Cauliflower curry.... Yum!!

I got up this morning and had an inexplicable craving for cauliflower curry. Mind you, not the cauliflower manchurian(the reddish looking cauliflowers which the Indians all over the world are acquainted with and love) or the cauliflower sambhar(my mom did this! She just put a whole bunch of seasoned cauliflowers in a special kind of sambhar and hey presto! Here came the cauliflower sambhar) but the cauliflower curry. I have not eaten cauliflower curry before(or if I had, atleast not by that name). So, here I got up, all fresh and ready to have fun on a normal sunday and sit in front of the computer when I suddenly wanted to have cauliflower curry. I have no idea whis this thought popped up but once it did, I had no other go but to figure out how to satisfy this craving.


So, I went to the two tried and tested methods: the cookbook(my roomie brought a bunch of these from India, bless her!) and the Internet. After searching for nearly half an hour, I found a simple, easy-to-do recipe(some parts of which I concocted because I didn't have the required ingredients). Here is the recipe:

oil/ghee - 2 tbsp
ginger paste - as needed
garlic paste - as needed(I used chopped garlic that is sold at Krogers)
cauliflower - mid-size
garam masala, turmeric powder, chilli powder, salt - to taste
[some more ingredients which I didn't have and so didn't bother to put in]

1) Cut the cauliflowers and take only the florets.
2) Heat the oil/ghee in a kadai, put the pastes and stir for a minute
3) Put all the powders and stir for another minute
[some more steps using ingredients I didn't have... so I didn't even bother to read them]
4) Put the cauliflower florets and stir them in low flames until they turn pink or light brown.
5) Garnish and eat!

This was the recipe given. But for people like me who can't stand for more than five minutes at the cooking range, this was a challenge as I had to keep stirring the contents until they turned pink/light brown. So, here was my procedure.

1) Boil the cauliflowers in the microwave(10 minutes would be fine) (whoever found Microwave gets my heartfelt thanks! I do most of my cooking with it. No waiting at the cooking range, no cleaning up the mess if it boils over and most importantly, no worry of it charring off!! The last one is especially helpful if you are a person who wants to read 'just one more page' when the cooking got done :D Half my cooking would be done with Michael Crichtons and Robin Cooks :D)
2) Put the oil in and put the ginger paste and chopped garlic(thanks P & GC for doing awesome shopping this week! Our fridge is well stocked now :))
3) Now, take all the flavoring powders in the kitchen shelf and put them in(this was where I was a bit concerned. I was worried about underdoing or overdoing it! I put everything in except rasam powder, vaangi baath powder and dhaniya powder. And the final result tasted so yummy!! Now I know all the powders I need to put this special kind of flavor!! Yay! I'm patenting this flavor!)
4) Put the microwaved cauliflowers and stir them for a minute(so that all the florets get properly coated)
5) Now, put them in high for a minute or two more(as long as you need to reply to two mails and attend a call).
6) Then switch the range off and cover it up with a lid. (we have an electric range. So, the cauliflowers got cooked for some more time in the heat of the range itself).
7) Eat the curry!
Here is a picture of the yummy curry:


Doesn't it look the right shade of golden brown as given in the hotels? And its so yummy! Look at all the florets at the right color all going well with one another and completing the entire picture. Ok! I'll stop here or I'll keep on going!

Do share your favorite recipes and secret tips in cooking. Its loads of fun. I do accept, the fun that you get when a program of yours works after days of work is different from the kick that you get when you eat the food that you made with the recipe that you made up on the fly and it turns out real yummy. But I'm thankful to God for giving so many different kinds of pleasures to mankind in day-to-day life.

Now, I've got more confidence in my own cooking. Earlier, I used to follow the recipes given by my mom, aunts, sisters and friends. This was the first time I came up with a recipe of my own(ok! more a mix and match) and it turned out really good. Yay! Now everyone is invited to my place. A new cook is born!