re: Spice of the Fortnight (SOTF) #1: Garam Masala (beg. Sep. 18)

Alright boys and girls, I'm on the board. Made a nice aloo gobi today. Potatoes and cauliflower are good enough as is for me, but throw in some Indian spices and weave it all together and it really becomes a special dish. Here we go:

Started off with some sautéed onions and a bay leaf. We use olive oil 9 times out of 10:



Added some purple bell pepper and fresh cayenne I had left over from the farmer's market last weekend. This is also when we added our garlic and ginger:



Tossed in some diced tomatoes. And, yes, anytime we use tomatoes in anything, we always find an excuse to throw in a few grape tomatoes as well. Cook it for a few minutes and we're starting to get saucy:



Add in some cauliflower. It can't hide it: yes, it had previously gotten in a tussle with turmeric and lost (and cayenne, and salt):



Adding our potatoes. Same story: didn't stand much of a chance against the turmeric:



Now we hear India calling. Adding our cumin, coriander, more turmeric, and our star - garam masala. The way I score it, cumin is the earthiest, coriander is still earthy but getting a bit sweeter, turmeric is similar to coriander but a bit sweeter still, and garam masala ... well, my mixture feels a lot like Christmas morning. A bit sweet, a bit spicy, and wholly delicious. Oh, we added a bit more salt, some black pepper, and another pinch of cayenne as well:



Breaking it down a bit now with some chicken stock and a wee bit of white wine. We're sure to scrub the bottom of our pot to unlock any flavors stuck below:



We'll pull it all together now and transfer to a serving dish:



Chef gets the first bite:



Great taste profile and quite filling, too. The household says garam masala is a keeper, but we'll see what else it can do later this weekend. Aloo gobi is a great addition to our Indian recipe book.