Monday, June 01, 2009

Cauliflower masoor-dal usili

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Cauliflowers were not my favourite vegetable when I was a younger person, and there were very few dishes made with it that I liked then. The rare occasions on which I had cauliflower anything were usually in restaurants... usually with the hapless vegetable deep-fried into submission and labeled as manchurian (or manjoori, or manjoorian, or manchuri, and even menjurien - depending on the restaurant, and with the variations limited solely by the creativity of the employee in charge of writing out the menu).

I don’t remember my mother making anything with cauliflower that make me feel more kindly towards the vegetable – and let me hasten to add that it wasn’t her fault, it was more than likely just me being pig-headed about changing my opinion.

But when amma made cauliflower usili with it the last time she was here, this smelly vegetable shone in an entirely new light. Yes I know, usili is hardly a new concept, but let’s just say that I hadn’t thought about cauliflower usili as a viable recipe… and really, the smell of cooking cauliflower put me off trying it for myself – it comes only next to the smell of cooking carrots for unpleasantness. This time when amma made it – with masoor dal, no less - I made sure to click photos so that the recipe could be recorded for posterity and potential cooks/homemakers/foodies. I may or may not make it myself – only time and desperation will tell – but I do vouch for its utter scrumminess.

Er - just wondering... who else has the problem of reverting to Enid Blytonish expressions of approval when it comes to food enthusiasm? Malory Towers or St Clare’s, anyone?

Recipe for:
Cauliflower masoor-dal usili

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Ingredients:

1 medium head of cauliflower, broken into florets
1 cup masoor dal
3-4 fresh green chillies (or to taste)
2 tsp urad dal
1 tsp mustard seeds
4-5 fresh curry leaves
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder
1 tsp oil
Salt to taste

1. Wash masoor dal in 2-3 changes of water, then soak in water for 2o minutes.

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2. Grind to a coarse paste with green chillies and 1/2 tsp salt.

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3. Steam the ground dal for 12 minutes in a steamer.

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4. Wait 5 minutes, then remove the steamed dal cakes and break them up.

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5. Use your fingers to crumble the dal to small pieces. There should be no large lumps left.

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6. Steam the cauliflower florets till they're done but not mushy.

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7. Mash the cooked florets gently with a spoon to break them up into small pieces - pea-sized or smaller if possible.

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8. Heat the oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds, curry leaves, asafoetida powder, turmeric powder and urad dal. Cover the pan while the mustard seeds pop.

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9. When the urad dal turns golden brown, add the crumbled cooked dal and mix well.

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10. After a couple of minutes, add the cauliflower pieces and another 1/2 tsp salt (remember the dal is already salted, so don't add too much salt).

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11. Mix the dal and vegetables lightly till it's all evenly distributed. When the usili is thoroughly heated, turn the heat off.

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12. Serve hot as a side dish with plain cooked rice and any dal-less gravy (
mor kozhambu, vattha kuzhambu, etc) or thogayal.

7 comments:

Raaga said...

Hmmm... incidentally, I made mixed vegetable and mixed dal paruppu usli last week :) I loved it :)

sra said...

Strange, I don't remember scrummy in Enid Blyton books at all - time to re-read them all over again. I do remember 'smashing' - even the simplest of picnic food like tomatoes, bread etc would sound so delicious, esp in Famous Five.

You know what, as I was closing these windows in a hurry, someone came up and said, that's a sexy cauliflower! And then , quite by coincidence, whipped out a photo of his teenage days and proceeded to talk about how on some trek he went on in college, the experience was just like EB's book - filling water from a stream, backpack of food till the next stop etc ... Strange!

Lazy Blogger said...

This is innovative, i always make parupu usili with toor dhal, never tried masoor dhal. I should try now. BTW, have you tried masoor dhal in sambar instead of toor dhal? Its light and has the "hotel sambar" taste

kittymatti said...

lovely idea.. nice:)

Kay said...

usli? any day.. any vegetable.. but just give me some usli. :)

Anu said...

Great combo., Shyam! Would be especially lovely with Vatha Kuzhambu, yes...:)
(Lovin' the new look of the blog too!)
Cheers

Anupama said...

You have found another Enid Blyton fan in me Shyam. I still sometimes bring EB books from the library and read them . I remember I was very sad when I had read all of Mallory Towers and St. Clare's and wanted them to just go on and on . I even used to pester my mum to put me in a boarding school.