greg cooks

nourishing the body

Cauliflower

Curried Cauliflower and Potato Soup

It’s like aloo gobi in a bowl. This curried cauliflower and potato soup turned out creamy and delicious.

Of course it starts with the spices. Toasting in the pan are cumin, corriander and cardamom.

These were ground up pretty finely into a spice mix.

Also flavoring the soup is some tumeric powder, mustard seeds, hing and (not shown) Madras curry powder.

Onions, garlic, ginger and a couple of medium potatoes (not shown) were cut up to be cooked with the cauliflower.

Here’s the big bad boy.

I first started with a hot pan and a couple teaspoons of oil. I added some mustard seeds and cooked them until they popped. First into the pan were the onions. Of course salt and pepper was added to season the dish at every step of the way.

The onions were followed by the garlic and ginger and after being sautéed for a couple of minutes the spices were added.

Next the cauliflower and potatoes.

Water was added to cover the vegetables.

Everything was simmered together until the vegetables were very tender.

A blender stick made quick work of puréeing the mixture.

Grilled Chicken Dinner – Low Carb

It’s not much to look at but it was tasty and healthy. I’m talking about my chicken dinner. Looks (and taste) can be deceiving. I have here a grilled chicken breast which has been split and stuffed with garlic slices and kalamata olives. Fresh steamed broccoli provides the vegetable component. But what is that the chicken is resting on? A pile of mashed potatoes? Well, it looks like potatoes and tastes pretty much like potatoes but it is all cauliflower! A great tasting, low carb alternative to mashed potatoes.

I started with a head of cauliflower which I steamed until it was very tender. This was puréed in my food processor along with a splash of milk, a dollop of healthy olive oil, salt and pepper and just a tsp of butter for flavor.

To make the chicken I cut a pocket in the side of these hefty sized boneless, skinless chicken breasts and stuffed them with lots of sliced garlic and chopped kalamata olives. They were grilled in my Le Creuset grill pan until just cooked through and still moist. I didn’t make a sauce for this but that would have been great on top.

I also served it with a light and healthy slaw. This has cabbage, carrots and green peppers. The dressing is made with just a scant amount of mayo and rice vinegar.

Aloo Gobi

After eating Japanese food for so many days I was in the mood for something with a bit more flavor tonight. I really love Indian food – especially the food from Southern India. This dish, although seasoned with spices from the South has its origins in Northern India. This is Aloo Gobi or potato and cauliflower.

The ingredients are:

3 cups of cut up cauliflower
3 small potatoes, cut into small wedges
1 tsp brown mustard seed
1 tbsp urid dal
1 tsp cumin seed, whole
a dash of hing (asafoetida)
2 tbsp coriander powder
about 1 inch of ginger, minced
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chili powder
2 tsp Madras curry powder
1/4 cup water
2 tsp oil
Chopped fresh cilantro (I was out of cilantro tonight)

To start the process, the coriander, ginger, turmeric, chili and curry powder were made into a paste with about 1/4 cup of water and set aside.

A pan was heated with a couple of tsp of oil until hot but not smoking. The mustard seed, urid dal and cumin seeds were added to the oil and fried until the mustard popped and the urid started to turn brown. Once that point was reached, a dash of asafoetida powder (hing) was added.

The water and spice paste was then added to the hot pan and fried for about 30 seconds. The water in the paste helps to keep the spices from burning during this process and is a good trick to making a nicely flavored base for many types of dishes like this.

The cauliflower and potato were added to the pot along with some salt and pepper to taste. This was stirred together well and the pan was covered. The mixture was cooked for about 15 minutes until the vegetables were tender. During this time the mixture was carefully stirred three or four times. If it is a little dry you can add a bit of water to it (I did).

Once it is cooked, just plate it and you’re good to go. If you have fresh cilantro that should be sprinkled on top.

This aloo gobi was served along with some fresh baked bread (some naan or other Indian bread would have been great with it!). I also made a yellow split pea and onion soup which was made in the pressure cooker with a similar spice mixture base that I used for the aloo gobi.

Soup and Aloo Gobi.

See those wonderful yellow split peas?

This was a French style bread that was perfect for mopping up the spicy soup.