Saturday, September 13, 2008

5 minute Fried Cauliflower with Dill

Some vegetables go together like love and marriage.
Such is the case with Cauliflower and Dill.
Dill, called oosi kurak (needle spinach)in Telugu and Soychi/Soy Bhaji in Marathi, is a herb. Indians use the leaves and tender stems chopped up. Dill seed is also used in cooking and so is dried dill.
HD Hubby Dearest)'s family used a lot of dill in their cooking and though I knew about the herb I didn't start using it frequently till I got married.
The freshest, hugest bunches I find are at a Lebanese store, second best are the ones in the Chinese supermarket. I buy a huge bunch, chop it wash it, strain it through a fine strainer and...of course...freeze it, so it's always on hand.
When using dill, especially if for the first time, less is more till you are sure you like the flavor it imparts to dishes.



Fried Cauliflower with Dill.

(This is how a diabetic manages to place food on the table when she is not well. I call this my 'Some Assembly Required' dish. For those of you who want to do everything from scratch when you make this dish that works well too.)

1/2 Onion (I had this chopped and frozen too).
3 cups Fried or fresh cauliflower (see the fried cauliflower recipe below for the former).
Dill (2 Tbsps frozen chopped dill leaves and tender stems from freezer).
Chilli powder
Haldi/Turmeric
Salt
Optional: green chillies whole or sliced.
TIP: Leaving a green chilli whole imparts left heat to the dish and yet allows someone who wants more spice in this dish to eat it with the cauliflower.
The jalapeno you see in this picture was left out in the counter and turned red. HD loves chillies with his food and he said this was one of the hottest he had eaten.

Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in pan.
Fry 1/2 fried/fresh chopped onion.
Add dill and fry for 1 min.
Add 3 cups fried/fresh cauliflower, chilli powder, haldi and salt.
Mix well.
Cover and keep on medium heat for 3-5 mins.

This is yummy with chappattis (ours are store bought) or rice and dal or rasam.
It took 5 minutes to assemble and paid off my earlier investments of time and energy in my FOOD BANK 500%.

No comments: