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Instant Pot Aloo Gobi – Curried Potato Cauliflower. 1 Pot Aloo Gobhi. Gobi Aloo Masala. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Nut-free Recipe. Instant Pot Pressure Cooker or Skillet.
Aloo Gobi or Gobi Aloo – Spiced Potato and Cauliflower is a favorite side with Indian meals. A simple Spiced Vegetable stir fry that is often served with Dals or curries. My mom’s version is cooked in a skillet over low medium heat until the cauliflower is just about cooked, often with just toasty whole cumin seeds to add the flavor and bit of ginger and garlic.
This version has a tomato onion sauce and is made in the Instant Pot. It takes roughly the same amount of time as on stove top as the IP takes about 8 to 10 minutes to come to pressure. IP works as you can schedule the cooking for later. Cauliflower tends to cook quickly and over cook under pressure, so be careful with the times. I usually cook the potatoes for a few minutes on saute before adding the cauliflower and bringing it to pressure. The extra time allows for the sauce to thicken slightly as well as for the potatoes to start cooking before the cauliflower. If you add them at the same time, the potatoes can tend to be a bit too al dente. 1-2 minutes under pressure for large cauliflower florets is time enough. For a restaurant style aloo gobi, toast some cumin seeds in olive oil or vegan butter and garnish, a good sprinkle of garam masala as well.
Also see skillet instructions in the Recipe notes. My Mom’s Gobi Aloo Matar here which is a dryer side with just spices. Lets make this Spiced Potato Cauliflower Curry.
This is the basic recipe for aloo gobi. I usually prefer to toast cumin seeds at step 1 before adding the blended mixture. Any whole spice toasted adds a deeper flavor profile. Try some coriander seeds, panch phoron blend, nigella seeds or mustard seeds for variation. Berbere instead of garam masala (its so good with berbere!) or some dried fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi) also work wonders for the flavor!
There are many memories associated with aloo gobi. It is a staple side served at most events, at weddings, at festival potlucks. For the special occasions, it is cooked in a heavy bottom vessel, with copious amounts of oil used so that veggies dont stick and burn.
This version can be made without any oil as there is enough liquid in the recipe. There are recipes that benefit from stove top cooking for small serve amounts and Aloo Gobi is one of them. I personally make this in IP for a larger quantity for entertaining and the skillet version for everyday meal (which is usually half the recipe).
I usually add cayenne and garam masala as garnish. The flavors can tend to dilute a bit while pressure cooking.
Whats you favorite spice combination for aloo gobi? This a versatile recipe with various spices or veggies to use. If you make it, let me know in the comments how it turned out!
Video:
Instant Pot Aloo Gobi - Curried Potato Cauliflower
Ingredients
- 1/2 small onion
- 2 tomatoes
- 6 to 7 cloves of garlic
- 1 inch ginger
- 1/2 hot green chile
- 1 tsp oil
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 to 1 tsp garam masala
- 3/4 to 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 2 medium potatoes, cubed small
- 1 small cauliflower, chopped into large florets
- cayenne/pepper flakes, garam masala, cilantro and lemon for garnish
Instructions
- Blend the onion, tomato, garlic, ginger, green chile until smooth.
- Put the Instant Pot on saute mode. When hot, add oil. (* At this point you can add 1/2 tsp cumin seeds and cook until they darken slightly.) Add the onion tomato puree to the pot. Rinse the blender using 1-2 tbsp of water and add to the pot.
- Add the spices and potato and mix well. Cover with a glass lid that fits the pot and cook for 4-5 minutes.
- Add the cauliflower and mix in well. Close the Pot lid to sealing. Select Manual 2 minutes for low pressure(preferred) Or 0 minutes on high pressure. (0 mins or half whistle with Stove top pressure cooker).
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
More Instant Pot recipes from the blog
Lentil Veggie Dhansak – Lentil Veggie Stew in IP. GF
Chana Saag – Chickpea Spinach Curry. GF
Kohlapuri Veggies – Veggies in sesame coconut sauce GF
Aloo Palak Dal- Potato Spinach Lentils in IP. GF
Made it today, first instant pot recipe ever! And it turned out great (I didn’t really measure the spices precisely, but the end result was full of flavor and very satisfying). I made it with organic red and violet potatoes. It would probably also work very well with sweet potatoes, I think.
Love this recipe! I only wished it was a little creamier. Maybe add some coconut milk? Or pureė some potato to add to the liquid? Will experiment when I try this again…. and again…. and again…. ????
