Amma's Cauliflower Peas Koottu

I've separated the cauliflower into florets, kept the kadai on the flame and then, I call Amma.


"...Amma, how do you make that Cauliflower koottu that you serve with rotis for dinner?"
 Amma laughs. 
"But there is no recipe for it. It is the easiest thing ever!"


That's how I extract recipes from my family, often on a weekly basis. So I can taste the flavours of my childhood.


This is one dish that my granny used to make in the evenings, to go with chapathis / rotis. Usually, it would be rice with sambar / rasam and curds for an early lunch before 11 am, then a tiffin time - something light like idlis, dosai, upma etc at around 4 pm and then dinner at 8 pm. Dinner would be either rice or roti. And for rotis, there would be no fancy 'punjabi' side dishes, because on most days my grandparents wont eat onions and garlic and imagine making anything 'fancy' without these two star ingredients.


As a child, this boring stew like vegetable preparation would be no incentive for the rotis. But protesting against any food was unheard of when I was a kid, so I would quietly eat what was served, carefully avoiding any second servings. 

Nowadays, at mum's place, it is always rice (with various accompaniments) for lunch and roti for dinner, so when cauliflower is in season, this dish is almost always made. It is a zero-effort dish, no peeling, cutting onions or garlic, no tomatoes, no ginger even. A potato is usually added to this preparation. Heck, you don't even peel the potato for this recipe. You might wonder how boring this will taste. But there is one secret ingredient in this dish that keeps it far from boring and that is asafoetida. A much ignored and maligned seasoning, it subtly stands out in this dish, making up for the lack of more exciting flavours like onions or garlic.


This winter we got the most amazing, fresh cauliflowers in our local Hopcoms and what better thing to make than this minimalistic dish with simple ingredients. I chopped up the cauliflower into florets, cleaned them in salted water and then made a call to amma, asking her how she makes her cauliflower kootu for rotis. Technically, koottu has some kind of dal along with the vegetables. In this case, it's just easy to call it koottu as the preparation is not entirely dry like a curry. 


When cauliflower is not in season, the same recipe is prepared with cubed or quartered brinjals and potatoes.

Cauliflower Peas Potato Koottu
Serves 3-4
Under 30 minutes
A simple accompaniment for Rotis


Ingredients
2 cups medium sized cauliflower florets
1/2 cup shelled fresh peas or frozen peas
1 large potato, cubed
2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
Fat pinch of asafoetida (LG asafoetida powder or Goldie's Pure Hing)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1-2 tsp sambar powder 
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp rice flour (optional)


Directions

1. In a big kadai, heat the oil. Pop the mustard seeds, add the asafoetida. 
2. Within a few seconds, add the vegetables. Toss them in the oil.
3. Add salt, 3/4 cup water, turmeric powder, sambar powder. 
4. Cover with a tight fitting lid and cook on medium heat for around 8 minutes. The vegetables should be just tender and not mushy. If the water dries out in between, add 1/4 cup water to aid cooking.
5. In the end there should be a few tablespoons of watery 'gravy' in the dish, not fully dry. So adjust water accordingly while cooking.
6. If you find the end result too watery, then make a slurry of 1 tsp rice flour in a tbsp of cold water, add to the vegetables and bring to a simmer. Remove from flame and serve hot with phulkas.

Minimalistic recipes like these really bring out the flavour of the vegetables due to the use of very few spices. So it is important that the vegetables you use are a 100% fresh. Try it with eggplant and potato, which are in season all year round. If you don't have homemade sambar powder, borrow from a Tambrahm friend or if you rely on any brand that comes close to the authentic taste do share in the comments. You could try making your own sambar powder from our authentic tambrahm recipes blog.

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Cauliflower Potato Cold Salad with Middle-Eastern Flavours

Summer is upon us. As usual, the desire to heat piping hot food has evaporated in the heat. Cold salads, smoothies, seasonal fruits and lots of yogurt are all that I'm craving for.

While I love to make (and eat) Tandoori Cauliflower where partly blanched florets are marinated in a onion-tomato-ginger-garlic-spices paste and baked off in oven for 20 minutes, even that is no incentive to turn on the oven in this kind of weather. So the plan took a turn from Tandoori to cold Middle Eastern Salad.


The bottle of Tahini and the spices like sumac, za'taar, dried mint were calling out to me and the idea of tossing just tender cauliflower and potatoes in a Middle Eastern dressing and spices was too appealing.
It's another quick recipe that doesn't need you slaving near the stove for anywhere more than 5-10 minutes.





Although I am a vegetarian, I think the same recipe can be followed using cooked or grilled chicken breasts to make a meal by itself, or combine the chicken with vegetables.

