Spicy Cauliflower Roast

Sometimes I get bored of the usual cauliflower stir-fry or the onion-tomato based curry and make this simple yet tasty roast. All you need to do is marinate the cauliflower with few spices and grill it in the oven until brown. Some roasted cauliflower along with a salad and grilled fish makes a tasty but low-carb meal :).

Ingredients

Serves - 2

Spice level - Medium

Prep time - 15 min

Cook time - 20 min

1 Large cauliflower head - broken into medium sized florets

Turmeric - a pinch

Salt - as per need

Red chilli powder - 2 Tsp

Curry Powder - 2 Tsp

Cumin powder - 2 Tsp

Olive oil - 1 Tbsp

How do you do it

1. Bring a large pan with water to boil, add few tsp of salt and a pinch of turmeric and toss in the florets inside. Let it boil for 2 minutes. Stir well and drain. Pat with paper towels multiple times to remove excess water from the cauliflower pieces. This step is to remove worms from the cauliflower if any.

2. Put all the florets in a bowl, add required salt, turmeric, red chilli powder, curry and cumin powder, oil and mix well. Let it stand for 30 min.

3. Line a baking sheet with aluminium foil and spread all the marinated pieces on it. Pre-heat oven to 400 F.

4. Broil on high for about 20-30 minutes until the florets brown.

Serve with any salad on the side and some ketchup if you like.

Continue Reading >>

Gobi Parathas

Of all the parathas, gobi is my most favorite one.  For the most delicious parathas, I prefer sauteing the shredded gobi with some green chillies and spices rather than the using a raw filling. I have been making parathas more often these days and make them with ease now :). I figured that using some quantity of maida [All-purpose flour] along with wheat flour for making the dough helps in stretching the dough easily and makes rolling of the parathas much easier. Do try using this method if you are a beginner in making parathas, am sure it will help you.

Ingredients

For the dough

Atta/Wheat Flour - 1 + 1/4 cup
Maida/All purpose flour - 3/4 cup
Water - 1 cup or as per need
Salt - 1 Tsp
Oil - 1 Tbsp

For the filling

1 small sized cauliflower
green chilli - 3, chopped finely
Red chilli powder - 2 Tsp
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Curry powder - 1 Tsp
Salt -as per need
Oil - 1 Tbsp
Jeera - 1/2 tsp

How do you make it

1. Using your food processor grate the cauliflower pieces like below. Keep aside.

2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan. Add jeera seeds to roast. Add in the chopped green chillies, shredded cauliflower and saute for a minute. Add salt, turmeric, curry and red chilli powder. Mix well and saute until the filling is cooked well. Keep aside. Cool the filling completely before making parathas. if the stuffing is hot, when you roll the parathas they tend to break out.

3. Now to make the dough, mix the atta, maida, salt and oil together. Add water slowly and knead well to make a smooth dough. I use my food processor for this and my job gets done in minutes :). I use about 3/4 to 1 cup water to get a really soft and smooth dough.

4. Take a dough ball, roll it to a small circle as shown below, dust it with little flour and then and place a tbsp of shredded gobi filling inside it.

5. Bring the edges of the paratha together and cover the gobi filling and gently flatten it using your fingers.

6. Dust with flour as and when necessary while rolling. Gently roll the paratha into medium sized circle without the filling oozing. Parathas are usually on the thicker side, so dont make them very thin

7.  Place the rolled paratha on a heated tava. Once tiny spots occur on both sides of the paratha, drizzle oil on both sides and cook them until they have dark brown spots on them.

Serve with Dal Tadka or yogurt-pickle combo.

Continue Reading >>

Zucchini Cauliflower Curry

Zucchini and Cauliflower cooked in a thick tomato-coconut milk spiced curry sauce

I have heard enough about Zucchini for almost a year now. Thanks to our truly global wing [my friends from university] and not to forget whatsapp - food, travel and living is all what we talk about almost everyday :).  Having moved to the west and seeing Zucchini in the super-market instantly reminded me of all the conversation we had about how healthy Zucchini is. So I picked it up immediately not knowing what I would do with them. I just knew that it had to be something very tasty and curry like so we could make it a regular. I browsed around and saw a recipe that had curry powder, coconut milk and tomato puree as the base sauce for this Zucchini Cauliflower dish and I was hooked.

I usually don't choose to try my hand at a new recipe on a work-day morning to pack for lunch. But this recipe seemed so simple and quick that I decided to make it for lunch and it turned out great. Every time i tasted the curry sauce I kept wanting for more and that was a good sign.  This is a great side dish for rotis and am sure it would team up well with rice as well. So on to the recipe :).

