Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Is It Rice? Is It Cheese? No..It's Cauliflower! Fast And Easy No Cook Cauliflower Salad.


 As I was grating this, Alan came into the kitchen .."Oh rice?", He asked.
"Nope".
 "Cheese?" he said hopefully.
 "Sorry".
 "Ah... coconut!"
 Not even close and no cigar.
 "Cauliflower.", I said.
 "Cauliflower", all the enthusiasm was gone.
 "There's peanut powder", I said.
 Alan was happy. The one thing I've learned about men and dogs, they'll eat anything with peanut flavor on it.
I love the "no cook" South Indian salads that I've been making lately, especially now that the warm weather has returned and the tent is up on the deck for dining al fresco. The Salads Of India cookbook that Paula Wolfert gave me for my birthday has been fun to work with. What's not to like about a dish that makes up fast and easy, involves little to no cooking and contains coconut and my new favorite food crack, peanut powder!

A couple of weeks ago when Paula came to dinner, the local market wanted $3.99 for a single cauliflower! Imagine my surprise when two days ago the same organic cauliflower was 99 cents!!!! 99 cents! My favorite price for anything edible.
For 99 cents if I don't already like it, I'll learn to like it!
  The Big Cauliflower Sale  was the perfect excuse to try a Raw Cauliflower Salad With Peanut Powder and Coconut.
  This salad involves about 5 minutes of cooking, and I can't really call it cooking as it's more like light steaming.  If someone in your house doesn't like cauliflower just ask them if they like peanut butter? If they do, this salad will be a winner for them.
   Here's how you do it.
  Clean and cut up a large cauliflower. Grate it  in a food processor.
 
  You will need 4 cups of grated cauliflower.
 Put the grated cauliflower in a covered skillet or kadhai along with 6 or 8 Tbs of water and heat it, steaming it gently for about 10 minutes.

  When the cauliflower has been steamed, set it aside and bring it to room temperature.

  When the cauliflower has cooled off, add in:
3 tsp. chopped and seeded fresh green chili

 6 Tbs of peanut powder

  4 Tbs of grated unsweetened coconut
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp of sugar
 2 tsp of lemon juice



Mix it well.

Finally, toss in about 3 Tbs of chopped fresh cilantro and serve.
To be honest, cauliflower was the last thing I thought I'd ever be shoving in the grater blade of my food processor, but I'm glad I did. It's an easy, painless way to get some cruiciferous  goodness into your family. They'll hardly notice they're getting something that's good for them, and at 99 cents a pop what's not to like?
 We've got one more week before my 1st Blogiversry Giveaway!
About my Giveaway
 As I mentioned before, our 1st Blogiversary is approaching and the people at Early Morning Pottery have given me 2 of their wonderful ceramic Chicken Cookers, and 1 set of Game Hen Cookers to give away in celebration. The rules are simple:
 Rule 1
 On Your Blog:  Post about The Colors Of Indian Cooking and this contest on your blog
or
 On Twitter: Tweet about The Colors Of Indian Cooking. (Include @kathygori in your Tweet)
or
 On Facebook: Become a Fan of The Colors Of Indian Cooking Facebook Page here and talk about it on your Facebook status.
or
   Become a follower of The Colors Of Indian Cooking
or
  Follow @kathygori on Twitter
 Rule 2
  Leave a comment on this blog with a link to your activity.
  That's it.
 Winners will be chose at random on June 14th .
 Good luck!

12 comments :

  1. So where do I buy the peanut powder? I am going to try and sneak this recipe by Dr. Food. It looks great. Oh yeah, I bought another Paula book. Tell her I love her (no really).

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a great giveaway! coconut and califlower wow terrific combo, this smell must be intoxicating!

    ReplyDelete
  3. We call similar salads 'thuviyal' back in Madras. I love easy, fuss free recipes! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Interesting - and great way to sneak some veggies.

    ReplyDelete
  5. @janis,
    peanut powder can be found in many Asian markets but it's just as easy to make your own. All you need are raw peanuts..roast them in a pan(I do it oil free) and then grind them up. As Panny aka Jeroxie says..peanut powder is the new black!

    ReplyDelete
  6. @The HOusewife,
    Yes, these are such tasty great salads and I'm so glad Paula gave me this book.Varsha Dandekar wrote a great book way back in 1983!

    ReplyDelete
  7. @ Belinda,
    yes indeed..and nearly raw ones too. If I can get some cauliflower down Alans'gullet woith no complaints I've done my job.

    ReplyDelete
  8. that is a great idea of grated cauliflower.

    ReplyDelete
  9. what a great idea- that looks amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  10. i love cauliflower, so i wouldn't even need the peanut powder - but i've never heard of it before now, so i'd do it just for fun! great recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  11. @Brie:Le Grand Fromage, peanut powder makes everything taste better!

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin