Quick Lunch Series: Curry Cauliflower Quinoa Salad

For a while Trader Joes had this delightful item on there ready to eat item list. I picked it up a few times and it tasted delicious and was great for those times when I needed to carry lunch and had nothing planned. Sadly, it disappeared from the stores  at the local store in recent times.

Source: Whats good at Trader Joes

This past week I decided to make some at home and here’s how I made mine.

Ingredients:

1 cup rainbow quinoa
1/4  cup french lentils
1 cup cauliflower florets cut small
1/2 diced red bell pepper
1/4 red onion, chopped fine (can also use green onions)
1 tsp curry powder
dash of garlic and ginger powder
salt and pepper to taste
dash of paprika
1-2 tsp coconut oil
cilantro to garnish
healthy dose of lemon juice

Soak lentils overnight or for 8 hours.

Bring two and half cups of water to boil. Add quinoa and lentils. Reduce flame and continue cooking for about 20 minuted or until cooked, adding additional water as needed.

Meanwhile, place a pan on the stove, add oil, and add  onions, cauliflower and red bell pepper. Toss in spices and fry  on medium high.  Alternately, you can roast the vegetables in an oven.

When the quinoa is almost cooked, add the sauted vegetables and continue cooking. Add lemon juice generously. Garnish with cilantro and serve warm.

Makes 3-4 servings for that home-office lunch

What can go wrong with quinoa, lentils and cauliflower?  All in all a delightful lunch. Either at home or in the office really. Bought at TJ or made at home.

Quick Lunch Series: Cauliflower Fried Rice

I have been meaning to make Cauliflower Fried Rice since I saw this Coconut and Lime Cauliflower Fried Rice recipe and this one.  Although, I had a cauliflower at home and could make the rice from scratch, I found a bag at Trader Joes and this is how I ended making my dish.

Ingredients:

2 cups cauliflower rice
1/4 cup lite coconut milk
some lemon juice (optional)
1 cup mix vegetables – I used shredded carrot, corn, peas, red pepper sliced, broccoli florets and sliced red onion
1-2 tsp chili oil with crushed red pepper
1 tsp coconut oil
drizzle of soy sauce
salt to taste

Heat the coconut oil in a pan. Add the cauliflower rice and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add coconut milk, lemon juice and cook on for 8-10 minutes or unitl the liquid evaporates and the rice is cooked.

Meanwhile, in a separate pan add the red chili oil and stir fry the vegetables on medium high for 5-10 minutes until lightly browned. Season with salt, red crushed pepper, and a drizzle of soy sauce. Mix in the cauliflower rice and serve warm.

It turned out delicious! It looks very much like brown rice, but once you taste it, it was pleasantly tasteful. Especially being cooked in coconut milk gives it extra flavor.

Makes 3-4 servings.

Cauliflower Nirvana

Every time I visit Elaine’s blog I  am attracted to the picture on her blog of a Cauliflower recipe.

The roasted cauliflower was tasty on its own.  I still had some marinade left over and decided to make hummus as well. One with Cauliflower and sun dried tomato and the other with  sun-dried tomato and jalapeno.

All turned out pretty good 🙂

Happy Cauliflower!

Roasted Curried Cauliflower Gratin

Roasted. Curried. Cauliflower Gratin. Don’t know about you, but I am already hooked.

I recently posted a Curried Cauliflower Gratin recipe. It was delicious! I still had another half of my Cauliflower and was wondering if I wanted to make Roasted Potato and Cauliflower, when I came across this Roasted Cauliflower Gratin recipe. As always, I improvised.

Ingredients:

1/2 large head of Cauliflower, cut into florets
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup Parmigiano Cheese
1-2 tsp curry powder
Salt and fresh ground pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Lightly toss cauliflower florets with olive oil, salt, curry powder and fresh ground pepper. Layout on a baking sheet and roast in oven on lower rack  for 20 minutes till lightly brown. Switch to broil, transfer to top rack and broil for 7-10 minutes until nicely browned.

[Roasted Cauliflower Gratin] Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post;

Transfer florets to casserole dish. Add cream, chopped garlic, salt, fresh ground pepper and cheese. Stir and return to broiler for 5-7 minutes.

Serve warm!

Curried Cauliflower Gratin

I love one-pot meals. And in the past have tried the Summer Squash Gratin and the Cabbage Casserole very successfully.

I had a large head of cauliflower and wanted to try something new. I scoured the web for an appealing recipe, but in vain. In the end, I improvised and made this dish. Actually, I ended up making this two ways using two different recipes. Here is the first one.

Ingredients:
1/2 large head of Cauliflower, cut into florets
1 red or orange bell pepper, sliced
10-12 cherry tomatoes, sliced
1/4 cup pickled sliced jalapeno peppers
1 cup bread crumbs
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup milk
1-2 tsp curry powder
1 tbsp olive oil
a few red pepper flakes
salt to taste

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F.

Place a large pan on the stove on medium low flame. Add oil, cauliflower, salt and curry powder. Fry lightly for 6-7 minutes. Add milk and continue to cook for another 5-6 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a bowl mix bread crumbs and cheese. Season with some salt and nutmeg.

Transfer the cauliflower, along with the milk to an oven safe casserole dish. Add sliced tomatoes and pickled peppers. Top with bread crumbs mix. Can sprinkle some red pepper flakes.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Serve warm.

Aloo Gobi (Potato and Cauliflower)

My memories of this curry are from elementary school. My best friend, used to get this for lunch. Her mom used to send over piping hot food, daily during lunch time. Aloo Gobi wrapped in fresh home made roti was always my favorite. When I think of Aloo Gobi, my mind goes back to that memory and those days. Over the years, I have tried to refine my recipe to the taste I remember from those days. Here is how I make it…

Ingredients:

1 cauliflower head separated into florets
2-3 potatoes cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 tsp tumeric
1-2 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp garam masala
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp amchur (dried mango powder)
1/4 tsp red chili powder (optional)
salt to taste
cilantro to garnish

Place a large pan on medium low. Add oil, turmeric and cumin seeds. Fry for a minute until the cumin seeds turn slightly brown. Rinse and add cauliflower florets and potato.  Add salt and mix well.

Usually the water from the rinsed vegetables is sufficient for the cooking if not sprinkle a few droplets of water. Close the lid and allow to cook, mixing occasionally to preventing sticking.

Once the cauliflower softens, in 10 minutes or so, add the spices. Adjust the spices to personal preference. Mix well. Garnish with cilantro and serve with warm roti. Can also be eaten with rice.

 

A. Soup. A. Week Not So Creamy Curried Cauliflower Soup

Cauliflower is one of those vegetables I love to cook. I am constantly on the lookout for new recipes. It is a bland vegetable in my mind so the key to making something I like is to have the right mix of ingredients and spices. I have made the Curried Cauliflower Soup several times and thoroughly enjoyed it. This time I wanted to try something different.

I started out this soup following The Pioneer Woman’s Creamy Cauliflower Soup. The trouble I had was with all the richness! Too much cream puts me off. I tend to eat creamy soups such as Cream of Broccoli or Cream of  Mushroom very sparingly. Right off the bat I knew the butter had to go. If not for anything else save the fact I had none in my fridge. I also substituted lowfat milk for whole milk.  Here’s how I made my Not so Creamy Curried Cauliflower Soup.

Ingredients:
1 head medium cauliflower
1/2 onion chopped
2 celery sticks diced
1 carrot chopped
a little fresh parsley chopped (1 tbsp)
3 tbsp flour
1 cup 2% milk
1/2 cup half and half
sour cream (optional)
1-2 tsp curry powder
fresh ground black pepper
salt to taste
1 tbsp olive oil
4-5 cups water or broth

Heat a large pan or dutch oven. Add 1 tbsp oil. Add onions and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add carrots and celery and continue frying for a minute. Add the cauliflower florets and mix well. Next add 1 tbsp of chopped fresh parsley. Mix well. Reduce flame to low. Cover the lid and continue cooking for about 15 minutes stirring as needed.

Pour in the water or broth. Bring to boil, then reduce flame and let it simmer.

Meanwhile mix flour and milk with a whisk in a bowl. Heat a separate pan. Can use butter if necessary, I just poured the milk flour mix and let it cook and thicken. Next add the half and half and mix well.

Pour the white sauce into the soup. Add salt and mix well. Seemed too tame to me… oh what the hell throw in the curry powder. Maybe one or two teaspoons actually. Add some fresh ground pepper as well if you like.

Serve warm. You can also mix in some sour cream before serving as Ree Drummond does it.

Was just right to soothe my taste buds!

Gobi Manchurian

This is an Indo-Chinese fusion dish that is very popular in India.

Ingredients:

For Gravy:

2 Large onions chopped

7-8 Garlic cloves chopped

Equal amount of Ginger chopped

7-8 Green Jalapenos

1-2 Spring Onions

Ajinamoto (tasting salt) (optional)

6-7 tsp Tomato ketchup as needed

2 tsp Soy sauce

For Batter:

1 Small Cauliflower

1 cup All Purpose Flour

2 tsp Corn Flour (optional)

1/2 tsp Baking Soda (Optional)

3 cups Vegetable oil or needed to deep fry

1 tsp Salt or as needed

1/2 tsp Kashmiri mirch (or Chilli Pwd)

Batter Preparation:

In a bowl mix All purpose flour, Corn Flour, Baking Soda, Salt, Kashmiri mirch (or red pepper powder) with water to make a paste.

Dip the Gobi florets in the paste and deep fry till golden brown and keep aside.

In a large pot add oil and saute ginger, garlic and chillis and then add onions, Spring Onions until light brown. Then add salt as needed, Tomato Ketchup (or Maggi hot & Sweet Sauce), Soy Sauce, Ajanomoto.

At last add the fried Gobi which is kept aside and mix well. And let it soak for an hour.

Garnish with Chopped Cilantro, Cashews, Grated Carrot & Cucumber.
Serve hot with fried rice.

(Recipe contributed by Sahi)