Aloo gobi, and making my own garam masala

When we were in Connecticut, we stopped at Trader Joe's, which has to be one of my favorite food stores. (Three things I love that are missing from Canada: Trader Joe's, Target, and widely available unsweetened iced tea.) We picked up two of their Simmer Sauces - basically cheater sauces for weeknights: one for chicken masala, and one for chicken korma. They were still sitting on the counter, waiting to be put away, when I opened up this week's box of veggies - so Indian cuisine was already on my mind.

So, rather than just use one of the sauces, I thought "why not try to make aloo gobi?" Aloo gobi is one of my favorite dishes to order when out at an Indian restaurant - it's cauliflower, potatoes, and delicious Indian spices. (I'm sure I'm not giving it a thorough enough description. Honestly, I'm no expert in Indian food beyond knowing what I like to eat - so here's a link to a description of aloo gobi on Wikipedia.)

My first search for recipes turned up this one, which looked easy enough. However, I had no garam masala in the apartment. Rather than just give up, though, I remembered that a) garam masala is a spice mix, and b) I have quite a few whole spices in my spice cabinet that I've purchased for such a purpose. So I found a recipe for garam masala here. Is it the most authentic? I have no idea; I'm sure every Indian cook has their own blend that they prefer. All I know is that the apartment smelled like an Indian restaurant while the spices were toasting, and it smelled good.

The recipe turned out well, I think; P approved. It was spicier than when I've ordered out, but good with the rice and the store-bought naan (no, I didn't make my own naan last night, too - that's coming later, probably on a weekend night). I did add the garam masala before it was finished cooking; sprinkling ground spices on top of the vegetables didn't seem that appealing to me, but I leave whether that was correct or not to the experts. I now have a ton of garam masala left over, so expect more experimentation with Indian foods over the next few months...