Achari Gobi: Cauliflower With Pickle Spices: Side Dish

So, did you know Indian marriages are mostly arranged, when two strangers and their families meet, talk and decide to get their kids married. However ours was a bit different case, we met through families but before getting engaged we wanted to give each other sometime, get to know one another-long phone conversations, internet chats, Skype calls, sharing pictures and secret meetings and here we are.

Now here is the funny thing, we converse for hours about our lives, personnel issues, families, commitment and what not but we never talked about food choices- never ever! After marriage came in lot of surprises or shocks-whatever you call it. Initially it was irritating but slowly with togetherness we have now set in tune with each other’s choices. One of the best example will be how I started enjoying mangoes; you can read the whole story here. Or how he too loves spicy food nowadays the way I do.

But...some habits die hard. Some things you can’t wipe out from one’s mind. I tried hard, really hard but failed to make him fall in love with cauliflower dishes. I cannot eat or even cook Gobi/cauliflower when Mr. Husband is around. It happened once when he was eating gobhi sabzi and he saw a moving worm or keeda in it and rest as we say is the history. An apt equation that could explain his hatred towards gobi is- dislike for gobi = love for chocolate. Now you understand how serious I am? Sigh!

So whenever Mr. Husband isn’t around and is travelling for his office purpose, I bring this beautiful flower (phool) at home and treat myself *evil smile*. So once I made this spicy Kadai Gobi and the other time I cooked Punjabi Gobi Matar- do check them out. For today I prepared Achari Gobi (Cauliflower with pickled spices).

Achari or pickled spices are the mix of mustard seeds (rai), fenugreek seeds (methi), nigella  seeds (kalonji) and fennel seeds (saunf). These spices are not hot or spicy infact they are bitter in taste and have very strong aroma. You need to dry roast these spices and then use it, this then helps to give curry a very unique and piquant taste. I like to grind the roasted spices into fine powder, but you can use whole or coarse powder as well. This is a dry (suki) vegetarian side dish with indian breads such as puri, paratha or chapati and goes well with rice and daal as well.Don’t let ingredients list intermediate you, this curry is indeed easy and worth all the steps. Here is how to make Achari Gobi.

Author: Shweta Agrawal

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:

1 medium cauliflower/gobi

1 whole red chilli

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds/rai

1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds/methi dana

1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds/saunf

1/2 teaspoon nigela seeds/kalonji

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds/jeera

1 onion medium size chopped finely

1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste

3 tablespoons yogurt/dahi

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon red chilli powder (adjust as per taste)

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder/haldi

1/2 teaspoon coriander powder/dhaniya

2 tablespoons oil + 1 tablespoon

Salt to taste

Coriander leaves to garnish
Kasturi Methi to garnish (optional)

Method:

1. Cut cauliflower into florets. Wash and drain the water.
2. Dry roast red chilli, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, nigella seeds and fennel seeds on a slow flame till aroma is released. Let it cool down. In the spice or coffee grinder, grind it to fine powder.
3. Mix lemon juice in the above spice mix and keep it aside.
4. Heat oil in a pan or wok. When hot gets hot add cumin seeds. When seeds crackle add ginger garlic paste and onions. Cook till onions are soft and raw smell of ginger garlic fades away. Turn the flame to slow.
5. In a bowl mix yogurt with turmeric, coriander powder, red chilli powder and sugar. Put this mixture in the pan and cook covered for 5 minutes.
6. After 5 minutes add grinded pickled mix. Cook covered for 2 minutes. The sauce must turn thick.
7. In separate pan add 1 tablespoon oil. Add cauliflower florets and saute it for 10 minutes on a medium flame adding a pinch of salt until they turn light brown in colour. Transfer into a paper towel and keep it aside.
8. Add cooked cauliflower in tomato sauce. Cook covered for 2 minutes. The spices must coat cauliflower. Check salt. Serve with chopped coriander leaves and kasturi methi.

Notes:

You can use green chillies instead red chilli powder. For dark red colour use kashmiri red chilli powder.

Agian, I like to grind my spice mix to fine powder. You can use whole or coarsely grinded spices too.
Kasturi methi is dried fenugreek leaves, it is optional. It is  is easily available in any Indian grocery store. I used MDH one.

Serving suggestion:

Goes well with any indian breads.

Serve as a side with rice and daal.

Just roll up in the parathas, or rotis. Great for tiffins and lunch boxes.

