A Fresh Spring Dish, An Indian Classic : Cauliflower and Potato

   Spring is one of my favorite times of year here in Sonoma.The Farmers Markets are filled with the delicacies one doesn't get the rest of the year and at our place, planning has begun for this year's crops. But first, the last of the Winter harvest needed to be brought in. My cauliflower came fashionably late. In fact, I didn't think I was going to get any cauliflower this year, but after the heavy rains we've had the last month...there they were! I waited for a break in the rain to go out and cut myself a beauty.

   Cauliflower is one of my favorite vegetables because there are so many ways one can prepare it that even the most die-hard cauliflower hater can find something they like. Because we've been pretty busy with launching The Chaunk I was looking for a very fast and easy recipe that would do the job for lunch. Good old Aloo Gobi to the rescue. I took my cauliflower and some fresh cilantro from my garden (it started raining again) ...

...and combined it with organic fresh peas (cheap and good this time of year) a few Yukon gold potatoes, and a red pepper.....Luncheon is served!

                               Cauliflower With Potatoes and Peas aka Aloo Gobi

Here's What You Need:
1 cauliflower
2 Tbs coconut oil or other vegetable oil
5 fresh green serrano chilies (I grow my own during the Summer then vacuum seal and freeze them for later use)
1 Tbs finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
1 cup of fresh peas, or frozen ones thawed
2 Yukon gold potatoes
1  red bell pepper finely chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 Tbs  coriander
1  tsp  cumin
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 tsp amchur powder (dried mango)
1/4 tsp garam masala
3 Tbs water


Here's What To Do:
Shell your peas (if using fresh ones).

Chop the serrano chilies and set aside.

Peel and chop the ginger/

Add the cumin seeds to the chopped ginger and set them aside.

Mix the ground cumin, coriander and turmeric together in a small bowl and set them aside.

Wash and dry the cauliflower. Trim it and cut it into florets.

Place the cauliflower pieces into the bowl with the peas.
Wash and quarter the potatoes.

Place them in the bowl with the peas and cauliflower.

Chop the red bell pepper into small pieces  mix it with the cilantro and set it aside.

Heat your pan or kadhai over a medium/hot heat.
Add in the vegetable oil.

When the oil is hot toss in the chopped serrano chilies.

Stir them around for about 30 seconds or so until they sizzle, then add the cumin seeds and ginger. When that starts to sizzle, add in the coriander, cumin, and turmeric.

Stir everything around so the oil and spices are well mixed, then add in your cauliflower, potato, and pea mixture...

...along with 2 Tbs of water.

Cover the pan and stir fry everything over a high heat for about 3 minutes, then lower the heat to medium and let everything cook for about 20 minutes or so until the potatoes are soft. Check on things and stir once in a while so nothing burns or sticks. If you need to add another Tbs or so of water go ahead and do so.
When the potatoes have softened, add in the red bell pepper and cilantro...

...and the amchur powder.

Put the lid back on and cook for about 5 minutes.
After that time, take the lid off, give everything a good stir and place it in a serving dish.
Add the 1/4 tsp of garam masala, then stir everything again.

And serve it up!

  Spicy, delicious, and made with the freshest stuff one can get this time of year, Aloo Gobi is a great dish served just with rice and chapatti, or as the vegetable accompaniment to any Western style meat and veg dinner.
 For a how to kit to cook these and other delicious easy Indian dishes visit The Chaunk
Coming up next, taking advantage of Springtime produce bargains, follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Introducing "The Chaunk", Our Store is Live, And Our Indian Spice Kit Now Available Online.

                                            photo by Phil Jimcosky                                                                                               
   When I served an Indian lunch last fall to Steve Sando, Paula Wolfert, and Alice Medrich  at our house in Sonoma, the last thing Alan and I ever expected was to get into the Indian spice business. We earn our living as screenwriters and most of the spice involved with that has been trying to keep things on a PG13 level (most but not all ) of the time.

