Old Cauliflower New Tricks. Bake your Cauliflower Like A Chicken.

This is not your brain. This is your cauliflower.

This is your cauliflower on Indian spices. Whoaaaaaa!

   Just in case there's anyone out there who doesn't know the origin of this expression or hasn't watched a "very special episode" of anything, it references this Public Service Commercial which ran on the TeeVee way back in the 80's.



Ah yes, the 80's back when everyone wore stone-washed mom jeans, leg warmers, neon colors and big old shoulder pads.

No wonder they thought they had to warn everybody. That's yours truly on the far right. And later, working my best Annie Lennox...

...out with friends. Note big bling earrings and lots of hair wax. I was just waiting to get the call for the Addicted To Love Video.

   So we see how people can get weird and change, but an innocent cauliflower? What the hell happened to that thing up there?

   A vegetable trick that's what.

  There's a traditional Indian chicken recipe called Murgh Musallam. It's a complicated recipe that involves skinning a whole chicken, marinating it in a spice paste for 2 hours then making a fried spice paste, and when the chicken has had it's go-round in the first marinade, it's then rubbed  inside and out with the second fried spice paste. One then wraps the whole bird up in aluminum foil and bakes it for an hour and a half. This dish is freaking delicious. It is also something that is not done every day. You can see why. This is a special occasion company dish.

   When we lived in LA, I would occasionally be asked by friends to come and teach them to cook certain Indian dishes. I always enjoyed this. One day my very very best friend in LA (who will remain nameless here) asked me to help her make this dish for a friend visiting from Canada. It seems it was the guy's birthday also, so she asked if I would I bake him a cake. Of course. She planned on serving this dish at a romantic lantern-lit dinner outside in their garden. Since the man had a plane ticket and needed to be at LAX  to return to Vancouver that very night, this complicated dish had to be set up like clockwork. I gave her a complete list of what would be needed and asked her to have all the ingredients ready to go when I arrived at her house early in the afternoon so that we would be ready to start cooking. I got over there with my equipment only to discover she had not bothered to defrost her chickens. Nothing was ready. No how, no way.

   Smash cut to the birthday boy leaving for Vancouver while everyone else at the party waited for the chickens to come to roost outside of the oven. That's the trouble with this dish made using chicken. Cauliflower however, that's a whole different story. There are a lot of recipes for Gobhi (caulifilower) Masallem, some are more complicated than others. This one which orginated with Julie Sanhi, is one of the best I've tried. It was so simple it was ready to serve in less than an hour. Always a good thing, especially if someone has a plane to catch.

   Another thing about this dish, the older the cauliflower the better. This is a little secret I learned from my friend Nisha Katona which you can see right here. So no need to run out and buy a fresh vegetable. Buy ahead and let it mellow a bit. Your mouth will thank you. This cauliflower is steamed for 8 minutes, covered (stuffed) with a spice paste and baked in the oven. When it comes out, cut into wedges and dressed with a delicious  tomato sauce. Cauliflower prepared this way can easily be the star of any vegan, vegetarian or paleo meal.

Cauliflower Musallam

Here's What You Need: 

3 tbs of vegetable oil
1 cauliflower, leaves, core, and stem removed.
1 and 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 Tbs finely chopped shallot
1 and 1/2 Tbs finely chopped fresh ginger
4 serrano chilies seeded and finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground fennel
1/4 tsp Kashmiri chili or cayenne
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 and 1/2 Tbs ground coriander
2 Tbs ground blanched almonds
1 tsp sea salt
1 Tbs flour (or gluten free flour)
6 sprigs of cilantro

Sauce

3 Tbs vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can of tomatoes pureed
2 tsps cumin
1/2 cup of water
salt to taste
2 Tbs chopped cilantro

 Here's What To Do:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Remove the leaves, stem and core the cauliflower, making sure to leave it intact.

Steam the cauliflower for 8 minutes.

When the cauliflower is tender, take it out and put it into a baking dish to cool.

Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet or kadhai.
When the oil is hot add in the onion and fry it until it's lightly browned.
Add in the shallots and ginger and fry them for a couple of minutes.

Add in the chopped serrano chilies and give them another minute in the pan.

Add all the other spices, the ground almonds and the flour.

Cook everything for another 2 minutes or so.

Add in the water and stir until you have a thick paste.

Take the stuffing paste off the stove and let it cool.
To stuff the cauliflower, push half of the spice paste mix in among the florets.

Spread the rest of it over the top and sides of the cauliflower.
Sprinkle the sliced almonds over the top.

Pop it into the oven for about 25 to 30 minutes, but before you do look on the bottom and make sure your baking dish is oven proof. Can''t believe I did that.

While the cauliflower is baking make the sauce.
In a skillet or Kadhi, heat 3 tbs of vegetable oil.
When the oil is hot, add in the onions and fry them until they are lightly browned.
Add in the cumin and fry it for another minute.

