Ragi pakora

Ragi is a healthy alternative to the regular cereals, but sometimes you want to attempt something other than the steamed stuff. I was pretty amused to find a recipe for deep fried ragi pakodas- seems almost a contradiction in terms- but they were absolutely amazing.

1 cup ragi flour

1/2 cups besan

12 large florets cauliflower

1 tsp pepper powder

2 sprig curry leaves

1 tbsp chopped cashew nuts

1 tsp sesame seeds

Salt to taste 

Oil for frying

Method:

Mix the dry ingredients well. Add water to make a partially loose batter (similar to idlis batter)

Cut the curry leaves into small pieces

Separate the florets into bite sized pieces

Add curry leaves, cashew nut and sesame seeds to the batter and mix  well. 

Heat the oil. Dip the florets in the batter and fry in the oil, turning around once so both sides are browned. 

Serve hot with a curd based dip. 

Gobi-gajar-shalgam achar

One of my most vivid memories of the first week as a new bride in my marital home is of breakfast. Thankfully, those were the days before size zero brides, and I had no qualms about wolfing down steaming hot stuffed paratas with gobi-gajar-shalgam achar. Seeing their "Madrasi" bride tuck into the typically Punjabi breakfast must also have reassured my in-laws about my ability to fit into a new culture.
Unfortunately, however, that was the first and last time I got to eat gobi-gajar-shalgam achar. My mother-in-law didn't make it herself, and the stuff you got at restaurants was at best a poor attempt at replicating the classic dish.
This winter, I was determined to attempt the recipe myself, and before I could change my mind, bought the ingredients, and even cut the vegetables and kept them to dry. It was easier than I expected, and I wonder why I never attempted it all this while.

1 Kg vegetables (a mix of cauliflower florets, carrot slices, turnip cubes)
65 gms mustard seeds
65 gms salt
150 gms jaggery
150 gms mustard oil
150 gms vinegar
5 tsp Garam masala
100 gms ginger-garlic paste
25 gms red chili pwdr

Method:
Cut the vegetables, and leave them out to dry for 6 hours (I put them in a preheated oven with the heat off).
Heat the mustard oil, let the mustard seeds splutter.
Add the vegetables, fry the vegetables lightly and keep aside.
In the same oil, add ginger-garlic paste, and saute till the raw taste goes.
Meanwhile, heat the vinegar in a pan, add the jaggery, and stir on a low heat till the jaggery dissolves completely. Turn off the fire, and let it cool down.
Mix all the ingredients, including the dry masala. Pour into a sterilized jar, cover the mouth with a piece of cloth, and keep in the sun for a week.

Cauliflower stir fry

I had a huge head of cauliflower in the fridge, but didn't want to make the same boring cauliflower subji. The hubby doesn't like cauliflower dalna, and since I didn't have the veggies to make fried rice, any Chinese dish was out. Time to innovate. Taking off from this recipe, I threw together a whole bunch of stuff, and was pretty surprised when everyone said it was awesome!

1 medium cauliflower (or equivalent)
6 pods garlic (the more the better)
2 tbsp cooking oil (I used olive oil)
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp chilli sauce (or to taste)
2 tbsp honey
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves for garnish

Method:
Remove the stem and leaves of the cauliflower and cut/ break into small pieces. Soak in salt water for about 10 minutes to remove any worms that might be there.
Heat the oil, throw in the garlic and cauliflowers, and stir fry on high heat till the cauliflower starts browning.*
Add the soy sauce, lemon juice and chilli sauce, lower the flame, and cook with stirring for another 2-3 minutes.
Add salt to taste, and the honey, mix well. Turn off the flame, cover, and let it cook in its own steam for about 10 minutes.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.


* I had some stir fried yellow bell pepper, so threw that in too, but it did nothing for the dish, so not adding it next time

Cauliflower Chilli Fry

When there are only so many vegetables your family eats, you try to find new ways of cooking it, so they don't get tired of those few veggies also. This cauliflower was super yummilicious. But I am not sure if I will make it again, because it was far too messy. But again, given the fact that even the Younger One lapped it up, maybe I should make it again though not too soon.

1 cup diced cauliflower3 tsp curd
2 green chillies
4-5 curry leaves


For the Batter to coat the Cauliflower:
2 tbsp rice flour
Red chilli powder, to season
Salt to taste
Water
Oil to deep fry

 

 

Method

Mix all ingredients to make a thick batter or paste.

To this add the cauliflower and deep fry. Keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan and lightly saute the curry leaves.

Add green chillies and curd.

Finally add the cauliflower. Mix well.

Serve pipping hot, either as a starter or with rice and dal.

Gobi Manchurian

The hubby wanted Chinese, the kids didn't want to order food (no, it is not any great love for my cooking- they wanted me in the kitchen so nobody would pester them to study). There was half a cauliflower in the fridge, so I decided to sacrifice my chilla, and make Gobi Manchurian instead.

Cauliflower- 1 medium (or 1/2 large), broken into florets

For the batter: 

Cornflour - 3 tbsp
Maida - 2.5 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste

For the gravy:

Oil - 2 tbsp
Garlic - 1.5 tbsp sliced thin
Spring onion white part - 1 tsp
Spring onion green part - 1 tbsp
Big Onion - 1 chopped finely
Green Chilli sauce - 3/4 tsp
Soya sauce - 1/8 tsp
Tomato sauce - 2.5 tbsp
Cornflour - 2 tsp mixed with 3 tbsp water (I used the leftover batter instead)
Salt - to taste

Method:

Mix all the above ingredients listed under 'for the batter' with little water to form a thick paste.