If you dont have Zucchini , you could throw in any other vegetable as a sustitute - carrot/peas/capscium/beans, I am sure they would do good as well.

Ingredients

Serves - 2
Spice Level - Moderately spicy
Prep Time - 10 minutes
Cook time - 20 minutes
Recipe Source - Adapted from veggie-belly
 
Zucchini - 1 medium sized, cut into half moon shape
Cauliflower - 4-5 florets cut into bite sized pieces
Tomato puree - made out of 3 fresh tomatoes or one 14.5 oz canned diced tomatoes blended
Coconut milk [thick] - 1/4 cup [canned or fresh - I used canned]
Curry/Masala Powder - 1 Tbsp
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Jeera/Cumin - 1 Tsp
Onion - 1 medium sized, chopped well
Garlic - 3 cloves , minced/grated finely
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig [optional]
Hing/Asafetida - a generous pinch
Oil - 1 Tbsp
Salt - as per taste
Coriander leaves to garnish

How do you do it

1. Take the cauliflower pieces in a bowl with water and add a pinch of turmeric and salt and microwave for a couple of minutes. Stir well and drain. This step is to remove any worms from cauliflower if any. This kind of cleaning is necessary and very important to remove worms when using cauliflower in any recipe. So do make sure you clean cauliflower well before using.

2. Either you are using fresh or canned diced-tomatoes, puree them using your blender and keep aside.

3.Heat oil in a kadai. Add hing and jeera, and let them roast and give out a nice aroma. Add the chopped onions and saute until they are cooked well.

4. Add in the minced garlic and curry leaves and saute for a minute or two.

5. Add the curry/masala powder and turmeric and saute for a couple of minutes until the raw smell of the powder goes away.

6. Add in the tomato puree now, stir well and cook for a couple of minutes.

7. Add the Zucchini pieces and cauliflower florets, salt and close the kadai with a lid. Cook in medium flame. It will take 10 minutes for the veggies to get cooked.

8. Now reduce the heat and add in the coconut milk. Cook on low flame for a few minutes. Once done remove from flame.

Add chopped coriander leaves to garnish and and serve with rotis/pulkas or rice.

Continue Reading >>

Cauliflower Biryani

Whenever I hear the biryani word, I start expecting a lot from the dish, it has to have that biryani magic. The rice has to have that subtle yet rich flavor, it should just look very pretty and appetizing. I have tried many biryani recipes, but wasn't really satisfied with the outcome and I kept delaying the posting of a biryani recipe on this blog. I made this cauliflower biryani recently and for me this is a winner. S absolutely loved it, and he mentioned he couldn't wait for me to make the same with mutton. A couple of weeks later and we still talk about how great that cauliflower biryani was. This recipe has almost become a benchmark for me to grade the other biryanis I eat at restaurants, and I can confidently say this one is truly worthy of the word "Biryani".

I don't mind saying it over and over again, I absolutely love one pot meals and dishes like these only makes the bond grow stronger. The best part about variety rice dishes are that they can be made in a jiffy and you can get away by serving it with some raitha and paapad. So when a recipe calls for an elaborate process of making the masala separately, rice separately and then mixing them I eye them quite suspiciously. But this time I shed my laziness and decided to spend some extra time for the briyani , when i tasted the final dish I was overjoyed. 


Cauliflower Biryani

Ingredients

 Adapted from Easy cooking

Serves - 2
Spice Level - Moderately spicy and very flavorful
Prep Time - 40 min
Cook time  - 15 min

Cauliflower - 1 medium sized , cut into medium sized florets
Turmeric - 1/2 Tsp
Oil - 1 Tbsp
Salt - 1 Tsp + 1 Tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 Tsp
Frozen Peas - 1/4 cup

Oil - 1 tbsp
Jeera/Cumin - 1 tsp
Onion - 1 Large,sliced thinly
Tomato - 1 very Large, pureed
Green chilly - 2
Garlic - 4 small cloves
Ginger - 1 small piece
Cardamom,clove,cinnamon - 1 piece each
Masala/Curry powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric  - 1/4 tsp
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Ghee - 1 Tbsp
Basmathi Rice - 1 cup
Cashews - 7 broken in medium pieces
Water - 1.5 cups
Salt - 2 Tsp

How do you do it

Preparing the rice

Soak the basmati rice in water for 20 minutes and then drain. Heat 1 Tbsp ghee in a kadai, add the broken cashews and saute till brown. Add the rice now and mix well with the ghee and cashews. Saute for 2-3 minutes and switch off flame. Cook the rice in 1.5 cups of water with 2 tsp salt for 12 minutes. Spread the cooked rice on a plate and cool it.

