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Dec. 11th, 2006 06:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickFor dinner tonight, I made curried cauliflower, which is one of my favorites. It used to be (and I guess still is) a recipe for Calcutta Beef Curry from the coffee-table cookbook of Indian food that brother-the-elder got for me one year for xmas. I've really enjoyed a bunch of recipes in the book but this is one where I went off-road with results that really impressed me and so I wrote my version in the book and don't make the book one anymore.
No. I do not ever eat normal-people food.
Curried Cauliflower
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. butter (real... this is the only fat in the thing.)
coriander, turmeric, paprika, cumin
whole green cardamom pods (optional)
salt, red or black pepper
1/2 of a big white onion, cut up
5 cloves garlic, sliced into rounds
fresh ginger, sliced into matchsticks or coins or other shape large enough for the non-ginger-eaters to pick out of their food
1/2 can tomatoes (or 2 regular-sized fresh ones)
skim milk or some combination of that and half-n-half or cream if you want to live dangerously
fresh cauliflower, about a cup and a half of florets
Directions:
1. In a large frying pan, melt the knob (1 Tbsp. or so) of butter.
2. Add 1/2 a big white onion, cut in skinny slices as for ratatouille or diced if you want to do that instead. It doesn't really matter. Cut it up somehow. Then add the 5
cloves garlic, sliced crossways (little disks). Add a volume of ginger equal to two garlic cloves (coins or sticks, your choice). How are you supposed to tell how much ginger? Eyeball it. *sheesh*
3. Cook this at a sautee heat until the onions are getting clear and everything smells good.
4. Add the spices... 1 teasp. coriander, four green cardamom pods (optional but I like 'em -- they're so floral), 1.5 teasp. turmeric, 1 teasp. cumin, 1 teasp. paprika. Cook this briefly until fragrant (15 seconds?)
5. Add 1/2 can tomatoes, chopped up, with juice. Then, add enough milk to make ~ 3/4 of an inch of liquid in the pan. Scuff the bottom of the pan with a fork to free up any errant sticking spices or veggie pieces.
6. Up the heat to "boil" and boil down, stirring, until it's slightly thicker than you think it should be for a 'serve over rice' food item. To amuse yourself, salt and pepper to taste during this time. You DO need to add salt, especially if you're using fresh tomatoes. It tastes flat without -- I've tried -- and it doesn't take tons to perk it up. Add as much pepper as you think you might want. I use about 1/8 teaspoon of red pepper, myself.
7. When you've got the liquidity about right, add cauliflorets (bite sized pieces, about a cup and a half of 'em) and swizzle them around in the pan until they're mostly coated with sauce.
8. REDUCE HEAT, put lid on pan, check/stir every two or three minutes until cauliflowers are fully soft (they taste better than slightly crunchy ones, I promise). The cooking of the cauliflorets will make this mess a little more liquid than it was when you started, so don't worry. If you're frantic with concern over the dryness of the thing, add a small amount of additional milk.
9. When cauliflower parts are soft, serve over rice. Makes two generous servings or three chinchy servings. If using cardamom pods, you do not have to eat them. You are allowed to pick them out and put them on the side. Eating them has not yet proved fatal, though.
NOTE: This recipe doesn't expand very well. It makes this much but it doesn't double or anything. I'm not sure why. I've had folks other than me try to double it and it just doesn't. It makes this much.
Today I didn't have this with rice. I had it with some more of that very tasty bread I've been making. The bread was very tasty, but it was not rice. *sigh*
No. I do not ever eat normal-people food.
Curried Cauliflower
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. butter (real... this is the only fat in the thing.)
coriander, turmeric, paprika, cumin
whole green cardamom pods (optional)
salt, red or black pepper
1/2 of a big white onion, cut up
5 cloves garlic, sliced into rounds
fresh ginger, sliced into matchsticks or coins or other shape large enough for the non-ginger-eaters to pick out of their food
1/2 can tomatoes (or 2 regular-sized fresh ones)
skim milk or some combination of that and half-n-half or cream if you want to live dangerously
fresh cauliflower, about a cup and a half of florets
Directions:
1. In a large frying pan, melt the knob (1 Tbsp. or so) of butter.
2. Add 1/2 a big white onion, cut in skinny slices as for ratatouille or diced if you want to do that instead. It doesn't really matter. Cut it up somehow. Then add the 5
cloves garlic, sliced crossways (little disks). Add a volume of ginger equal to two garlic cloves (coins or sticks, your choice). How are you supposed to tell how much ginger? Eyeball it. *sheesh*
3. Cook this at a sautee heat until the onions are getting clear and everything smells good.
4. Add the spices... 1 teasp. coriander, four green cardamom pods (optional but I like 'em -- they're so floral), 1.5 teasp. turmeric, 1 teasp. cumin, 1 teasp. paprika. Cook this briefly until fragrant (15 seconds?)
5. Add 1/2 can tomatoes, chopped up, with juice. Then, add enough milk to make ~ 3/4 of an inch of liquid in the pan. Scuff the bottom of the pan with a fork to free up any errant sticking spices or veggie pieces.
6. Up the heat to "boil" and boil down, stirring, until it's slightly thicker than you think it should be for a 'serve over rice' food item. To amuse yourself, salt and pepper to taste during this time. You DO need to add salt, especially if you're using fresh tomatoes. It tastes flat without -- I've tried -- and it doesn't take tons to perk it up. Add as much pepper as you think you might want. I use about 1/8 teaspoon of red pepper, myself.
7. When you've got the liquidity about right, add cauliflorets (bite sized pieces, about a cup and a half of 'em) and swizzle them around in the pan until they're mostly coated with sauce.
8. REDUCE HEAT, put lid on pan, check/stir every two or three minutes until cauliflowers are fully soft (they taste better than slightly crunchy ones, I promise). The cooking of the cauliflorets will make this mess a little more liquid than it was when you started, so don't worry. If you're frantic with concern over the dryness of the thing, add a small amount of additional milk.
9. When cauliflower parts are soft, serve over rice. Makes two generous servings or three chinchy servings. If using cardamom pods, you do not have to eat them. You are allowed to pick them out and put them on the side. Eating them has not yet proved fatal, though.
NOTE: This recipe doesn't expand very well. It makes this much but it doesn't double or anything. I'm not sure why. I've had folks other than me try to double it and it just doesn't. It makes this much.
Today I didn't have this with rice. I had it with some more of that very tasty bread I've been making. The bread was very tasty, but it was not rice. *sigh*