Boil water and add cauliflower florets, salt and turmeric powder. Cook only till half boiled, drain water and keep aside.

Marinate the boiled cauliflower florets in the batter, mix well and leave it marinated for 15 mins.

Heat the oil, and fry the cauliflower florets till brown.

Heat oil and add sliced garlic,spring onion white part saute for 2 mins then add onion and saute till slightly browned. 

Now add the green chilli sauce, soya sauce mix well in high flame for a minute. 

Simmer,add tomato sauce and little water say 1/4 cup water, add cornflour water mixture of you are adding then allow it boil and come to a sauce consistency.

Now add gobis. Mix well again for 3-4 minutes for the flavours to get blended well with the gobis. The gobi pieces should be a little crisp and not soggy at this stage.

Add salt to taste, garnish with spring onions, and serve as a starter, or with Fried Rice or Noodles.

Chilla

Another childhood favourite, one which my mother used to make pretty often, and which I would gobble up unabashedly. It is only now that I am cooking regularly, that I realise my mother probably had it as a back-up dish for all those days when she didn't really feel like cooking, but there was a family to be fed!

2 cups whole wheat flour/ atta

1/2 large cauliflower

green chillies to taste

baking soda- optional (I don't use it)

cooking oil

salt, garam masala to taste

Method:

Grate the cauliflower, mix well with the flour, and add water to make a batter (of dosa consistency)

Add the salt, chillis and garam masala and incorporate well. You can add the baking soda at this point.

Heat a tawa, lower the temperature by drizzling water on it. Pour two spoonfulls of batter, and spread in a circle. Put oil around the circumference, and let it cook on a low flame.

Once the side is browned, flip over, and let the other side cook too. 

Serve with pickles and/ or curds.

Roast Cauliflower

Roast cauliflower/ gobi massallum is a dish my mother often made, and which I have made a few times too. The masala for that used to be the standard "North Indian masala", with the grated cheese adding the appropriate taste of the exotic.
Since my older one has developed a liking for Worcestershire sauce, however, I decided to experiment with a very different masala this time, and I really liked the results. Next time, I am buying a much bigger cauliflower, because this got polished off in no time at all.

1 medium cauliflower
2 medium onions chopped fine
3 medium tomatoes chopped fine
1 green chilli (deseeded, if you don't want it too hot)
2 tbsp kasoori methi
2 tbsp walnuts
1 tbsp melon seeds
1 tbsp flax seeds
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
cooking oil

salt to taste

Method
Remove the leaves of the cauliflower, soak it in salt water for about 15 minutes, steam for 10 minutes and keep aside
Heat the oil, and fry the onions till they turn transparent
Add tomatoes and green chilli and fry till it starts releasing oil
Add kasoori methi, and give it a quick stir.
In a blender, blend the cooked masala and the nuts to get a smooth paste
Stir in the sauce, honey and salt.
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees
Turn the steamed cauliflower over, and push the masala in through the florets (use up about a third of the masala this way.
Lightly grease a baking dish, spread a thin layer of the masala on it, place the cauliflower on top, and cover with the masala.
Place in the oven, and bake for 15 minutes at 220 degrees.
Serve hot. Tastes best with hot rotis.

Masoor dal with cauliflower leaves- the Ayurveda way

Everytime I buy a cauliflower, I end up paying for a whole lot of leaves that I never use. What if the leaves could be cooked separately, I asked myself, and decided to experiment. As luck would have it, I found this nice recipe for an Ayurvedic soup, which I adapted to make this dal.
The jury is out on whether we liked it or not.

 

1 cup red masoor dal

Leaves of 1 cauliflower, chopped fine

Haldi powder

1 inch piece of ginger

1 tbsp ghee

1/2 tsp coriander powder

Salt to taste

 

For the tempering 

1/2 tsp of Whole Cumin/Whole Jeera
1/2 tsp of Whole Fennel/Whole Saunf,
6-7 whole Fenugreek seeds/Whole Methi seeds
and a pinch of asafoetida/Hing.

 

Method

Pressure cook the dal with cabbage leaves, haldi and sufficient water, till well cooked. 

Heat the ghee, and temper the ingredients listed under "for the tempering". Pour the tempering over the cooked dal.
Grate the ginger, and add to the dal along with the coriander powder, and salt to taste. Add about 2 cups of water, and let the dal come to a boil.

Adjust for seasonings, and squeeze juice of a lime quarter.

Serve with rice/ rotis, or drink it as a soup.

Cauliflower in tomato gravy

The Bengali Cauliflower Dalna. One of the easiest recipes around.

Fry 1 onions chopped fine, 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste, with 1 tsp each zeera and dhania powder till the raw smell goes. Add 2 medium tomatoes chopped fine, and 1 tsp each red-chilli and haldi powder,and fry it gets slightly mushy.
Add cauliflower florets (1 medium sized cauliflower)*, toss it around a bit. Add about 1 cup of water, bring to boil, lower flame, cover and allow to cook in it's own steam for 10 minutes (or till done).
You can also add peas, if you like, but I don't add potatoes.

* at this stage, my mother adds 1 tsp garam masala, but I don't because the kids don't like it "spicy" (uttered with a crinkly nose).

Gobi adraki

Normally, the only way to get my family to eat gobi is by making gobi-aloo with onions and tomatos. But when you are stuck without onions or potatoes, you better eat what you get, or starve.

Gobi fried with grated ginger, jeera, haldi powder and salt, and allowed to cook in own steam after adding chopped dhania patta.

[This was made by borrowing two stems of dhania patta from the neighbour- luckily, nobody thought to ask why I couldn't borrow onions and potatoes too ]