Great! Yes, you can add in some cashew cream or coconut milk/ream. Traditionally Aloo Gobi doesnt have any a creamy sauce. it is usually a dry side or just slightly wet with a tomato or onion sauce, mainly because it is served with curries or dals which is very soupy. But you can adjust the recipe to preference.
Gotcha! I need to make new friends that can show me how to eat all this delicious food the right way! I made it as the main dish. Love trying your recipes!
Turned out really well! So easy and quick, I can make it during the weekday after work. I used my usual blend of Indian spices instead of garam masala, and it worked just fine. Any idea when I might be able to throw in some frozen peas? Thanks for another great instant pot recipe.
It depends on how you like the peas. I would add them with the cauliflower as i like them well cooked. For greener just cooked peas, that them while the IP is cooking and then add to the pot immediately after opening and mix in, then close the lid or just cover. The heat in the pot will cook them in 2 to 3 minutes.
Hmm, I used even more tomatoes, so more liquid, and have tried three times to put it on manual, but each time it overheats and the pot shuts off, because there’s not enough liquid. How do you avoid that?
Hmm. Maybe try a smaller amount of veggies. Like half the recipe. I havent had that problem with this recipe as there is enough liquid. Maybe the liquid is evaporating too much during the simmering as the lid isnt fitting or something. You can add some liquid back. Try half the recipe, simmer the potatoes for only 2 minutes,add a 1/4 cup water back.
I loved this but I felt like it was missing something. Next time I’ll make more sauce and maybe add ?? for richness. Any suggestions? My husband added raisins to his and everything was cooked perfectly. 0 minutes, qpr
Adjust away to preference. Add more tomatoes and sauce ingredients or add some cashew cream in the end
Loving the fact that it’s an Instant Pot recipe!
This will be made as soon as i can get my hands on the ingredients. It’s not cauliflower season in part part of the world yet but soon, very soon 🙂
I love aloo gobi! It’s delicious! Funny, because it is the only way I love my white potatoes!
Could anyone let me know who has the sufficient expertise / experience the following:
How do Crock Pots work for making curries? Thanks in advance.
“I would make this in IP for a larger quantity for entertaining and such.” Uh, I think making this entire recipe in my IP will be quite entertaining for me, myself, and I. Aloo gobi is my favourite! Many thanks. Off to make it right now.
😀 On an average day for a smaller portion 🙂 . Coz it takes the same amount of time. Let me know how it turned out!
It turned out fantastic! As soon as I caught a whiff of the blended tomatoes, ginger, and garlic I knew it was going to be delicious. And I’ve got leftovers for another meal. Thank you.
Awesome!
Richa, I followed the exact same method except that after adding gobi, I selected Manual 1 min HP since I like Gobi not cooked completely but turned out my Gobi had become extremely mushy 🙁 I hardly could see any pieces even after QR ! I did not add too much water too while grinding. What might have gone wrong ?
Did you release the pressure immediately? Larger cauliflower florets work better under pressure, maybe they were a bit small. The time the IP or pressure cooker is coming to pressure also adds to the cook time. Sometimes it might take longer to come to pressure which overcooks the food. So cooking the potatoes helps with increasing the temperature and reducing the time it takes to come to pressure. Maybe the potato mixture needed another few minutes of cooking to evaporate more moisture, you can cook it 1-2 minutes without the cover. Also, try 0 minutes on manual and release the pressure immediately.
For the current mush, if its too mushy :(, you add add a pav bhaji tadka and mash into a pav bhaji :).
I released the pressure as soon as it was done.. maybe next time I will try without the cover. Yes you read my mind 🙂 mushy aloo gobi turned out to be tasty pav bhaji and I loved it 🙂
Yes Pav Bhaji for the win! Let me know if 0 minutes work out. Also note the time the IP is taking to come to pressure. Maybe we can troubleshoot whats happening.
I’ve discovered that tomatoes retard the softening time of potatoes when you cook them together in the same pot. It takes a very long time to soften the potatoes. Tomatoes may affect the cooking of some beans (e.g. kidney) in a similar way. Has anyone noticed this?
Thanks for the aloo gobi recipe, it’s one of my favorites, and thanks for including the recipe for cooking in a skillet, which is my preferred method.
Yes, its more about the acidic environment. So a large amount of tomatoes or vinegar or other acidic ingredient might do it. The quantity of the tomatoes have to be quite a lot to affect the cooking time of potatoes. In recipes like this one, there is more vegetable than tomato, so it works out fine.
My mom used to say that if you add tomatoes, lemon juice etc, (anything sour) you need to increase cooking time.