Shahi Gobhi

My curry in a hurry for today, day 2 of the BM#5 is shahi gobhi.  In my house, we like gravies a lot and prefer gravy curries to dry curries.  Whenever I am in a hurry, I make tomato shorva and sometimes I add veggies such as cauliflower, bottle gourd or potato to the shorva.  One of the curries I had planned to post during this marathon was cauliflower shorva and then I came across Tarla Dalal’s shahi gobhi recipe. 

Ingredients for shahi gobhi are similar to shorva  plus a few more.  The procedure is a little different from shorva preparation but the end product tasted the same (off course, I only realized this after preparing).  So, I thought why not try shahi gobhi and this sounds fancier, doesn’t it?  Shahi means royal and gobhi is cauliflower and to make the dish royal, recipe calls for addition of cream.  Off course, I skipped the cream to cut down on calories and my shahi gobhi was not very rich.  Nonetheless, it tasted delicious!  Although I prepared the gobhi in 30 minutes, my cauliflower shorva is lot easier to prepare when pressed for time.  No need to blanch the vegetables and need not grind onions and tomatoes! 🙂

Source: Tarla Dalal
Total Time: 30 minutes
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

• 1 medium to large head of Cauliflower
• 2 small Tomatoes (when pureed yields approximately 3/4 cups)
• 3 tbsp. Ghee Oil
• 1 medium Onion Sliced
• 2 Cardamoms
• 2 Cloves
• 2 Bay Leaves
• Onion Paste (see below)
• ¾ cup beaten Yogurt
• ¾ cup Green Peas
• 2 tbsp. Fresh Cream (I did not use it)
• 1 1/2  tsp. Salt (approx. adjust to taste)
• Chopped Coriander for garnish

Onion Paste

• 1 medium Onion chopped or ¾ cups chopped Onion
• 2 Cardamoms
• 2 Cloves
• ½ tsp. Cumin Seeds
• ¼” Cinnamon Stick
• 1 tbsp. chopped Cashews sliced Almonds (I did not have cashews)
• 1 ½ – 2 tbsp. Ginger Garlic Paste
• 1 tsp. Chili Powder (adjust to taste. We will need at least to 2 tsp. Check notes)
• 3 tsp. Coriander Powder
• ½ tsp. Turmeric

Preparation:

• Boil water in a sauce pan to blanch tomatoes and we will use the same water to parboil cauliflower florets as well.
• Cut the cauliflower florets  to desired size.  This will take about 5-7 minutes.
• By now, the water will just begin to boil. Add the whole tomatoes to water and let it boil for 2-4 minutes until the skin of the tomatoes begin to peel off. Turn off the heat and let the tomatoes sit in the hot water for another 3-4 minutes. Then remove from water and let it cool.
• While the tomatoes are blanching, heat a wide pan to prepare the curry. Heat the oil, add onion slices, cardamoms, cloves & bay leaves.   Sauté until sliced onions are golden brown. This will take about 5 minutes.
• Make a paste of all the ingredients listed under onion paste.   Add it to the browned onions and continue to sauté for 3-4 minutes or until oil separates.
• While the onion paste is sauteing, add the cauliflower to hot water and blanch them for 3-4 minutes. Also make the tomato puree.  Thaw the frozen green peas in the microwave for a minute or a two.
• When oil begins to separate from the onion paste, add the tomato puree, beaten yogurt and cook it until oil begins to separate.
• Add the green peas and cauliflower, give a good stir, cover and cook for 5-8 minutes until the cauliflower is cooked. Stir it in between for even cooking of the cauliflower.
• Check the consistency of the gravy and add little water if required and cook it for another couple of minutes. We prefer more gravy and I added little bit of water.
• If using cream, add it and garnish with cilantro.

Note:

• To cook this curry in 30 minutes, I had to do some multi-tasking.  If not pressed for time, it is always better to make the paste and puree before starting the cooking process.
• The curry was spicy; garam masala spicy and I personally prefer more of chili spice.  I would add more chili powder and cut down a little on the garam masala spices listed under onion paste.