Baked Cauliflower in a Creamy Sauce

I know there are some people who don't like cauliflower because of the smell which is common to vegetables like these including cabbage, broccoli etc. These are called cruciferous vegetables because they are grown from stalks that are cross shaped sectionally. The smell, however, is due to chemicals ( in particular sulphur compunds) which have been shown to lower the risk of cancer. These chemicals stimulate the production of enzymes which are now known to break down carcinogens and thus aid in preventing cancer. Who would have thought huh?

I personally like cauliflower a lot - whether cooked with potatoes Punjabi style to make Aloo Gobhi or put into a South Indian kurma with other vegetables. Cauliflower is a very accomodating vegetable and shares space very easily with other vegetables. However, it becomes a little monotonous to have the same recipes every week, so I try to move things around a bit by changing the way we eat the same vegetable.

This was one attempt at doing that - cauliflower made in a kind of casserole to go with a potato bread I had made earlier that morning. For something which rustled up so quickly, it had lots of flavour and was a good match with the crusty bread. Definitely a must-try - the chicken soup can be substituted with any other thick soup like Cream of Mushroom. The top becomes a little bit crusty while the inside stays creamy.



1 medium Cauliflower

1 onion chopped fine
1" ginger - finely chopped
3 cloves garlic finely chopped
green chillies - 2 sliced

2 tomatoes finely chopped
salt to taste
red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp


1/2 packet Knorr Chicken Delite Soup dissolved in 350ml water
1 1/2 cubes grated cheese (about 3/4 cup)
1/4 cup chopped coriander

1. Cut away the hard stems of the cauliflower and immerse it whole into salted water for about 10 minutes. (This will get any bugs/worms out)
2. Wash the cauliflower and separate into small florets, cutting with a knife if necessary.
3. Heat the oil in a pan and add the garlic, ginger and green chillies and saute for few seconds, put in the onion and saute till translucent and soft.
4. Add the chilli powder and coriander powder and saute, then add tomatoes and salt and cook till pulpy. (go easy on the salt because the soup mixture will have some)
5. Add the cauliflower , cover and cook for about 5-8 minutes till half cooked.
6. Pour in the dissolved soup mixture and bring to boil and cook for about a minute. Pre heat the oven to 190C
7. Add the grated cheese (reserving about 2 tbsp for the topping) and the coriander and turn off.
8. Pour the cauliflower into a casserole, sprinkle the grated cheese over it and bake for 15 minutes.

Lemon Chicken & Cauliflower Pilaf

The dog days of summer are here and planning meals is even more of a chore now - the only thing one feels like having is lots of cold water, buttermilk and a chilled glass of beer. Can't survive on that though, so one has to think of something to eat. Cold soups, chilled salads, cold pasta, curd rice - after exhausting all the permutations and combinations I was quite stumped for our Sunday evening meal. So out came my go-to book in these situations - Good Food's 101 Healthy Eats. And to make it even easier, I plonked it down in front of Hubby and asked him to pick!

Lemon Chicken & Cauliflower Pilaf is what he asked me whether I could rustle up - he couldn't have picked anything easier than that! Chicken breasts cooked along with long grained rice and cauliflower and beans - a one pot meal. My neighbourhood guy delivered the chicken breasts in half an hour in which time I cut the onions and vegetables and soaked the rice. The whole meal was done in a a little over an hour.

I modified it to suit our palate which needs a little more spice than the recipe called for. Some whole spices in the tempering along with some slit green chillies and half a tsp of red chilli powder and it was just right - not too spicy and not too bland. I also marinated the chicken breasts for about half an hour - I just can't seem to bring myself to cook chicken without marinating it first, it seems to make all the difference to the dish.