Cauliflower Potato Salad
Time taken- Under 20 minutes
Serves 3-4
Salad or Main Course


Ingredients
4 cups of medium sized cauliflower florets
1 large potato, peeled and cubed
1 tsp salt


Dressing
1/4 cup Tahini
1 cup yogurt
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp Za'taar
1/2 tsp dried mint
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
1/2-1 tsp red chilli flakes or powder
Upto 1 tsp salt
Pinch of sugar (optional)


For garnish
1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
Few mint leaves
Pinch of sumac (optional)
Pinch of Za'taar or dried mint


Directions

1. In a large pan, bring two cups of water to boil with 1 tsp salt. Add the washed cauliflower florets and cubed potatoes to this. Cover and cook till just tender, around 7 minutes or so. Drain immediately until dry and keep chilled until dressing is ready.
2. Mix all ingredients for dressing in a medium sized bowl. Reserve a few spoons of dressing to pour over the top in the end.
3. Remove the vegetables from the fridge and toss well with tips of fingers in the dressing until coated well.
4. Arrange on a platter. Top with pomegranate, mint leaves, sprinkle dried mint, sumac and za'taar over this.
5. Refrigerate until serving time.

P.S.

If you notice somewhat better pictures in this post, it is thanks to my new Canon EOS550D and the 50mm/1.8 lens. Any links for SLR newbies are welcome. This is my FIRST food shot with the new camera and it is therefore special to me :)

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Simple cauliflower mash - Gobhi bharta

Dear Readers,
I have managed to update the recipe index and the blog template after ages. Hope the index is helpful and the colours of the template are cheery enough for you to spend time on the blog.
Your constructive feedback is welcome.


Coming to this post, this is one of the simplest ways of preparing cauliflower, as I discovered only recently. A perfect recipe for a beginner and quick to prepare. Delicately spiced by way of a simple tadka (tempering) this mash is a good match for rotis, bread and as a low-carb filling for masala dosa alike. I served it with toasted bread for a light dinner and it tasted just right. 

All this onion-tomato-ginger-garlic fry up with lots of other spices works fine but sometimes you just crave the simple taste of veggies with some essential spices that gently lend their flavour to the dish without getting overwhelming. This is just that sort of recipe. If you are a newbie in the kitchen, I'd highly recommend you try this with the freshest cauliflower you can find and the results will surprise you.

Please choose fresh cauliflower with tightly bound florets and no discolouration as it is the star of this dish.

Ingredients

2 cups cauliflower florets (broken into medium size)

1 medium potato, peeled and cubed

 1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp rice bran or any other cooking oil

Pinch of asafoetida

1 green chilli, finely minced

1 tsp finely minced ginger

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

Directions

1. Soak the cauliflower florets in salted water for 10-15 minutes while you cut the potatoes, chillies, ginger and get the ingredients ready.
2. In a pan with a lid, place 2 cups water with the salt and turmeric powder. Bring it to a boil. Drain the cauliflower and add this to the boiling water with the cubed potato. 
3. This will take around 8 minutes to be fork tender. Drain the boiled vegetables, transfer to a bowl and mash with a fork to a rough puree. Do not throw away the residual water. Use it in soup, rasam or dal.
4. In a small wok, heat the oil. Add the asafoetida,splutter the cumin and mustard seeds. Saute the chilli and ginger for a few seconds and transfer the tempering to the boiled, mashed vegetables.
5. Lightly mix around with a fork to flavour the vegetables evenly. Check for salt and adjust if required.

This tasted divine to my taste buds and the pure tastes of the vegetables came shining through, with the ginger giving the right spice hit.


Try this for your toddlers to go with rotis or soft bread, I'm sure they will like it too.


A lot of my bachelor friends on Twitter have been asking me to post bachelor-friendly recipes and this one is the first of many to come.

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Baked Cauliflower in Tomato sauce

Okay, so there are people who don't like cauliflower and some who don't like me posting recipes with cauliflower in them ;) If you are reading this, you'll know this is for you!

Winter is officially over in Hyd with temperatures raring to touch 40 C. At such times, I still find spotlessly white head of cauliflower waiting to be picked up and used, so what else can I do but that? The idea for this dish comes a recipe I found in the book- From Bengal to Punjab : the cuisines of India by Smita Chandra - which has a very interesting collection of recipes and most of them are available on preview in the link above.

I've tried the recipe Gobhi Mazedar from this book, which turned out superb. In fact, the hubby and me ate off the stuff from the baking dish and that was our dinner that night.

This time to pair with the pasta, I tried an Italian version of this dish - which turned out as good. In fact if you have a good loaf of bread on hand, you can dish out an excellent meal with just the bread and this baked cauliflower dish. There are two ways to do the dish - either deal with the cauliflower whole or break into large florets which will cook / bake faster if you are short of time.

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Baked cauliflower in tomato sauce

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 large cauliflower roughly 750 grams - very fresh

10 medium tomatoes

2 tsp olive oil

3 medium onions

8 cloves of garlic

2 tsp chilli flakes

2 tsp oregano

2 tsp dried basil

salt and pepper

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 cup grated cheese of your choice (optional)

The Cauliflower

Remove the stalks of the cauliflower. Discard or reserve for another use.