   I started my journey into the world of Indian food 26 years ago, when I was diagnosed with cancer. I was a vegetarian at the time (yeah, I know) and while having chemo I decided to up the game to macrobiotics. What I actually did was cut out most of the vegetables that I loved following very strict rules. It was getting harder and harder to find something that made me want to eat, since it's tough taking an Italian away from the "deadly nightshades" aka, tomatoes, eggplants  etc. When my oncologist at Cedars Sinai asked me why I wasn't eating, I went into this long explanation about chemo, macro food, and the evils of deadly nightshades. I finally admitted I hated what I was eating, I was starving for something tasty.

   He said,"Well, why not eat a more ayurvedic diet"

   "Huh, what's that????"

   "Indian food. Do you like Indian food? That's a good healthy food"

   "I love Indian food... but cook it myself??? Can I do that???" That quickly became "Why not cook it myself?" " I can do that!".
 
   I started the learning process. It helped that Alan had traveled and stayed with friends in India quite a bit, and that his big sister, my sis-in-law is an Indologist and had worked and lived in India and studied Indian cooking.  She came out from NY, helped get me set up and I was off to the races. I began to seek out Indian markets in Los Angeles. One in particular, where at the time I was the only non-Indian shopper. Remember, this was 26 years ago. The Indian ladies I met there I think were amused that I was poking around, asking questions, and into everything. When I kept coming back, buying more stuff, asking more questions, they finally started talking to me, showing me things, making suggestions, giving me things to taste. I became a regular. I wanted to try doing and making everything I could.

   I cooked every day and over the course of 3 years basically cooked my way through Lord Krishnas Cuisine the bible (for me at least) of Indian vegetarian cooking. Alan always says that for those 3 years he had something different practically every day....all from the same cookbook. It was sort of a Julie and Julia experience... only Indian. As I cooked I expanded my repertoire to include non vegetarian food. I started canning my own chutney, grinding my own spices. In short I turned our Santa Monica house into a mini-Indian restaurant. I cooked for friends, and word got out and I started get asked to cook for others. You can read my bio to see who some of my diners have been.
 
   Healthy Indian food became a passion, something I loved to share with anyone interested. When we moved to Sonoma aka Foodie Heaven, I started growing a lot of my own produce. In 2009 I started this blog as a way of sharing the food that captured my heart. Alan started photographing the food and cooking process in order to show how to proceed. In the midst of our writing work it's always been my passion project. The thing that relaxes me, and gives me instant gratification. I learned that if I want to be happy, I have to make people laugh, and I also have to feed them. That's what The Chaunk is all about, passing along the adventure of Indian food and giving people the tools to start cooking it themselves.

   So when Paula, and Alice told me I needed to do something with my Indian cooking and Steve Sando suggested perhaps spices would be a good way to start, we put together this spice kit. This box contains all the hard to find "stuff" that makes first time Indian cooks tempted to chuck it all and just order out. These are the spices you won't find in your common garden variety  Supermarket which are found in nearly all Indian dishes.

   The recipe cards are simple, and easy to follow. In this case they're  vegetarian dishes that have been popular at our house with family and friends. They're quick to prepare without a lot of fussing and they can be served as part of a more ambitious Indian meal or will also work well on a plate with any meat, fish, or rice. There's nothing too difficult to master. This is one of the recipes: Peanut stuffed Chilies.

Here's an excerpt about TheChaunk.com from the current issue of  Craft By Under My Host :
by Erin Jimcosky

     If there is one thing that Kathy Gori, blogger behind The Colors Of Indian Cooking knows, it is her way around an Indian kitchen. So when she and her husband (and food photographer) Alan Berger decided to start a spice company, American foodies cried "Huzzah". One of the biggest difficulties people find when trying to learn to cook Indian food is simply in finding the ingredients. The Chaunk has turned a daunting task into a breeze. The kit comes with eight ridiculously fresh and fragrant spices and recipes to help you use them. I love the adorable spice containers that are pretty enough to reuse, and as it happens they sell refills, so you’ll be sure to keep them in use.  Follow along on Instagram as I cook and share recipes from The Chaunk. To find out more about The Chaunk and the diversity of Indian spices, look for my Indian Spice Lexicon in this issue. The spices included in the kit are as follows: garam masala, black mustard seed, kalonji, kashmiri chili powder, methi leaves, amchur powder, cinnamon sticks and dried red chiles.