Preparing the cauliflower and Peas

Boil 2 cups of water, add a tsp of salt and 1/2 Tsp turmeric and add the cauliflower florets. Let it boil for 2-3 minutes. Drain the cauliflower and dry them. This is to remove the worms if any from the cauliflower. Now heat 1 Tbsp oil in a kadai. Add the cauliflower florets, salt and red chilli powder and saute them in medium-high flame, until the cauliflower becomes slightly roasted and crispy. When you start to do this, the cauliflower will let out water and then slowly it will turn crispy. This step takes about 15-20 minutes. So be patient. Keep this cauliflower aside.

Also thaw/cook the frozen peas, and keep aside. I microwaved the frozen peas in 1/2 cup water for 4 minutes.

Preparing the masala and mixing with rice

Make a paste of the garlic, ginger, green chilli, cardamom, clove, cinnamon together and keep aside.

Heat oil in a kadai. Add jeera and let it roast. Add in the onions and saute till translucent. Add the paste made in previous step and saute till the raw smell vanishes. Add the tomato puree now and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the turmeric, red chilli powder, garam masala , little salt and saute for few more minutes . When adding salt be cautious, the roasted cauliflower has salt in it, we have also cooked the rice with salt. Add the peas and roasted cauliflower and give it a quick stir. Now add the cooked rice and mix well with the masala on low flame. Check for salt and add more if needed. Cook the rice in low flame for a couple of more minutes and switch off flame.

Serve warm with raitha and paapad.

Notes

1. The cauliflower needs to be half cooked only and must be firm when finally added to the masala. It should not be mushy.

2. The magic of the dish lies in the ghee-cashew rice, so ensure to use cashews. Also the rice should not be over-cooked. I use my electric pressure cooker, and it takes 12 minutes for me. Use the ratio of 1:1.5 for rice:water for basmati rice.

3. The original recipe skips roasting the cauliflower , but cauliflower by itself is quite bland and if using only boiled cauliflower, you would need to give the rice a few hours of resting time so the cauliflower can soak up the flavors from the masla and rice. I would suggest you to roast the cauliflower for better results.

4. You can leave out the cinnamon, clove, cardamom  while making the paste and add them as whole spices and roast them along with the jeera/cumin.



Print this Post

Continue Reading >>

Gobi Manchurian

I have been sleeping so much this week and here I am awake at 2.30 am browsing TV channels and there is nothing interesting to watch, also Divya requested this post soon so she could try it over the weekend :). So I thought I might as well compose this post and put it up.

Gobi Manchurian needs no introduction, atleast in India it doesn't ;). I wonder why this dish is so popular here and nobody gets bored of this dish. Have you seen that map picture where they mark the china area as "Gobi Manchurian" ? These days Gobi Manchurian reminds me of that map picture and  I go he-he!.

A favorite restaurant starter order for many, but its quite easy to make it at home as well. If you make Indo-Chinese at home often, you must already be having all the ingredients for the sauce. So make Gobi 65 and the sauce, dunk the Gobi 65 in the sauce and your Manchurian is ready.

Gobi Manchurian

Ingredients

Serves - 2
Spice Level - Moderately spicy
Prep Time - 20 min
Cook time - 20 min

Make Gobi 65 for a medium sized cauliflower.

For the sauce

Spring Onion white part [bulbs] - 5 , sliced thinly
Spring Onion green part - 3-4 Tbsp
Garlic cloves - 5 chopped finely
Capsicum - 1/2 , chopped thinly 1 inch pieces
Green Chilli - 2 , chopped finely
Soya sauce - 1 Tsp
Tomato Ketchup/Sauce - 2 Tbsp
Green Chilli sauce - 1 Tsp
Red Chilli Sauce - 1 Tsp
Corn flour - 1 Tsp mixed with 2 Tbsp water
Salt - as per need
Oil - 3 Tbsp


How do you do it

Make Gobi 65 as done here and keep aside

Heat oil in a kadai. Add the chopped garlic and saute on medium heat for a minute. Add the spring onion white part , chopped green chilli and saute for 3-4 minutes until it starts to sweat. Add the capsicum pieces and saute for a couple of more minutes. Now add the soya sauce,tomato ketchup, green chilli sauce,red chilli sauce, salt and mix well. Let it heat for a minute. Add the corn flour paste now and mix well. Add the gobi 65 and spring onion green part now and wrap well. Saute for a minute more and switch off flame.

