Phulkopir Dalna / Simple Cauliflower and Potato Curry

It’s a crazy cauliflower roller-coaster ride going on here in my home!!!! I am delighted to have these beautiful fresh cauliflowers. Mainly because they have their very fresh unique pungent smell. Besides you don’t get the crunch from the frozen cauliflowers which is the speciality of fresh veggies. So right now I am addicted towards cauliflower and adding them like an old hysteric granny, to almost anything I cook. I love it!!

Aloo Phulkopir Dalna is a very simple cauliflower curry with potatoes and green peas. This one is purely vegetarian, as the curry base is made with tomatoes and ginger only.  I call it simplistic pure pleasure. Goes superbly well with some simple steamed hot rice and a drizzle of gandhoraj lebu ~ the distant Indian cousin of Kafir Lime.

Sprinkle salt and turmeric powder over the cauliflower florets and cubed potatoes.

Toss them in hot oil until golden from outside.

Heat oil and add cumin seeds / whole garam masalas to them. Then add the chopped tomatoes and cook till they start to ooze out oil.

Now add the chilli - ginger paste to them.

Next add the spices.

Add a little water and throw in the fried caulflower and potatoes.

When the cauloflower is almost done add the green peas and garam masala powder and cook till done.

A star attraction in the vegetable menu, this cauliflower curry made frequent visits on our lunch tables. Our grandmother also made this curry whenever she made elaborate “bhog” (deities) for the god. After the puja and bhog ceremony she used to take small portions of every dish with cooked gobindhobhog rice in a large brass plate or “pitoler thala”. Then she mixed everything altogether and crushed a fat green chilli into the rice literally mashing everything in there. Then there used to be a lot of mashing, here there and everywhere, and finally she made large round balls from that mixed rice. One for each member of the family. And as a kid the dollop used to be larger than our palms...so we held them with our joined palms and ate straight from the hand. The rice and curry used to stain all around our leaps making a mess of our face. But really...who cares??? If only I could live them again.

Aloo Phulkopir Dalna / Simple Cauliflower and Potato Curry

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 small cauliflowers / ½ of a large cauliflower – cut into medium florets

2 medium potatoes – peeled and cubed

½ cup green peas

2 tomatoes – chopped

1 inch stick of ginger – paste

2 green chillies – paste

1 tsp cumin seeds / for a richer taste add whole garam masalas ( 1 cinnamon stick, 3 cloves and 2 green cardamoms)

2-3 tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp dry roasted and ground cumin and coriander seeds

A pinch of garam masala powder

2 tbsp oil

2 tsp sugar

A handful of fresh coriander leaves – chopped

Salt

Method:

Sprinkle a half of the turmeric powder over the cut cauliflower florets and cubed potatoes. Mix them well and keep aside.

Heat oil in a kadai and fry the cauliflower florets and cubed potatoes in small batches. Fry them till they become nicely golden from outside.

Once done take them out of the pan and keep aside.

In the same residue oil add the cumin seeds. Generally I add cumin seeds, but for a richer taste I replace them with the whole garam masalas. They make the dish more aromatic and rich.

As the seeds start to sizzle add the chopped tomatoes into the oil.

Sprinkle some salt over them cook till the tomatoes are all mushy and oil starts to ooze out from them.

Now add a little water to them and add in the turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and red chilli powder.

Mix in and cook for 2 minutes or until the raw flavour of the spices are gone. Add in another ½ cup of water to them and let it come to a boil. Also add in sugar and salt as per required.

Now take the fried cauliflower florets and potatoes and add them to the curry. The cauliflower and potatoes are half cooked already, so they will not take much to cook completely.

Cook uncovered till the cauliflowers and potatoes are almost cooked.

Then add the green peas to them and sprinkle the garam masala powder.

Give a good stir and cook till the peas are cooked.

Taste and adjust the seasonings.

Finally add the chopped coriander leaves over them and put off the flame.