Add in the tomato puree, salt and water, bring the sauce to a boil.

Reduce the temperature to simmer and cook it gently over a low heat for about 15 minutes.
Take it off the heat and add in the chopped cilantro.
To serve this baby up, put the cauliflower on a serving platter, and cut it into wedges.
Ladle some tomato sauce over each wedge.

Serve it up and enjoy.

   This is a dish that will make a great entree for any veg meal. It is easily made gluten free by using gluten free flour, and of course it contains no dairy for the vegans or paleo eaters amongst us. Add a nice salad, rice dish, whatever you please and you've got an easy complete meal for a Meatless Monday, no defrosting and it's done so fast, nobody misses any planes.

   Coming up next , a great new book about the magic of food and family plus more vegetable tricks done easy. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Got Coconut Milk??! Plus, Win Some Shredded Coconut!

 
Around our house the saying is "Got Coconut Milk??" A lot of the dishes I cook have origins in the Southern part of India and so coconut has become a staple in my pantry. Maybe one reason I love the taste of coconut so much is that we never had it in the house when I was growing up. Let's face it, coconut is not a big part of the Italian diet, and even if it was, my mom hates coconut and what mama doesn't like doesn't get served. As for me, I can't get enough of the stuff and I'm always looking for way s to work it into a dish.
  After my trip to Blankity Blank Farm I had a whole bunch of potatoes I was eager to use. I'd cooked the Viking Purples and was looking for a good recipe for the German Butterballs. I'd also found some cute little eggplants from Lunita Farm that were burning a hole in my fridge.
    Matchmaking is something that I absolutely suck at when it comes to people. My track record  has resulted in zero marriages, zero relationships and a lot of people who have never spoken to me again. However, when it comes to vegetables I know the perfect pairing, and those potatoes and those eggplants were just made for each other. Trust me.
    The dish I decided to make orginates in Tamil Nadu. It's a "wet" curry, almost soupy, and is a great entree for a Meatless Monday. Serve it with some rice, chapatti, a cold salad and you're all set for a feast. Also, it cooks up fast since the potatoes and the eggplants are steamed before cooking; this dish is a snap for a fast meal.
   Here's what to do.

  Cut up 6 to 8 baby eggplants

  Cut up 3 or 4 medium potatoes. I used German Butterballs

 Steam the potatoes and the eggplants for about 8 to 10 minutes or until they're slightly tender.  Don't let them get too soft.
  While they're steaming grind the spice:
 3 Tbs of toasted coriander seed

 Finely chop 2 large onions and 1 large shallot.
 In a deep skillet or kadhai heat 4 Tbs of coconut or other vegetable oil.
 When the oil is hot toss in:

 1 large cinnamon stick
 1 tsp of fennel seed
 8 fresh or frozen curry leaves
 Stir things around for a minute or two then add in the finely chopped onion and shallot

 Stir fry until the onions are starting to brown a bit then add in:
 2 dried red chili peppers and the crushed toasted coriander seed

  Stir this around for  a couple of minutes, then it's time to add in the potatoes and the eggplant pieces.
 Let them cook for a bit until the eggplants soften some more...

Then add in:
  1 large tomato cut into wedges
  1 2/3 cup of coconut milk
  7 Tbs of water
  Salt to taste.

 Bring everything to a simmer and let it cook for about 10 minutes or so. The vegetables will cook through and the sauce will thicken.

 Scatter about 2 Tbs of chopped fresh cilantro leaves across the top and you're ready to serve.

 A meatless, tasty, main dish in about 30 minutes. Can't beat that. The important thing to remember is...Got Coconut Milk??!
   And speaking of coconut.....
 Just A Reminder About my Giveaway
  If you'd like to get some Tropical Traditions Organic Shredded Coconut,  I'm going to be giving away 1 tub of dried shredded coconut to a lucky winner. Here are the rules.
  1.) Subscribe to Tropical Traditions free e-mail Newsletter by clicking the link. They offer all sorts of product specials and cool free recipes.
   After you do this, leave a comment on my blog letting me know you have, and either Twitter about my giveaway (@kathygori) or mention it on your blog with a link, and let me know.
Or
2.) Subscribe to the Tropical Traditions Newsletter and if you don't follow me on Twitter, follow me @kathygori and Twitter about the giveaway. Or sign up to follow my blog The Colors Of Indian Cooking and let me know you've mentioned the giveaway on your blog with a link.
Or
3.) Subscribe to the Tropical Traditions Newsletter and mention my blog and giveaway on Facebook, then let me know you have.
    I have to add for the fine print here:
Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.
    I'm offering this shredded coconut because I've been using it and it's great and I wanted  someone else to be able to enjoy it also.
  The winner will be drawn randomly through Random.org on Sept 1st.
   Meanwhile, I'm off to the big city of Petaluma today to see what I can see. Coming up... more crazy candy colored vegetables!