, it turns out that this dish is very easy to make at home.  It only took about 20 minutes, which is a bonus.  I forgot to make rice, but you don't really need it.  I wanted naan, but we didn't have any.  I thought about whipping up some chapati, but opted instead to just have pita.  I had samosas in the freezer, so we had those too.  And do NOT even get me started on how good coriander chutney is.  We dipped the samosas in the chutney, and some of it got on the aloo gobi.  So tragic.  Yum.  If you like cilantro, you want to try to get your mitts on a jar of this little piece of heaven on earth. You cilantro-haters...well, you're weird.  But I love you anyway.

Aloo Gobi
adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian

peanut or canola oil, or ghee for shallow frying
1 lb. new or red potatoes, cut into 1" cubes
1 head cauliflower, cut into small flowerets (small, they only fry for 4 minutes, then steam for 4 more)
1 tbsp. minced ginger
1/4 tsp. ground turmeric (I subbed curry powder here)
3/4-1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cayenne
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground coriander (I left this out)
3 tbsp. coarsely chopped cilantro

Put the oil or ghee in a large frying pan and set over medium heat.  (Remember, I said large.)  When hot, add potatoes and fry until golden and almost tender, about 10 minutes.  Remove with a slotted spoon to drain on paper towels.  Turn heat to medium-high and add cauliflower, frying about 3-4 minutes, until golden brown.  Remove with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.  Turn off heat.  Remove all oil but about 2 tbsp. from the pan.  Turn heat to medium-high and add ginger.  Stir 10 seconds.  Return potatoes and cauliflower to pan and turn to medium.  Add turmeric, salt, cayenne, cumin and coriander.  Stir to coat veggies.  Add 3 tbsp. water.  Stir once and cover the pan.  Turn to low and cook about 4-5 minutes.  Add cilantro, toss, and eat.

Aloo gobi.  So pretty you could eat it.

I'm categorizing this as thrifty only because I had all the spices already.  If you had to buy them all, it would add around $10 to your cost.  But cauliflower and potatoes cost less than $5.  We are getting two meals out of this.