This one pot meal is just the ticket for when you are pressed for time and don't have the energy to fuss - the taste is absolutely delicious - that balance between comfortingly familiar and still refreshingly different. This dish goes to this month's edition of Meeta's Monthly Mingle - Ravishing Rice Recipes being hosted by Nags of The Edible Garden

Lemon Chicken & Cauliflower Pilaf

4 Boneless chicken breasts (the recipe asked for skin on, I prefer skinless)
1 1/2 cups basmati rice
1 cube chicken stock dissolved in 4 1/4 cups water
1 cup cauliflower florets
1 cup beans, cut into 2 inch pieces

1 tbsp oil
2 green chillies slit
1'' cinnamon stick
3 cloves
1 bay leaf
1 large onion, sliced thin
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 1/2 tsp curry powder (I used sambar powder)
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 cup coriander leaves, stalks separated and kept aside
1 lemon, halved anc cut into slices
salt to taste

1. Clean the chicken and marinate in 1 tbsp lemon juice and a tsp of salt for about half an hour.
2. Soak the basmati rice in water for half an hour.
3. In the meanwhile, slice the onions, chop the cauliflower and beans.
4. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan, add the whole spices and then the slit green chillies. Saute for 3 minutes , then add the sliced onions and saute 5 minutes till transluscent.
5. Put in the marinated chicken and fry on high, keeping each side for about 4 minutes till it browns just a bit.
6. Add the turmeric powder, the sambar powder and the chilli powder and finally the rice and fry for 3-4 minutes.
7. Add the vegetables, the salt, lemon slices, coriander stalks and the chicken stock. Bring to boil, then turn down the flame and simmer after covering the pan with a tight fitting lid.
8. Cook for about 10-12 minutes, stirring just once in a between - the rice will be cooked but separate and the chicken will be tender.
9. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with a tomato raita.

Potato Pasta Soup

A very kiddie friendly soup and definitely comfort food at it's best - this creamy soup is great for a rainy night and for a sore throat which won't accept any solid food but needs some soothing nourishment

Potato Pasta Soup

Ingredients:

Potato - 1 big cubed
Cauliflower - 5-6 big florets
Onions - 2 medium chopped
Garlic - 2 cloves finely minced
Bay leaf - 1
Oil - 2 tsp
Pasta (preferably macaroni or any other small shapes) - 1/4 cup
Vegetable stock - 500ml
Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup
salt to taste
crushed black pepper corn

Wheat flour (or plain flour) - 2 tsp
Butter - 1 tbsp
Milk - 1 cup
Grated cheddar cheese - 4 tbsp

Method:

1. Heat a pressure pan and pour the oil into it, drop the bay leaf and when it changes colour, add the onions and saute till transluscent. Add the garlic and fry 1 minute.
2. Toss in the chopped potatoes and cauliflower, fry for 2 -3 minutes, then add the stock, uncooked pasta and salt and pressure cook for eight - ten minutes (2 whistles and 3 minutes on low).
3. Meanwhile in a heavy bottomed pan, make the white sauce; Melt the butter on a low flame and add the flour, fry for 3-4 minutes till it changes colour, then add the milk slowly stirring constantly to make a smooth sauce without lumps. Take off the pan from the flame in between if needed and cook till it thickens. Then add salt and pepper and the grated cheese, mix till it all melts and comes together. Add a little more milk if it is too thick.
4. When the cooker is cool enough, open it and strain the liquid and keep aside. Discard the bay leaf and remove the pasta and keep aside separately.
5. Blend the vegetables with the reserved soup liquid to a creamy puree adding a little water if needed.
6. Add the pureed vegetables and the pasta to the white sauce and return to the stove again, adjusting the salt as needed. Simmer till the pasta takes on the creaminess of the soup. Garnish with coriander leaves.
7. Set aside portions for kids and mix in freshly crushed black pepper and coriander and serve hot.
Sorry for the poor picture quality, I'm not sure what happened there between editing and loading!!

Winter Warmer Casserole

Delhi's winter is really kicking in and I can't get over how cold it is! It makes me crave for hot soups and hot meals. Don't fancy spending too long in the kitchen either and too many dishes mean that one cools before the other comes to the table. Solution - a one pot meal - steaming hot straight from the stove/oven to the table!


So I set about looking for a one pot recipe and came across casseroles - something which I wanted to make for a long time but didn't seem to find a suitable recipe.I would read recipes for "Green Bean Casserole" and realize that there was actually just green beans in it with some milk and butter and some soup straight out of a soup can all baked together....we are so used to having vegetables cooked in a variety of ways with spices and tempering that this concept was a bit difficult to understand. But this time I was determined to make this dish my own.