Garnish with spring onion greens and serve with any variety rice of your choice or with roti/naan.


Print this Post

Continue Reading >>

Gobi 65 - Restaurant Style

The first thing this Gobi 65 reminds me of are how me and my cousins were not allowed to eat this in my paati's place when they made this. :(. Usually Gobi 65 is made on Sundays as a special vegetarian item for my Grandad/uncle who did not eat non-vegetarian dishes. So the rule in the house was that , those who were non-vegetarians are not allowed to eat Gobi 65 as it was reserved for the vegetarians. Hmmp! ;)

How many of you have wondered where this tag "65" came from for various dishes such as chicken, Gobi, paneer etc. I have - many a times but never looked it up until now.  There are many different stories for how the name came about. Below are the two interesting ones from wiki :)

Chicken 65 is alleged to be a dish introduced in 1965 at the famous Buhari Hotel restaurant in Chennai by its founder A.M.Buhari, a pioneer in the South Indian food industry. They also offer Chicken 78, Chicken 82 and Chicken 90, introduced in 1978, 1982 and 1990 respectively.

Another storyline is that northern Indian army soldiers frequented a military canteen in Chennai. Its menus were written in Tamil, the local language. As most soldiers could not read Tamil, they made their choice by citing the number of the dish on the menu. The dish's popularity spread among the soldiers by word of mouth. They'd simply ask for "number 65"; soon, the dish became known officially as "Chicken 65".

Gobi 65

Ingredients

Serves - 3
Prep Time - 20 min
Resting time - 30 min
Cook time - 15 min

Cauliflower - 1 medium sized
Maida/All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
Corn flour - 3 Tbsp
Red Chilli/Curry powder - 1-2 Tbsp [adjust according to spice level]
Ginger Garlic [GG] paste - 1 Tsp
Salt - as per need
Water - 1/4 cup to make the marinade [ adjust accordingly]
Red food color - a pinch [optional]
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp + a pinch
Oil - for deep frying [1/2 cup]

Lemon - 1/2 [ to squeeze juice on top before serving]

How do you do it

Separate the cauliflower florets , and slice into medium sized pieces. We first need to clean the cauliflower. Boil few cups of water [2-3] . Add a tsp of salt and 1/2 Tsp turmeric to the boiling water. Now throw in the cauliflower pieces mix well,and let it boil for 2-3 minutes on high flame. Switch off flame. Stir the cauliflower pieces well and drain completely. By now your cauliflower pieces must be half cooked. It should be firm to bite. Use tissue paper and pat the pieces to remove excess water from the cauliflower. Keep aside and let it dry.

Mix the maida, corn flour,chilli powder, GG paste , salt , a pinch of turmeric , red food color in a bowl and form a thick paste of this with water. The consistency of this is important, it should be as thick as your toothpaste. I used 1/4 cup of water, but adjust accordingly when you make the paste. Taste the marinade to check for salt-spice level and make changes as needed. Add the cauliflower pieces to this marinade and wrap well, so all the pieces are coated well. This needs to rest for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Heat oil [medium heat] in a kadai for frying the cauliflower pieces. Drop a little marinade to check if the oil is heated properly, if it rises above immediately, you are ready to go. Drop 8-10 pieces of cauliflower into the oil, deep fry until it turns into a nice red color. Remove from oil and drain on tissue paper. Repeat the same and fry them in batches.

While serving you could squeeze lemon on top of these pieces. Needless to say it makes an absolutely delicious starter :).

Notes

The cauliflower pieces needs to be firm to bite and only half cooked. Do not overcook them.

It is important to drain the water completely from the cauliflower and gently pat with tissue paper to remove excess water without damaging the florets.But don't try to remove too much , little water content of the gobi will help to easily wrap the Gobi in the marinade. Standard rule for deep frying is that water content has to be very low

The consistency of the marinade needs to be thick, as thick as your toothpaste.

When frying,I dropped the cauliflower piece by piece, instead of dropping a handful of pieces together. They tend to stick together in the oil and trying to break them up while frying or later seemed difficult.

