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kindkitI made this for lunch today, and it is so much deliciousness for so little effort that I thought I'd share the recipe, which comes from Raghavan Iyer's 660 Curries.
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
8 ounces caulifower, cut into 1-inch florets
4 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 can (13.5 ounces, 400 ml) unsweetened coconut milk (I recommend Chaukoh or Aroy-D brand; beware of Chaudoc, which is packed to look like Chaukoh but is inferior)
2 teaspoons coarse salt (I used a lot less)
1 teaspoon black peppercorns, coarsely cracked
12 medium to large fresh curry leaves
1 pound fresh spinach leaves
1 tomato, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
A note on peppercorns: If you have high-quality peppercorns like tellicherry, this is the time to use them. To crack, put the peppercorns into a zip plastic bag, seal, and hit, not too hard, with a hammer or other sturdy object.
A note on curry leaves: Cookbooks like to tell you that curry leaves smell like citrus. This is a strange lie, and will result in your being disconcerted when you open your first packet of curry leaves and discover that they smell like hot tar. When this happened to me, I thought my batch was contaminated; luckily I googled around before throwing them out and discovered that yes, they're supposed to smell that way. Do not be afraid of their industrial aroma. The taste they add to your food is much subtler, and if you're like me, you'll quickly go from "OMG TAR" to "curry leaves, yum!" to "this recipe would be even better with some/more curry leaves in it." There isn't really a substitute for curry leaves, although you could try several strong bay leaves.
Heat the oil in a large pan over medium-high heat, add the mustard seeds, cover the pan and cook until the mustard seeds pop like popcorn, then stop popping. At this point, add the cumin seeds, stir for a couple of seconds until they've browned a bit and smell good, then add the cauliflower. Stir-fry for a couple of minutes until the cauliflower is browning at the edges, then add the garlic and stir fry for another minute or so.
Add the coconut milk and deglaze the pan. Add the salt and cracked peppercorns. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, until the cauliflower is tender, about 5 to 8 minutes. Add the spinach and cook, covered, until it wilts. (I only had about 10 ounces spinach, so I added some frozen peas as well at this point.) Add the tomato and cook for another minute or two, until the tomato is warmed through. Iyer says the cauliflower should be starting to fall apart; mine wasn't cooked to that point but was still tasty.
Iyer recommends serving this over rice noodles, which he says is how it's served in Kerala. But I ate it with Mumbai-style potato pancakes (basically, mash some boiled potato--just the potato, don't add milk or butter--with finely chopped chiles and cilantro [fresh coriander], some sliced green onion if you like, ground cumin, and amchur powder, form into patties, and fry in oil). This is probably a shocking mix of regional cuisines, but I thought it was delicious--the tartness and chile-heat of the potato cakes is a nice foil to the rich curry.
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
8 ounces caulifower, cut into 1-inch florets
4 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 can (13.5 ounces, 400 ml) unsweetened coconut milk (I recommend Chaukoh or Aroy-D brand; beware of Chaudoc, which is packed to look like Chaukoh but is inferior)
2 teaspoons coarse salt (I used a lot less)
1 teaspoon black peppercorns, coarsely cracked
12 medium to large fresh curry leaves
1 pound fresh spinach leaves
1 tomato, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
A note on peppercorns: If you have high-quality peppercorns like tellicherry, this is the time to use them. To crack, put the peppercorns into a zip plastic bag, seal, and hit, not too hard, with a hammer or other sturdy object.
A note on curry leaves: Cookbooks like to tell you that curry leaves smell like citrus. This is a strange lie, and will result in your being disconcerted when you open your first packet of curry leaves and discover that they smell like hot tar. When this happened to me, I thought my batch was contaminated; luckily I googled around before throwing them out and discovered that yes, they're supposed to smell that way. Do not be afraid of their industrial aroma. The taste they add to your food is much subtler, and if you're like me, you'll quickly go from "OMG TAR" to "curry leaves, yum!" to "this recipe would be even better with some/more curry leaves in it." There isn't really a substitute for curry leaves, although you could try several strong bay leaves.
Heat the oil in a large pan over medium-high heat, add the mustard seeds, cover the pan and cook until the mustard seeds pop like popcorn, then stop popping. At this point, add the cumin seeds, stir for a couple of seconds until they've browned a bit and smell good, then add the cauliflower. Stir-fry for a couple of minutes until the cauliflower is browning at the edges, then add the garlic and stir fry for another minute or so.
Add the coconut milk and deglaze the pan. Add the salt and cracked peppercorns. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, until the cauliflower is tender, about 5 to 8 minutes. Add the spinach and cook, covered, until it wilts. (I only had about 10 ounces spinach, so I added some frozen peas as well at this point.) Add the tomato and cook for another minute or two, until the tomato is warmed through. Iyer says the cauliflower should be starting to fall apart; mine wasn't cooked to that point but was still tasty.
Iyer recommends serving this over rice noodles, which he says is how it's served in Kerala. But I ate it with Mumbai-style potato pancakes (basically, mash some boiled potato--just the potato, don't add milk or butter--with finely chopped chiles and cilantro [fresh coriander], some sliced green onion if you like, ground cumin, and amchur powder, form into patties, and fry in oil). This is probably a shocking mix of regional cuisines, but I thought it was delicious--the tartness and chile-heat of the potato cakes is a nice foil to the rich curry.
