When we are in India, one of my favorite dishes is
Cauliflower (Gobi in Hindi). It is prepared in numerous ways. We found this
easy recipe for Whole Roasted Cauliflower on the Israeli web site of the newspaper: Haaretz.
It is not Indian but Middle-Eastern. We wanted the cauliflower to go with an
Indian Chicken dish called: Butter Chicken that we were making. The Butter
Chicken was good, but as with many Indian recipes, it doesn’t quite catch the
magic of eating it in India!
Butter
Chicken
New York
Times
Butter
chicken is the General Tso’s of Indian food, a great, ever-evolving,
cross-continental dish found in Delhi, London, New York, Perth and most points
in between. In its purest form, it is yogurt-and-spice-marinated chicken
dressed in a velvety red bath comprising butter, onions, ginger and tomatoes
scented with garam masala, cumin and turmeric, with a cinnamon tang. This
version was adapted from one a young kitchen hand at the restaurant Attica, in
Melbourne, Australia, made for staff meal, and that the photographer Per-Anders
Jorgensen included in "Eating With the Chefs," his collection of
photographs of top restaurants around the world. It is wildly luxurious. Serve
with basmati rice and mango chutney, with papadums or naan if you can find
them, with extra rice if you cannot.
Ingredients
1-½ cups
full-fat Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons lemon
juice
1-½ tablespoons
ground turmeric
2 tablespoons garam
masala
2 tablespoons ground
cumin
3 pounds chicken
thighs, on the bone
¼ pound unsalted
butter
4 teaspoons neutral
oil, like vegetable or canola oil
2 medium-size yellow
onions, peeled and diced
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
3 tablespoons fresh
ginger, peeled and grated or finely diced
1 tablespoon cumin
seeds
1 cinnamon
stick
2 medium-size tomatoes,
diced
2 red
chiles, like Anaheim, or 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced Kosher salt to
taste
⅔ cup chicken
stock, low-sodium or homemade
1-½ cups cream
1-½ teaspoons tomato paste
3 tablespoons ground
almonds, or finely chopped almonds
½ bunch cilantro
leaves, stems removed.
Preparation
1 Whisk together the yogurt, lemon
juice, turmeric, garam masala and cumin in a large bowl. Put the chicken in,
and coat with the marinade. Cover, and refrigerate (for up to a day).
2 In a large pan over medium heat,
melt the butter in the oil until it starts to foam. Add the onions, and cook,
stirring frequently, until translucent. Add the garlic, ginger and cumin seeds,
and cook until the onions start to brown.
3. Add the cinnamon stick, tomatoes,
chiles and salt, and cook until the chiles are soft, about 10 minutes.
4 Add the chicken and marinade to the
pan, and cook for 5 minutes, then add the chicken stock. Bring the mixture to a
boil, then lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, for approximately 30 minutes.
5. Stir in the cream and tomato paste,
and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, approximately 10 to 15 minutes.
6 Add the almonds, cook for an
additional 5 minutes and remove from the heat. Garnish with the cilantro
leaves.
Whole
roasted cauliflower
Recipe by
Eyal Shani and Miri Hanoch.
Haaretz
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 whole
medium-size, fresh, white cauliflower, florets tightly packed and covered in
bright green leaves
3 tbsp.
olive oil
mineral water
sea salt
Directions:
· Preheat
the oven to 220 degrees Celsius (430 degrees Fahrenheit).
· Place
the cauliflower in a metal pot and fill until 3/4 full with mineral water. Add
about 10 grams of salt per liter of water. Cover with a lid, bring to a boil,
lower to a moderate boil and cook for 10-15 minutes, depending on the size of
the cauliflower.
· Drain.
· Brush
the cauliflower with olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt. Place in a
baking dish, place the dish in the center of the oven, and bake until the top
turns golden brown (about 30 minutes).
· Serve
to the table in the baking dish. The outside of the cauliflower should be crisp
and the inside as soft as butter. Separate the florets with a spoon and serve.
