My aloo gobi is a hearty, comforting curry made with tender potatoes, cauliflower, and aromatic spices simmered in a rich tomato coconut gravy. It’s easy to make, intensely flavorful, and makes such a comforting dinner with a side of rice or naan!
Aloo gobi has always been one of my favorite curries to order at Indian restaurants, and we all know around here how I love creating my own recipes for old Indian restaurant favorites, like vegan korma, vegan saag paneer, and aloo palak. This potato cauliflower curry turned out to be one of the easiest Indian dishes to make at home. It’s a one-pot meal with everyday ingredients that you can totally pull off on a weeknight.
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If you’ve enjoyed aloo gobi while dining out, you know it usually comes in two varieties: dry or with gravy. Today we’re making the gravy version, not only because it’s my favorite, but also because it’s the perfect cozy curry for cool evenings. The method is simple: cook down aromatics and spices, add potatoes and liquid, then tomatoes and cauliflower in stages. Finally, stir in a bit of coconut cream for richness, and finish with fresh cilantro.
This easy aloo gobi tastes just like it came from your favorite Indian restaurant, but you can enjoy it at home, any day of the week!
Ingredients You'll Need
Below you'll find a list of ingredients in this recipe, with notes and substitutions. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the post to see the full recipe, including the amount of each ingredient.
- Vegetable oil. Any neutral high-heat oil will work. You can use canola, avocado, corn, or even olive oil.
- Onion.
- Garlic.
- Ginger.
- Spices. You'll need garam masala, whole cumin seeds, ground coriander, and turmeric. Most stores carry these in the spice aisle, although the cumin seeds might be in the international aisle.
- Potatoes. I like this recipe with russet potatoes, because they cook up super tender. If you happen to have some red or yellow potatoes on hand, feel free to use them instead.
- Tomato sauce.
- Diced tomatoes.
- Cauliflower.
- Coconut cream. Most stores sell this in cans, near the coconut milk. If you can't find it, buy a can of full-fat coconut milk, and chill it in the fridge overnight. It will separate — just use the thick white solid portion. This is coconut cream. Whatever you do, don't buy cream of coconut, which is a completely different product.
- Salt & pepper.
- Cilantro.
- Accompaniments. This curry is great with basmati rice, vegan naan, or both!
How It's Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Step 1: Cook the onion. Heat your oil in a large pot, then add diced onion. Cook it for about 10 minutes, until it gets very soft and starts to brown.
Step 2: Add spices and aromatics. Stir in minced garlic, grated ginger, garam masala, cumin seeds, coriander, and turmeric. Cook the mixture briefly, stirring constantly.
Step 3: Simmer the potatoes. Stir in some water and diced potatoes. Bring the liquid to a simmer, and cover the pot. Let the potatoes simmer until they just start to soften. Make sure to uncover the pot and give them an occasional stir.
Step 4: Add tomatoes and cauliflower. Stir in the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and cauliflower florets. Cover the pot again and let the mixture continue to simmer until the potatoes and cauliflower are both tender.
Step 5: Add the coconut cream. Uncover the pot and stir in the coconut cream. Let the curry simmer for just a couple minutes longer, to thicken the sauce a bit.
Step 6: Finish the curry. Take the pot off of heat and season the curry with some salt and pepper. Top it off with a sprinkle of fresh cilantro.
Step 7: Serve. Your potato cauliflower curry is ready to go! Enjoy it with some rice or naan. It's also great with some vegan samosas!
Variations
- Sweet potato cauliflower curry. Swap out the potatoes with a couple of sweet potatoes. This will have a totally different vibe, but will still be delicious!
- Lighten it up. The coconut cream adds a nice richness to the gravy, but you can totally skip it if you'd like to reduce the fat and calorie content.
- Add some plant protein. Throw in a can of chickpeas, fried tofu, or seitan for extra protein.
- Add some green veggies. Swap out some of the cauliflower with broccoli or asparagus, or wilt some leafy greens in the curry during the last few minutes of cooking. You could also throw in a couple handfuls of thawed frozen peas at the same time as the coconut cream.
Frequently Asked Questions
It sure is!
Simply minimize the amount of salt you season the curry with in step 6, and consider using reduced sodium canned tomatoes and tomato sauce.
Leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about three days. You can also freeze it for up to three months, although the potatoes may get a bit crumbly.
Nope! The spices are warming, and not hot. If you'd like to add some heat to yours, throw in a hot pepper such as a serrano, or some cayenne pepper or hot sauce.
More Vegan Indian-Inspired Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Aloo Gobi (Potato Cauliflower Curry)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 2 cups water
- 2 medium russet potatoes (about 1 ½ pounds total), scrubbed clean and diced (about 1-inch pieces)
- 1 (15 ounce/425 gram) can tomato sauce
- 1 (14.5 ounce/411 gram) can diced tomatoes
- 4 cups cauliflower florets (about 1 small cauliflower)
- ¼ cup coconut cream
- 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste (I use 2 teaspoons)
- Black pepper, to taste
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
For Serving (optional)
- Cooked basmati rice
- Vegan naan
Instructions
- Coat the bottom of a large pot with the oil and place it over medium heat. Give the oil a minute to heat up, then add the diced onion. Sweat the onion for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it softens and begins to brown.
- Stir in the garlic, ginger, garam masala, cumin seeds, coriander, and turmeric. Stir everything well and cook the spices and aromatics with the onion for about 1 minute, stirring constantly, until it becomes very fragrant.
- Stir in the water and potatoes. Raise the heat and bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat so that the liquid is gently simmering. Cover the pot and let the mixture simmer for about 10 minutes, until the potatoes start to soften. Uncover the pot and give the mixture a stir every few minutes to ensure even cooking.
- Stir in the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and cauliflower. Stir everything well, raise the heat to high, and bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce to simmer and cover the pot. Let the curry simmer for about 15 minutes, uncovering to stir occasionally, until the potatoes and cauliflower are both easily pierced with a fork.
- Uncover the pot, stir in the coconut cream, and simmer about 2 minutes longer, uncovered, to reduce the sauce slightly, then remove it from heat.
- Stir in the salt and pepper. Sprinkle with fresh cilantro.
- Serve with basmati rice or naan.
Notes
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DELICIOUS! Made this recipe for Aloo-Gobi. It is just the 2 of us, so we have leftovers -- which we will be eating tonight!
I loove Aloo Gobi but I hadn't made it in years, and lost my recipe from a cookbook I'd copied. I found yours and it looked pretty authentic ( and believe me I'd viewed a whole lot of native Indian blogs 'shopping' for ones with the right combo of ingredients I remembered from the recipe..).This recipe checked just about ALL the boxes (including AMCHUR!!) so I made it. AND it WAS JUST WONDERFULLY DELISH! I'll definitely be using this as my new go-to for Aloo Gobi. Thanks for this one!
P.S. Just to let you know I followed the recipe exactly but unfortunately I was out of coconut milk (from which to glean the cream) so after everything else had melded, I put it in the frig overnight and went to get this the next day.; when I added it in it was just a tad less spicy than before so I added in some extra measurings of spices I'd used already. It was JUST RIGHT.