Cauliflower Tikka: Whole Roasted Cauliflower

(This a repost of an older post with additional information).

Today is the beginning of a five-day Thanksgiving break. However, at least for today, rain and snow have kept me tethered to home. A good thing because it gave me the time to try out this recipe: baking a whole head of cauliflower in the manner of chicken or paneer tikka masala which I have wanted to do for a long time. I took a deep breath and plowed ahead.

What you will need:

1. Whole head of cauliflower (I picked a small one because I was going to bake it in the toaster oven)

2. Store bought Tikka masala to taste (I used achari masala mainly because it was free of garlic as I don't use garlic in my cooking). Use masala sparingly as it can be overpowering.

3. Yogurt, enough to smother the vegetable completely

4. Tomato puree (optional) 1-2 tablespoon

5. One lemon to give additional tartness to the yogurt (optional)

6. Salt to taste

7. Coconut or olive oil, 1 tablespoon

8. Cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon

9. Chopped fresh mint leaves.

Note: If you are using tomatoes, you may want to reduce the amount of yogurt and lemon correspondingly.

Instructions:

1. Cut off the stalk and other green parts from the head leaving only the flower. When done, the head should sit flat.

2. Cook the whole flower in a pot of hot water. Do not cook it too soft, just al- dente. Remove it from water and drain it in a colander. Leave it for a while till it is completely dry.

3. In a bowl, mix yogurt, masala, tomato puree, lemon juice and salt. Dunk the cauliflower into the  yogurt mix till it is completely covered. Let it marinate for 1-3 hours. Transfer it to a baking dish.

4. Bake it at 350 deg for about 45 minutes. After that, broil it for another 15 minutes. As it cooks, water from the yogurt will collect at the bottom of the dish. Use a little bit of it to moisten the top to prevent the cauliflower from drying out as it is cooking, Remove it from the oven when the top of the head is completely dry. Transfer it to a plate.

5. Heat coconut or olive oil in a small frying pan. Roast the cumin seeds in the oil till it begin to crackle. Pour it over the cauliflower. Sprinkle it with chopped mint leaves.

6. Cut into wedges and enjoy with salad, rice or roti. You can eat it by itself with a dipping sauce like chipotle mayo, coriander/mint, or date chutney or any dressing of your liking.

Note:

Cauliflower is a cool weather vegetable and growing up in New Delhi I ate a lot of them during winter. It is highly nutritious and provides a well rounded meal when eaten with rotis (Indian bread) .
Here is another recipe using cauliflower

Please visit the Well-Being Secrets web site, a nutrition web site where you will find tons of recipes using cauliflower .


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Free Calendar For You

Do-Something-Everyday, Sept 29, 2016

September is ending in a wet and grey mood. The temperatures are definitely cooler and the leaves have begun to acquire their autumnal hue. The beginning of fall is always a little melancholic but the month of October lifts the spirits as it envelops us in its beautiful colors with the message that the festival season is about to begin.

To celebrate the start of the new month, I have a free monthly calendar  for you. I designed this calendar using my own art. You can see the picture above and the link for download is below. Feel free to print it for your personal use.
October Calendar. 


Last week, I showed here the beginning of the threshold floor art. It is now completed.

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Linked to Moo Mania. (Fall Colors)

Linked to Paint Party Friday. Thanks to Eva and Kristin for hosting.

Welcome Fall 2016!

Do-Something-Everyday, Sept 22, 2016

One of my favorite collage techniques is using vintage book page as background in my paintings. Once upon a time, I used to do this by either directly painting on the book page or collage the art on the book page using glue. Now, Photoshop enables me to do this digitally while preserving both the book page and the artwork. The book page is from an old Tamil (my mother tongue) magazine. The artwork is a watercolor of the last flower blooming in my garden on this first day of Fall. I scanned both and digitally collaged them in Photoshop.

Linked to Paint Party Friday. Thanks to Eva and Kristin for hosting.

Speaking of Fall, I spent most of my afternoon today sprucing up my front stoop with a new floor art (kolam/ rangoli) in readiness for the festival of Navrathri that is starting next Friday. The one I did last year had become quite weather worn.

This time I am doing something different from the typical South Indian style of floor art. The two photos below are progress shots. It is still very much a work in progress. I will post a full photo once it is completed.

After a quiet August, with cooling temperatures and ripening berries, the birds and the critters are back in my yard. Yesterday,  I saw all 8 robins, 4 bluejays, 4 starlings, two finches, a nuthatch and a titmouse, a chipmunk, rabbit and several squirrels, all at the same time. This is how spring started. The predictability of nature's rhythm is indeed very comforting.

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K is for Kateri aka Catherine

Do-Something-Everyday, Sept 19, 2016

For this week's challenges, I am posting a few photos from hundreds I took on my visit to one of my favorite places in the U.S., Santa Fe, New Mexico. The photo above is the statue of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha installed outside the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. She was the first North American to be canonized by the Roman Catholic church. She was an Algonquin-
Mohawk woman from New York but here she is all dressed up in New Mexican finery looking suitably beatific. I suppose a little bit of artistic license is okay.

Linked to Image-in-ing and, ABC of Wednesday where the letter is K this week. My word is Kateri which is the Mohawk version of Catherine, the name given to her upon conversion to Christianity.

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Russian Sage

Do-Something-Everyday, Sept 14, 2016

With autumn just a week away the only plant that is blooming in my yard is Russian Sage (Perovskia atripcifolia). Despite its common name, it is not part of the sage family and it is not native to Russia. It's also sometimes confused with lavender because of the violet flowers but as you can see above its leaf shapes are completely different. Like lavender and sage, its leaves are aromatic when crushed and has a long history of use in traditional medicine.The flowers are supposed to be edible though I have never tried them. The flowers are attractive to bees and butterflies.

A couple of days ago, I was inspired to paint this faithful perennial. I painted it directly without doing a sketch first. I used just two colors: green and violet. Which makes it  a perfect candidate for Try it on Tuesday's this weeks challenge to use just two colors for the project.

Also linked to Paint Party Friday. Thanks to Eva and Kristin for hosting.

Thanks for visiting.

J is for Justice

 Do-Something-Everyday, Sept 13, 2016

 It is letter J at ABC Wednesday and my word is Justice. These are photos of the Royal Court of Justice in London, UK. The top photo was taken from the lower deck of a double decker bus. Initially, I took the picture of the building for the architectural details. At a closer look you will notice the placards propped against the rails and the people looking curiously at them.

The photos below were taken standing across the street a little later. This time you can see protestors holding up the placards. I zoomed in closer and the placards read "Inquest for Dr. Kelly". Not sure what the case was about but it was an interesting juxtaposition to see the protestors in bright daylight against the dark interiors of the chambers where justice is being served.

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Marching Orders

 Do-Something-Everyday, Sept 12, 2016

Sometimes, a picture is really worth a thousand words. One summer afternoon by the Hackensack river during high tide.

Linked to Image-in-ing.

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