   There are more products and a cookbook in the works, but "The Chaunk" seemed a great place for us to start. So, pay us a visit at our online shop TheChaunk.com and follow us on Twitter @TheChaunk check out the Instagram pictures at thechaunk and when you start cooking Indian food, visit us at Pinterest  and  share your pictures with us.  I hope you'll join me in exploring the world of Indian Cuisine, even after 26 years for me there is still so much to learn.

Go Coconutty For Goan Coconut Rice

Long time no post, and it's good to be back here. We'll be kicking off something special in the next couple of days so there's that. It's also been crazy around here since I haven't been able to post a lot of what I've been cooking. There are two reasons for that.  One, we've been working the the CocoaPlanet people helping to develop the entirely #glutenfree menu for their new CocoaPlanet Factory and Cafe which will be opening here in Sonoma very soon.

Also, there has been this:

Which has definitely slowed down my cooking... however, I am now back and it's with a recipe that calls for minimal wrist usage, Goan Coconut Rice.

I'm always looking for the best quality stuff to put into what I cook. I grow a lot of it myself but hey, I can't grow everything, especially rice. Awhile back I received  a sample of Himalayan Basmati Rice from Authentic Royal Basmati.

There are few scents I like more than the lovely perfume that comes from a newly opened bag of Basmati Rice, and the Authentic Royal Basmatii did not let me down in that department. From the moment I opened the package I knew I had a winning rice in hand. So, now what to do with it that involves minimal wrist stress, I decided  that Goan Rice would do the trick.

Goa, is a state in Southwestern India known for it's lovely beaches and tropical beauty. One thing they grow a lot of in Goa is rice. Another major Goan crop is coconut so why not put the two of them together? Instead of cooking my rice in a mixture of coconut milk and water I figured I'd go old school and make the dish traditionally using nothing but coconut milk. The combination was fragrant, delicious, and was on the table in less than 30 minutes, which makes it a great dish for a weekday meal. 

Goan Coconut Rice

Here's What You Need:
1 and 1/4 cups of Authentic Royal Basmati Rice
6 green cardamom pods
5 whole cloves
1 onion finely chopped
2 Tbs coconut or other vegetable oil
1 Tbs grated dried unsweetened coconut
3 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp of salt
1 cup of coconut milk
1 and 3/4 cups of water...(or you can make this rice as I did using all coconut milk)
1 cinnamon stick

Here's What To Do:
Chop the onion finely and set it aside.
In a small skillet dry roast the dried coconut until it's fragrant and toasty.

This only takes a couple of minutes.

Mix the garam masala into the toasted coconut  and set it aside.

Crack the cardamom pods slightly and set them aside.

Heat 2 Tbs of coconut or other vegetable oil in a pot.

When the oil is hot add in the cinnamon stick, cloves and cracked cardamom pods.

Let them sizzle for a couple of minutes. When they swell a bit and get aromatic add in the chopped onion.

Stir the onion around and saute it until it turns translucent, this takes about 5 minutes or so.
Now add in the rice...

...salt...

...and coconut milk, or coconut milk and water.

 Bring everything to a boil, then slap a tight lid on the pot, turn the heat to low and let look for about 15 minutes. Do NOT take the lid off while cooking.
After about 15 minutes, turn the heat off and let the unopened pot stand for another 5 minutes.
now take the lid off.
Place the rice into a serving bowl.

Sprinkle the coconut garam masala powder over the whole thing.

Top with chopped fresh cilantro.

And you are done!
Give it a good stir to mix everything together before putting it on the plate.

There it is, rice that is sweet coconutty and delicious with the amazing aroma one can only get from Indian grown Authentic Royal Basmati Rice

My thanks to Authentic Royal Basmati for letting me try their rice and now I have another item to add to my shopping list! Coming up soon, more Indian vegetarian delights! Follow along on Twitter @kathygori