Roasted Aloo Gobi

Every year at Thanksgiving we go around the table and say what we're thankful for. You know the drill. You've probably done the same thing countless times (if you celebrate American Thanksgiving - if you don't, this is a thing we do here). And every year, my husband tries to say that he's thankful for the internet. And he does actually mean it. He is endlessly grateful for the internet, and honestly so am I. The internet brought me some of the best things in my life, and that does actually include my husband.

It also includes food. For a very long time, unless you lived in a big city, food from faraway places just wasn't widely available. For a girl growing up in a small town in rural Pennsylvania, our choices for "exotic" cuisine was a toss up between Chi Chi's Mexican Restaurant and a China Garden. I mean, hell, you had to drive an hour just to get to a Red Lobster, and that's not exactly exotic. Because of that, I didn't really try much in the way of global cuisine until I was in my 20's and by that point I was a certified picky eater.

It wasn’t until my late 20’s when I began my first food blog that I really started to get out of my comfort zone and try new flavors and dishes that had previously seemed a little scary and unapproachable.

To Make Aloo Gobi

Start by cutting your potatoes and cauliflower into small-ish pieces. You want them to roast at roughly the same rate, so try to cut them roughly the same size. Toss the veggies with olive oil, and roast for 30 minutes at a high heat. Remove the veggies from the oven, and then using a large skillet or saute pan, warm some oil, and add cumin seeds (you could do ground cumin here, but the little bits of pop and crunch from the cumin seeds are part of what makes this dish, in my opinion) and let them toast for about a minute in the hot oil.

Add the onions and turmeric, and saute for a few minutes until onion is translucent. Add the chili powder and ginger and stir to combine. Stir in the veg, and get any charred bits off the foil from the baking sheet (the charred bits are where ALL the flavor lives) and gently mix everything together for about 5-6 more minutes. Squeeze lime juice and add some chopped cilantro, and you’ve got an awesome side or vegetarian (also vegan) main dish!