A Tale of Two Cauliflowers..The Cheap and The Pricey..Mildly Spicy With A Coconut Kick!

   In Cauliwood every Cauliflower has it's price. This is a tale of one of them.
   She sat there in the fading Marin sunshine. It was late afternoon and some wisps of fog whipped across the sky. She was all bright purple with a swirl of tight emerald leaves. A friend of ours, Mr. X we'll call him sidled up to her. He stared admiringly.
   "She's a real knock out isn't she?" a voice said.
   "Uh. yeah," Mr. X said, embarrassed to have been caught eyeing her.
   "She just got into town, there's not another one like her. She's special!" said the Farmer. "Why don't you take her home. Only 7 bucks"
  "Isn't that a lot for a cauliflower?"
   "You ever seen a purple one before?"
   Mr. X took a deep breath and reached for his wallet.
 Side note here: Mr. X is a very, very good friend of ours, a world traveler and a frequent guest at our table. He's always my marker for Indian food.  I am always asking "is this as good as your friends' wife makes in Trivandrum??"
     When he bought the 7 dollar cauliflower, he had me in mind. He brought it over to our house and made me close my eyes while he took it out of a bag and put it on the kitchen table.
   "Ever see anything like this before?!!"
    I pulled open the refrigerator door and took out the cauliflower that I had bought the same day from the guy down the road for 99 cents.

I hated to do it. But he had to learn. It's Cauliwood Mr. X, and they're all the same.
   So that's the origin of the 4 act Indian lunch. When someone gives you a 7 dollar cauliflower you HAVE to cook it, and cook it well.
   I decided to blend it with my 99 cent purple special to have enough cauliflower to go around. The great thing about this purple cauliflower is that unlike the blue/purple, non-green beans, this stuff kept its' brilliant color even after cooking. Under the knife it was gorgeous.

   I  have also been taking advantage of the container of Tropical Traditions Organic Shredded Coconut I was sent and I was eager to show it off. The purple cauliflower was the perfect background.
   The dish I had in mind was a simple Cauliflower Poriyal, done with chilies and mustard seed. This dish is great because it cooks up in about 10 minutes or so, leaving plenty of time to take care of all the other stuff. Here's how to do it:
     Wash, dry and cut 1 large or two small cauliflower into little florets..
   In a deep skillet or kadhai heat about 3 Tbs of coconut oil. When it's heated up toss in:
      1 tsp of black mustard seeds
      When the mustard seeds start to snap, crackle and pop add in:
     1 tsp of urad dal
      In a minute or so the dal will turn a nice reddish color. When that happens add in:
     2 whole dried red chilies
    6 hot whole fresh green chilies
      When the chilies start to turn a darker color, put in the lovely purple cauliflower.

   Give it a stir or two.
    Then add 3/4 tsp of salt and about 6 Tbs of water.
    Cover the pan, turn the heat down and let the magic work.
     Cook everything for about 5 minutes, see if the cauliflower is tender, take the lid off the pan and let any liquid cook off. We don't want soggy and purple, we want crisp and purple.
    When it's all nice and tender mix in:
  2 Tbs of shredded coconut.

      Big Old Warning!!
    DO NOT eat the whole chilies!!!! You may be tempted but don't. If someone insists they can handle it, you might want them to sign an affidavit first, and get out a fire hose.

    
   So there it is. When all was said and done the pricey mingled with the cheap and no one knew the difference....That's Cauliwood!
  If you'd like to score some of Tropical Traditions amazing Organic Shredded Coconut so that you can try this dish yourself, I'll be giving away a container just like the one they sent me to review. Check out my blog tomorrow for the rules on how to get this for yourself.

Hold the Drumsticks! Hold the Turkey Too!

