Aloo gobhi | The Novice Housewife

When I got married, my mom gave me a small diary with a few handwritten Indian recipes she thought I would find useful. I had never cooked indian food before I got married, so when I did start cooking once I came to the US, these recipes came very handy. One of the recipes in the diary was for aloo gobhi- a spiced potato and cauliflower indian dish. A favorite of many and a relatively easy and no hassle dish to prepare.

My mom is in Canada these days. She came to Canada to spend some time with my grandparents, since they were both very ill. She could not meet my grandmother before she passed away but was able to spend some time with my grandfather. She stayed on to spend time with her brother and his family in Canada and tomorrow she comes to visit and stay with me for a month. The other day when I was talking to her she mentioned that she had made aloo gobhi for lunch and since I had not cooked this dish in a while I thought of making it today. It also gave me an opportunity to click pictures and post a recipe for Garam Masala Tuesdays.

I have tweaked the original recipe a little after making it several times to suit my liking. In the original recipe, my mom did not mention kasoori methi, but I like the added flavor that it brings to the dish. You can leave out the kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves) if you cant find them but they are easily available at any indian grocery store. So is amchoor powder (dried mango powder), but if you can’t find it, use lemon juice.

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Warm Goat Cheese Salad with walnuts and pear

The last post of 2015 and I am ending it with a recipe for this warm goat cheese salad. The warm breaded goat cheese is perfect for the cold weather and the salad leaves with the homemade dressing make the dish light and a perfect way to get your greens in.

2015 was pretty uneventful with respect to blogging. I posted only 17 times, out of which 8 posts were on Tuesdays (mostly, GMTs).

Though the blog was inactive, I was busy with my new baking venture The Pink CakeBox in Chandigarh, India. TPC was one of my best experiences, but it did come with its share of stressful moments. Each cake, each request, each delivery taught me something new and despite the struggles, I am glad I took a step towards my dream. I had to leave it mid-way but I hope to revive it again in some form or the other soon. Till then, and even after I do, I plan to keep this blog as one of my top priorities.

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The Novice Housewife gave me an identity and it helped me gain the confidence to tap into my passion for baking and open TPC. So even though 2015 saw me absent for the most time from the blogging scene, I will make sure in 2016 I am more present and dedicated to this space.

As a goodbye to 2015, I thought of sharing the top 5 posts that were most visited in 2015

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When my my parents were living in Allahabad, there was a lady my mom told me about who made really scrumptious pies. She was sweet enough to send two savory veg pies for me when I was around. The crust was buttery and rich and when I read the recipe she had kindly sent with the pies, I realized why. The dough contained a 1:1 ratio of fat to flour.

Generally, pie recipes start of with cold butter being cut into flour to resemble coarse breadcrumbs. Then water or egg (or vodka) is added to make the dough to come together. This recipe starts off the same, but instead of water the lady added low-fat cream (25% fat content) as the preferred choice of liquid. Its definitely more fattening, but it does taste good. So good 🙂

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