, How to Video, Step by step

Aloo Gobi

This mildly spiced Indian-style vegetarian dish can be enjoyed as a main meal or side

Mark Stower, Director of Food and Service

Preparation Time: 10 mins

Cooking Time: 30 mins

Serves: 6

Method

  • Step 1

    In a thick bottomed saucepan, warm the oil over a medium heat and sauté the onions for 5 minutes, along with the salt, until the onions start to caramelise.

  • Step 2

    Once the onions are coloured, add the spices, garlic, ginger, chilli and tomato paste. Combine with the onions and continue to cook for a further 2 minutes.

  • Step 3

    Next, add the diced potatoes and cauliflower florets. Continue to cook over a low heat for 8-10 minutes or until the potatoes are half cooked.

  • Step 4

    Add the vegetable stock and continue to cook for another 10 minutes over a simmering heat, until the potatoes are tender. Add the spinach and fresh coriander, at the end of cooking. The spinach will wilt in the heat and retain its colour.

  • Step 5

    Serve with natural yoghurt.

Nutrition

  • Plant diversity is viewed by nutritionists as one of the most important aspects of both gut health and overall health these days.
  • Although continuing to aim for at least 5 A Day vegetable and fruit portions is still a good target, setting a new goal of at least thirty plant foods each week is now seen to be as, and possibly more, important.
  • A study carried out by scientists as part of the American Gut Project showed that people who consumed more than thirty different plant foods each week (wholegrains, herbs, spices, seeds, nuts, legumes – beans and pulses – as well as vegetables and fruit) had a much more diverse gut microbiome than those eating a more restricted range of ten or less plant foods over the week.
  • The different beneficial gut microbes can feast on the wide variety of these plant substances and thrive on them, in turn helping provide us with improved digestion, metabolism, brain and immune function.
  • Mark’s recipe for Aloo Gobi, which contains five different herbs and spices, as well as chilli, ginger, garlic, and tomato paste, plus the vegetables and potato, contributes around 13 different plant substances in one meal!

Dr Juliet Gray, Nutritionist