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Cauliflower with fenugreek greens in spicy peanut gravy

Its nearing end Jan and finally we winter-starved Bombayites are finally feeling some cool. Afternoons are still hot. The tiled flooring does turn cold though. The cold water in the wash-basin gives me a little jolt as I sleepily open it early in the morning, reminding me that - Hey girl, enjoy this while it lasts.

I love all spices. Especially so, at this time of the year, when our body yearns for it. Ive gone all out with my spices in this recipe, dressed up the benign cauliflower in flavours it didnt know existed. Its like turning an ice maiden Aishwarya Rai into a hot sizzling Mallika Sherawat! If you dont know who these babes are, dont worry. Im sure you got the idea though. The peanuts were added on second thoughts, to make the gravy a little milder and creamier without adding any dairy cream. It turned out good. Real good. In fact, the day I made this, DH had an unusually long day at work. I for once didnt complain as I dug into the whole darn bowl myself. Yeah! That good. Try out and youll know Im sticking by my new year resolutions :D

And hey friends, I havent forgotten about the WBB 8 round up. I just got some respite from work and I wasnt in the mood for some more serious work like battling with blogger to do a round up. Itll come up soon with a new theme as well.


Cauliflower in spicy peanut gravy

Category: Vegetables, side, Indian curry, Spicy food, Winter food
Cooking time: About 20 minutes
Serves 3
Recipe source: My own




2 cups cauliflower florets - largish
1 cup finely chopped fenugreek leaves

For the masala

3-4 red chillies
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 small stick cinnamon
2 cloves
2 cardamoms
5-6 black peppers
1 sprig curry leaves
3-4 cloves garlic
2 medium onions - sliced
1 tsp salt or to taste

1/4 cup or handful of roasted peanuts
Salt to taste

Wash the florets in plenty of salted water. Drain and keep aside.

For the masala, on a low flame, roast all ingredients except the onions and garlic. Roast till aromatic. Remove from the kadai onto a dish and let it cool. Meanwhile, take a tsp of oil in the same kadai, put in the sliced onions and garlic with tsp of salt. Saute till translucent. Remove from the kadai and cool.

In a mixer, grind the roasted spices, onion-garlic and the peanuts into a very fine paste, adding upto half cup of water.

In a cooker or a pressure pan, heat a tsp of oil. Splutter some cumin seeds and then pour the masala paste. Stir around for a good 5 minutes or so. We wont wait for any oil to separate here because we didnt use much oil to start with. Throw in the cleaned cauliflower florets and the greens. Add upto a cup of water and let the florets simmer in the paste for around 3-5 minutes before closing the lid of the cooker.

Allow just one whistle to escape. Switch off the gas and take the cooker off the burner immediately. The remaining pressure in the cooker is enough to cook the florets just enough without turning them into a mash. Another reason why they wont turn to a mash is because we keep the florets big enough not to cook too soon. If you want to try this in a saucepan (no cooker scenario), then by all means break the cauli into smaller florets for faster cooking.

After 10-15 minutes, the cooker would have cooled. Open the lid carefully. Check for salt. Serve hot with any Indian bread or plain steamed rice. A cold salad on the side will complement the heat of this curry beautifully.

Tags: Cauliflower, curry, winter recipe, spicy curry, peanuts