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.

Another Round of Radishes

As I've written before radishes are my new discovery. Fresh, inexpensive and unexpected they've moved from dress extras hanging around the parsley garnish to a supporting character role in my menus.
After pairing Daikon radishes with pumpkin, I'd intended to post another radish recipe I'd cooked about a week ago. The problem was, couldn't remember it.
I frantically looked at the pictures I'd taken of the dish trying to remember exactly what I'd done. I'd felt so clever at the time .Since I get off on dressing one vegetable up in anothers trappings, it occurred to me that I could have done almost anything and the likelyhood of my figuring out exactly what I'd done and how I'd done it before we were all dead from hunger was exactly slim to none. I gave up.
So now I had a bunch of radishes, what to do with them? And what to do with them fast.
I resorted to my trusty copy of Lord Krishnas'Cuisine and there is was, a perfect radish recipe, different from what I'd made before but delicious in a totally different way.
The radish dish I cooked up was a Karhi a Gujarati dish made with besan or chickpea flour and yogurt whipped into a creamy soup, and cooked with spices.
I started out with a handful of fresh red radishes.

I took the radishes and ran them through the shredding disc of my food processor

I then set them aside and got to work on the Karhi.
In a bowl mix together
1.) 4 Tbs of chickpea flour
2.) 2 cups of water
3.) 2 cups of plain yogurt
Whisk it up till it's nice and smooth. Toss in
4.) 1/2 tsp of cumin seed
5.) 1/4 tsp of fenugreek seeds
6.) a 1 inch stick of cinnamon
7.) 1/2 Tbs of sugar
8.) 1 tsp of salt
9.) 8 curry leaves, either fresh or frozen

Finally, add in your shredded radishes.



Pour the mixture into a deep skillet or karhai and put the heat on high. Stir it up and when it comes to a boil turn the heat down and keep it on a simmer for about 15 minutes.


Once your radishes have cooked, then comes the tempering, so set a lid on the radish pan and pull out a small skillet.
Heat the skillet and melt
10.) 2 tbs of butter or ghee
when the buter startes to foam pour in
11.) 1 tsp of blackmustard seed
12.) 1 dried red chili
13.) 1/2 Tbs of finely chopped fresh ginger



Once your mustard seeds are popping, pour the contents of the skillet into the radish mixture. Cover the pan and let it rest for about 4 minutes.
Finally, sprinkle about 3 Tbs of chopped fresh cilantro over the whole thing and serve.
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So what did I learn from my radish venture this afternoon? Well, I can't just eat and forget it. Radish gluttony cannot get the better of me. When I come up with something I like I'd better not just photograph it I've got to stop and write it down if I ever want to enjoy it again. So now The Hunt For the Missing Radish Recipe begins, and I know it's out there somewhere. I may have to start up a CSI Special radish unit to find it and see what I can reconstruct from the pictures I took. Meanwhile, to all who celebrate it out there, have a Joyous Thanksgiving! See you below the fold!