I was about seven or eight years old when my mum and dad had to fly back to India unexpectedly, leaving us to and stay with a family friend. After a week of indulging in 80s English meals (something we didn't have often so it was a real novelty) we all started to crave my mums food. So my sister and I decided to cook aloo gobi. Nervous about getting it wrong, we phoned my aunty to ask if we could cook the cauliflower in one giant lump or did we need to cut it into pieces... I can still hear her laughing and even now they bring up that little story. At that point that I realised how important it was to be able to cook. Needless to say, our version wasn't a patch on my mum's, but this recipe absolutely makes up for that. And the robust tomato sauce is very special and if you can hold your nerve and not add water, it will be cooked to perfection.