This is a weird time of the year to be talking about holding the drumsticks. Drumsticks seem to go together with Thanksgiving, which everyone in the US of A is frantically preparing, shopping and cooking for. As I discovered when I started cooking Indian food, there are other sorts of drumsticks. Drumsticks that any vegetarian would have no problem with. Because these drumsticks are a vegetable, otherwise known as Moringa Oleferia. It's a long ridged bean-type veggie and it's eaten as a lot of things are, in a lot of places, except here. When I talk about except here, I'm really talking about Sonoma where I live now.
Back in the day when I was full time In Los Angeles I was always shopping at a number of Indian Markets, buying spices, kitchen equipment and all the exotic vegetables I wanted as most of them were grown by local people. Long beans? Got em. Bitter Melon? Got it? Snake gourd? Got it? I could go on. Of course here in Sonoma there are many things that I couldn't find so easily down in LA. All sorts of local organic farms, for fruit, meat and vegetables all with in a stones throw. So, I can't complain too much.
We have one Indian market in the entire county which is a 50 mile round trip drive for us and there are also 3 other southeast Asian markets that I shop at, also a long haul. Whenever I'm in LA on business I'm always toting back everything I've been missing, and any studio meeting is always followed by a grocery shopping trip.
Among the things that I can't get up here are the aforementioned Drumsticks. I've been looking and am always promised..."next week....maybe" So, alas I can't show a drumstick here, but I can show a drumstick recipe and there's no better stand in for an original drumstick than a good old easy to find green bean.
Green beans are everywhere right now. It's one of the most popular dishes served on the Thanksgiving table. Green beans with browned butter and almonds, and who hasn't had green bean casserole with cream of mushroom soup mix right out of the can sprinkled with canned fried onion strings.....anyone? anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
This adaptation of an Indian dish by Atul Kochhar from his book, Indian Essence goes beyond Indian food and makes it all the way to the shores of Plymouth rock. And I promise no canned fried onion strings were used in the making of this dish!
Which brings me to what I call the non drumstick drumsticks with peas and potato.
1.) Clean and chop 1/2 lb of green beans into 1 inch pieces
2.) Cut 10 small fingerling potatoes into thin rounds
Meanwhile, in a spice grinder or processor mix
3.) 2/3 cup of grated dried unsweetened coconut
4.) 2 Tbs of chopped fresh cilantro
5.) 2 medium tomatoes
6.) 2 chopped shallots
7.) 2 tsp of sliced fresh ginger
8.) 1 Tbs of vegetable oil
9.) 1 tsp of Kashmiri chili powder substitute is 1/2 tsp cayenne powder mixed with 1/2 tsp paprika
10.) 1/2 tsp ground coriander
11.) 1/2 tsp ground cumin
12.) 1/2 tsp of turmeric
Grind all of this up until you have a nice thick paste.
Now, in a deep skillet or karhai heat
13.) 2 Tbs of oil
Toss in:
14.) 1 tsp of brown mustard seeds and
15.) 10 curry leaves
Saute these till the mustard seeds pop and everything is crackling. Then add in your spice paste and stir it all up.
16.) Cook it, stirring for about 3 minutes or so then Add in your green beans, and potatoes along with 7 Tbs of water and some salt to taste.
17.) Simmer the vegetables for about 20 minutes or until they're done.
18.) Add in 2/3 cup of frozen peas and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes.
Serve this hot. It makes a great quick vegetarian lunch with chapattis, or you can serve it as a side with any meat or fish. In fact it might make its' way to your Thanksgiving table. You won't be sorry. Save the canned fried onion strings for another day, and give thanks you don't have to eat them.

Just a note
Go to my A Million Cooks Podcast Page and listen to my interview with JoAnn Cianciulli Author of The LA Farmers Market Cookbook from Chronicle Books. JoAnn co-created and produced Food Network shows such as Food 911 with Tyler Florence, co-authored cookbooks with world-renowned chefs like Michael Mina, and has served as an industry expert on shows including Bravo's Top Chef Masters. It was great fun talking to her and I'm going to be talking to more cookbook authors in the near future, so stay tuned to the podcasts.