Aloo Gobi

Aloo gobi is potato and cauliflower cooked dry with turmeric, cumin and ginger until lightly browned. It's a North Indian vegetable dish that needs no sauce to carry it — one of the rare curries on most menus where the vegetables themselves, not a gravy, are the entire point.

What it actually is

Cubed potato and cauliflower florets are cooked together in oil with cumin seeds, ginger, garlic and green chile, coloured deep yellow with turmeric and often a splash of tomato, and cooked until the vegetables are tender and lightly browned at the edges rather than sitting in a pool of liquid. Coriander is stirred through at the end, and the finished dish is dry enough to eat by hand with flatbread, no spoon required.

Keeping it dry rather than saucy is deliberate and the whole reason it's ordered alongside wetter curries — it's the textural contrast on the table, not a lesser version of a gravy dish.

How it's served

• Dry, not saucy, cauliflower and potato pieces distinct rather than mashed together.
• With roti or paratha, torn and used to scoop directly.
• Alongside a wetter curry and rice, as one dish in a larger thali rather than eaten alone.

Writing it on a menu

• Mention that it's naturally vegan, a strong, simple option next to richer, dairy-based curries on the same menu.
• Say that it's served dry, not in a sauce; guests expecting a gravy-based curry should know this is a different kind of dish.
• Note if you add peas or other vegetables, since regional versions vary and it's worth being specific about what's actually in the pan.
• Flag that it's best eaten fresh; reheated aloo gobi tends to turn the cauliflower soft and loses the lightly browned edges that define it.