If you have a pot big enough to hold the whole flower, then fill it with around 2L water. Add 2 tsp salt. Let it come to a boil. Meanwhile keep the cauliflower immersed in a large pot of salted water to remove any worms if present.

If you dont have a pot big enough or not enough time on hand, then break the cauliflower into big florets and keep immersed in salted water, until a pot of water comes to a boil.

When the water starts to boil, remove the cauliflower from the salted water and place it in the pot bottom down (if using whole). Cover and cook for around 10-12 minutes, checking until almost done. The florets will take shorter time, around 6-7 minutes, so keep a watch. Don't let them turn too soft.

Once this is done, drain, wipe thoroughly with tea towel and keep aside.

The sauce

Wash tomatoes well. Halve them and throw them in a pot. Let them cook in their own juices on medium heat. No need to add water. Stir around occasionally until they get mashed to a pulp. At this stage you could pass them through a strainer to remove the skins or keep it as it is (which is what I did). Remove and cool.

In a saucepan, heat 2 tsp olive oil. Add the cruches garlic cloves and sliced onions, stir until the garlic is light golden and onion is soft.

In a blender, place the cooled tomatoes, onion, garlic, herbs, salt and pepper - whir to a very smooth sauce. If you find this runny, which could happen if your tomatoes were very juicy, take this back in the saucepan and thicken with a slurry made from 1 tbsp flour and 1/4 cup water, simmer till thick and then proceed with recipe.

Assembling

Grease a 9" round baking dish. Place the cauliflower in it. Reserve 1/2 cup sauce to use while serving. For whole cauliflower, spoon the sauce between all the florets and whatever sauce remains, pour it and rub it over the top, so the flavours enter every nook and cranny.

For the florets, arrange the florets stem down - neatly in a baking dish that accommodates it all - pour the tomato sauce (reserving 1/2 cup) all over and around the florets, pressing well.

The dish can be prepared up to this stage, covered well and refrigerated for a day or two, to be removed and baked just before serving.

Baking

Cover the top of the dish with bread crumbs, cheese, extra herbs, pepper and bake in a 180 C oven for around 30 minutes, unthttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=23919567il cheese is melted and golden.

Serve hot along with a simple pasta (preferably not in a tomato sauce) or with slices of bread.

Please do try the original recipe Gobhi Mazedar. You'll enjoy browsing that cookbook online, it has a fantastic collection of recipes. Better still if you can lay your hands on it in your bookshop / library, you can see the book in its entirety. If the link does not work, you can try searching in Google ebooks for 'Smita Chandra Gobhi Mazedar'.

This is a very hearty flavoursome dish which will make a great addition to your menu for an Italian party. I served this with Penne in Spinach sauce and the green and red complemented each other beautifully.

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An unusual pizza for lunch

Yesterday was one of those days, when I was famished for lunch and the only thing ready was the cauliflower-potato curry made in the morning. Besides this, there was some thin crust pizza base languishing in the fridge since last Saturday, and there was the hummus that I had made a couple of days ago. I also had some ready pizza sauce( Pizza Mazza - Maggi) which I always happen to keep on hand nowadays, for these last minute affairs. (It is quite good!)

Putting all of the above together and a minute in the microwave, a delicious pizza was ready in under two minutes....and I'm all set to beat Rachael Ray at her own game - Hahahaa

Ingredients
1 thin crust pizza base
1 tbsp pizza tomato sauce
2 tbsp hummus
1 cup cauliflower-potato curry (used 1 potato instead of the peas in the recipe)
1 tbsp shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions
Start with the spreading a thin layer of tomato sauce on the base, followed by a thick layer of hummus. Spread the curry evenly over the hummus. Top with cheese (as much as you like). Nuke this for a minute at high power in microwave or bake for 5 minutes in a regular oven (if you have the patience for the pre-heating ritual). I sometimes use leftover pita bread or even leftover / frozen parathas as a pizza base, in times like these.

Eat as hot as your tongue can take it. I did, that's why I kept those cold cucumber slices by the side, for first-aid.

Burp!

That reminds me, we won two movie tickets thanks to DH reviewing a restaurant on Burrp that got selected as review of the week. We love this site, that is an exclusive restaurant review website, covering many of the Indian cities. Each time we have to decide on a place to eat out over the weekend, this site along with the Times Food Guide is a great resource.

[Disclaimer: I have not been paid to say this. And I have been using the site much before we won any prize there :) Just want to bring it this helpful website to the notice of my Indian readers! ]


And this is what has kept me busy all of today morning...I was planning to make Foccasia to take to a friend, and a search lead me to these hot cross buns...I have already devoured one piece of the 12 with a spot of orange marmalade and it's yummy - will share recipe in next post! I know one of my dearest blog friends has made this too in the near past, and i hope we end up posting this together - like how true soul sisters should :)

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