CURRIED CAULIFLOWER WITH PEAS

CURRIED CAULIFLOWER AND PEAS

This idea is one I found in Dr Neal Barnard’s _Turn Off The Fat Genes_ (Recipes by Jennifer Raymond). I have adapted it slightly to suit our tastes, but I have left the simplicity of it intact - it would be foolish to try to make it more ‘authentic’ in cooking style, when the whole point would seem to be that it is quick and easy and requires little preparation apart from measuring the spices and chopping the oniion and cauliflower. Despite some misgivings (we tried it at lunchtime today), it was remarkably good and I will probably make it this way again! So easy!!

The original would have made far too much food for us to eat up in several days, so I cut back the amounts.

1/2 large cauliflower, cut into mini-’trees’ rather than florets (ie.bigger and longer)
1/2 tsp ground coriander
3/4 tsp whole brown mustard seed
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground cumin’
cayenne to taste
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 cup water
1 small onion, chopped
1 cups frozen peas
salt to taste

After rinsing and sectioning the cauliflower, set it aside.
Measure the spices.
Put a small skillet over medium-high heat and roast the spices for about a minute or until
they begin to darken. Don’t let them burn. Set aside.

Put the onions in another skillet large enough to contain all ingredients. Add the water and cook, stirring, over medium-high heat until the onions become soft. Four or five minutes should do it. Stir in the spices.

Now at THIS point you might need to add a little more water so that the spices and onions are in a kind of gravy-like liquid that you can turn the cauliflower in so as to coat the pieces of cauliflower with all these flavours (I did). Put in the cauliflower and keep turning it until they’ve taken on the yellow colour of the spice mix on all sides.

Reduce heat a little and cover and cook until almost tender. (Keep an eye on them, stirring now and then, because you don’t want it to boil dry and burn. Add a tiny bit more water if you think it needs it.)

Then add the frozen peas, stir, and cook until the peas are hot - that should take around a couple of minutes at most.

Salt to taste.

Serve with brown basmati rice, dhal, and kachumber or salad.