I have a cookbook called "50 and Holding Ozark Cookbook " - sent by a dear friend in the US. It has all sorts of recipes in it, all contributed by the members of the 50 and Holding Club and the community of Climax Springs, Missouri. It is divided into different sections, with blank pages at the end of each section for you to make notes on; at the back of the book in addition to the glossary of cooking terms, there are nutrition and calorie tables, a table for cooking vegetables showing the way to prepare each vegetable(wash,cut,peel etc),cooking time; cuts of meat and serving portions according to weight and a very interesting table on what herbs and spices to use for cooking various vegetables and meats in different ways.

While most of the recipes are traditional American dishes and local homestyle cooking and include such doozies as "how to cook 'coon", I really enjoyed reading this book and all its tips and notes! None of the recipes had more then 10 ingredients and most recipes were about 10-15 lines long


Well, anyway,all of the vegetarian casseroles in it were accompaniments and not one pot meals. So I read through the cabbage casserole, the corn casserole and the winter vegetables casserole....and then I improvised.....


......and this is what I came up with - a hearty one dish meal which incorporated some cooked rice, pasta sauce out of a jar (which I needed to finish because I didn't like it enough to use in pasta), potatoes, cabbage,cauliflower,green garbanzo beans,sweet corn soup from a can (which I got free with something and will never use otherwise), cream cheese, milk and lots of crushed black peppercorns. Come to think of it, maybe it would be better to call this dish "Pantry Clean up"!


The rice really made this substantial without the heaviness of the usual baked pasta dishes.


Cream cheese can be substituted with sour cream or even cheese spread.

Pasta sauce can be replaced with tomato puree (about 4 tbsp should do).

Milk is optional and I added it to make sure the whole dish remained moist and did not dry out.

Try other vegetables like mushroom,spinach, peas,peppers and even fresh sweetcorn - they should do well in this dish.

If you don't fancy whole cabbage leaves in the dish, shred the leaves after cooking.

Winter Warmer Casserole

Ingredients:

Potatoes - 4 medium peeled and sliced thinly

Onion - 1 big sliced

Cabbage - 4 whole big leaves washed well

Hara Chollia (Green garbanzo beans) - 1/2 cup parboiled

Sweet corn soup (tinned) - 1 cup

Cauliflower - 1 cup florets

Cooked rice - 1 cup (preferably a day old)

Pasta Sauce - 6 tablespoons (Or use tomato puree 4 tbsp)

Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp

Mixed dried herbs - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Olive oil - 1 tbsp

Cream cheese - 5 tbsp

Milk - 1/4 cup (optional)

Freshly crushed black peppercorns - 2-3 tbsp

Method:

1. Take the sliced potatoes and put them into boiling water in a large vessel with a tsp of salt in it. Cook for about 5 minutes, then add the whole cabbage leaves and press till they are immersed in the water and cook another 5 minutes. Check whether the potatoes and cabbage are just cooked. Drain the water and keep aside.

2. Heat oil in a pan and add the garlic and then the onions, saute for 5 minutes till the onions are transluscent.

3. Add the chilli powder and cumin powder, then the capsicum,cauliflowers and parboiled chollia and stir fry on high for 3-4 minutes till they are just cooked. Add the pasta sauce/tomato puree at this stage and cook for a couple of minutes more.

4. Add the cooked rice and sweet corn soup,mix well and cook further for 3-4 minutes, then add the dried herbs, salt and 1 tbsp of crushed peppercorns. Turn off the flame and keep warm.

5. Take a casserole or an oven proof dish and lightly grease the insides. Take two of the cabbage leaves and place it at the bottom side by side covering as much of the dish as possible.

6. Place half the potato slices over the cabbage leaves in a single layer. Roughly spread about 2.5 tbsp of cream cheese over the potato slices.

7. Spoon the entire cooked rice and sweet corn mixture over the potato slices.

8. Place remaining potato slices in a single layer over the rice mixture.

9. Spread the remaining cream cheese over the potato slices and cover with the other 2 cabbage leaves

10. Pour milk over the whole mixture and sprinkle 1 tbsp of the crushed pepper all over.

11. Bake in a pre heated oven for about 30 minutes at 180C / 350 F.

12. Serve hot with bread or on its own.