Kadhai Gobi, Spicy Cauliflower Side Dish

I personally love cauliflower, be it in any form -paratha, side dish, Manchurian etc etc. In short, it is my favorite vegetable. There are so many compromises that one needs to make in a marriage. One such sacrifice for me is not being able to eat or even cook Gobi/cauliflower when my husband is around. It happened once when he was eating gobi sabzi and he saw moving worm or keeda in it and rest as we say is the history. An apt equation that could explain his hatred towards gobi is- dislike for gobi = love for chocolate. Now you understand how serious I am? Sigh!

My friends know my love for gobi and they have been asking, no rather teasing me as there is no gobi recipe in my blog. Eh! I was getting fed up narrating to them the above stated story. So, recently Mr. Husband went for an official trip, I gathered all my strength to bring this beautiful flower at home. Oh! So happy I was! *evil smile*. After quick search on the net I opted to go for Kadhai Gobi. It is not a new dish but just that it is not very common like other gobi recipes.

I really wanted to start this post by explaining what kadhai is (Indian wok), but I am not in the mood. Come on, you guys can understand my excitement...right? This cauliflower dish is mix of spices, yogurt, garlic, onions with florets cooked in the kadhai. So those of you who are lucky enough to be able to cook gobi daily, trust me it is such a delight that you will delve into this traditional Indian affair every day.

Ingredients:
1 medium cauliflower separated into florets
1 medium onion sliced
4 tablespoons yogurt/dahi
2 green chillies slit
1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
½ teaspoon cumin seeds/ jeera

½ teaspoon mustard seeds/ rai
2 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon red chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder
½ teaspoon garam masala powder
A pinch of turmeric powder
A pinch of asefoetida/hing

Salt to taste
2 teaspoon coriander leaves for garnish

Method:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients except salt with little water and keep aside.
2. Boil a big pot of water with 1 tablespoon of salt and let the cauliflower sit in it for about 4 to 5 minutes. Drain and keep aside. 
3. Pour oil in kadhai and let it heat. When hot, add cumin seeds, mustard seeds and let it splutter.
4. Add in it slitted green chilled and ginger garlic paste with 2 tablespoons water. Mix.
5. Now add chopped onions and let it cook till it becomes pink and soft.
6. Put the drained cauliflower in the kadhai with the spices mixture. Add ½ cup of water and let it cook covered on medium heat till gobi becomes soft.
7. Lastly add beaten yogurt and coriander leaves and mix well. Cook covered for 2-3 minutes more. Evaporate all the water from gobi.
8. Serve hot as a side dish.

Notes:

Tomatoes can also be used instead of yogurt.

Ginger and garlic paste is optional but if added it surely enhances the flavor.

This also acts as sandwich stuffing, or like me roll up in your parathas and enjoy.

Taste:

Spicy, tangy.

Stuffed Buns

Last week when I made whole wheat buns, it was a great hit. That’s why I thought of making Massla Buns (stuffed buns) and I was very pleased with the result. I used cauliflower to stuff the buns; you can use paneer, potato, peas or even any leftover veggie for the stuffing.

Ingredients:

For Stuffing

Grated cauliflower 1 cup

Finely chopped green chilli 2

Salt to taste

Turmeric powder (haldi) 1 tsp

Dry mango powder (amchur powder) 1 tsp

Oil 1 tbsp

Chopped coriander 2 tbsp

Cumin (Jeera) ½ tsp

For Buns

Wheat Flour-3 cups

Yeast-2 tblspn

Salt to taste

Sugar-1 tblspn

Olive oil-1 tblspn

Warm water -1/2 cup

Curd-1/2 cup

Milk-1 tblspn

Sesame seeds-2 tblspn

Method:

Add yeast and sugar in warm water with curd and let it sit for 5 min or till bubble appears.

In a mixing bowl, mix together wheat flour and salt.

Then pour the yeast mixture in this and make a soft dough out of this.

Drizzle oil over this and cover it with plastic wrap or wet thin cloth and let it sit till it is doubles in size.

Then punch the air out of this and again knead it for 5 minutes.

In the meantime Heat oil in the pan, add cumin in it.

When it crackles add cauliflower, turmeric powder, salt, green chilli.

Once cauliflower is soft (mashy consistency) sprinkle dry mango powder and coriander.

Divide the dough in to equal portions and form balls out of it. Flatten each ball and place some stuffing on it (like how you do for aloo paratha).

Arrange it in a well oiled tray and cover it with a damp cloth. Let this rest for 30 minutes or till it increase in size.

Just before baking brush this with milk and sprinkle some sesame seeds over it.

Put this in preheated oven (220 °C or 450°F).Cook for 15 min till light golden colour.

Serve hot with tomato-garlic chutney or mint-chilli chutney