If you do not want to deep fry it, you could take a baking tray lined with foil, apply some oil on it, spread Gobi on the foil, drizzle few drops over the Gobi and the grill it in the oven for about 20 minutes for 200 deg C, turning the Gobi over after10 min to grill evenly


Print this Post

Continue Reading >>

Gobhi Ka Keema/Minced Cauliflower Peas Curry

Here's some food for thought. I was watching this debate show yesterday and the topic was "Has modern life screwed up our happiness?" I would like to say "yes". Gone are those days when great things came in small sachets. When I was growing up, eating out in a fancy restaurant, going to a movie theater, buying a dress,etc used to happen once a while. Not every other month. And when it did happen it truly felt joyous.There were many a times when my parents did not buy me stuff that I had really wanted.Not that they couldn't afford it , they just wanted me to understand that the word "NO" existed. Fair enough?

In this absurd era, everything is in excess. We buy what we want when we want it. After a quarter of year gets over, if we don't take that "much needed" holiday, we feel so stressed.While our parents who have been working for at least >30 years now, would have taken how many vacation to exotic places, 2-3 maybe? .To say life is so very materialistic now would be an understatement. More often than not, this question about what would give me happiness in the true sense of the word pushes me to one corner, scaring me that i would never find it.

On the flip side, the 21st century has its own accomplishments too. Freedom for women, women empowerment, no explicit discrimination based on cast/creed/color/language and so many more
things.

The show ended on a great note, saying what we do need to do is customize our lifestyle based on our needs.Lets sit back , think and make an effort to be happy. By indulging in these materialistic pleasures more than necessary,we are distracted from the real pursuit to happiness.Life is not about romantic-getaways,hi-tech gadgets,fancy candle-light dinners and overseas jobs. Don't be a saint, that's not what I am getting at, actually far from it. Just be aware of your needs ,make time for your parents,lead a balanced lifestyle, and don't go overboard. :)

Take a kit-kat break if that was too much of an over-kill ;)

So on to some lighter stuff now such as Gobhi Ka Keema. :). I loved the idea of making a keema curry with gobi and I wanted to try it.It indeed did taste like a how a non-veg keema would. Go on, try it and tell me how much you like it. ;)

Gobi Ka Keema

Ingredients

Recipe adapted from here

Serves - 4
Spice Level - Moderately Spicy
Prep Time - 20-30 minutes
Cook time - 20 Minutes

Cauliflower - 1 Medium, Cleaned and chopped finely
Fresh/Frozen peas - 1/4 cup boiled.
Onions - 2 medium, chopped well
Ginger-garlic paste - 2 tsp
Tomatoes - 3 big, pureed
Turmeric - 1/2 Tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 3 tsp + 2 tbsp
Bay leaves - 1
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Method

Heat 2 Tbsp oil in pan and add the chopped cauliflower. Saute till the pieces turn a shade of light brown.Keep aside.Take another kadai and heat 3 Tspn oil. Add the bay leaf, jeera - let it roast. Add in onion and ginger-garlic paste and saute well. Add the red chilli powder, garam masala and saute well.Let the raw smell of the spice mix vanish. Add the tomato puree at this stage , and let it boil. Let the raw smell of the tomato puree disappear. Now add in the cauliflower and peas, salt and let it cook in the gravy.Let it get cooked until you get a thick gravy and all ingredients have blended well.

Serve with pulka/chapathi.




Print this Post

Continue Reading >>

Potato-Peas-cauliflower Kurma

This vegetable kurma is a great side dish for chapathis or Kerala coin parathas. It is a coconut based white gravy flavored with mild spices.Its a quick one if you have grated coconut ready in your pantry.

Aloo-Mattar Kurma

Ingredients

Serves - 4
Spice Level - Moderate

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Badams/Almonds - 6
Jeera - 2 Tspn
Saunf - 1 Tspn
Ginger-Garlic Paste - 1 Tbspn
Green chilli - 4
cloves - 2
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Tomato - 1 Finely chopped
1 cup of chopped mix veggies, - I used potato,peas and cauliflower.
Oil - 2 Tbspn
Jeera - 1 Tspn
Salt -  as per taste
Turmeric - 1/4 Tspn


Method

First grind the first 7 ingredients with 1/2 cup water to a fine paste. Keep aside. Boil the chopped veggies till its half-cooked. Keep aside.

Heat oil in a kadai. Add jeera and let it roast. Add in the chopped onions and saute it till translucent. Add chopped tomatoes salt and turmeric. Cook till the tomatoes are soft and juicy. Now add in the ground paste , and saute for a couple of minutes. Add about 1 cup water and let it simmer in low heat for about five minutes.Now throw in the half-cooked veggies and let them cook through in the gravy. Add more salt if needed. Also add in water if needed to get desired consistency.Switch off flame. Serve with hot chapathis :). Simple NO?



Print this Post

Continue Reading >>