Cauliflower is like a blank canvas which takes beautifully to strong flavors. I like it roasted with bold spices, in a soup with blue cheese, raw with spicy hummus. Recently I discovered this Indian recipe in an out-of-print book called “Cooking with the Spices of India”. A family friend gave me the book, which came with a box of spices, because he wasn’t so fond of Indian food. I’m very happy he thought of me!

This recipe is out of this world. It might sound involved, but after you make it once, you’ll find it’s totally worth it (and not actually that complicated).

Panch Phoran is a spice mixture composed of fenugreek, nigella seed, mustard seed, fennel seed, and cumin seed.

Braised Cauliflower with Panch Phoran Yogurt Sauce

• 1 small onion, peeled and coarsely copped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
• a 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 cup lowfat yogurt
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 head cauliflower (about 2 lbs), separated into bite sized florets
• 3 tbs vegetable oil
• 2 whole cloves
• 2 green cardamom pods
• a ¾ inch piece cinnamon
• 1 tsp panch phoran
• salt, to taste
• ¼ cup fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped

In a blender, combine the onion, garlic, ginger and 2 tbs of cold water. Puree and transfer half of the paste to a large bowl with the yogurt, salt and sugar. Stir to combine. Mix in the cauliflower florets, turn the florets in the marinade to coat thoroughly and set aside.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat until very hot, but not smoking. Add the cloves, cardamom pods, cinnamon and panch phoran, stir and allow the spices to sizzle and pop, about 30 seconds. Add the remaining half of the garlic-ginger puree and stir for 2 more minutes. Add the cauliflower-yogurt mixture and cook for 3 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, cover and let the cauliflower simmer for 5 minutes. Uncover the pot and finish cooking until the cauliflower is tender, about 12-15 minutes. Check for salt, stir in the cilantro and transfer to a serving dish.

I wanted to share this great sauerkraut recipe I made for our Oktoberfest party.  I’m sure a few of you will stop reading here, but please read on! If you are ambivalent about sauerkraut (I was at one point), this might change your mind. It manages to taste both tangy and buttery, and of course, it’s also a healthy way to get your veggies.

America is in financial turmoil, so I’ll betray my secrets and tell you how I whipped this up on a budget.  We bought jars of Kühne organic sauerkraut, made in Germany, from my favorite secret gourmet store.  If I was making this for dinner tonight, I would have stopped by the farmers’ market for apples, but since I had 20 pounds of apples on my shopping list and a budget to follow, I headed to Price Rite where I got Ginger Gold apples for only 99 cents a pound.

Baked Sauerkraut with Apples
adapted from Lüchow’s German Cookbook

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I’ve been neglecting my blog this week. It’s not that I don’t think “I need to write about this!” every time I eat a delicious morsel or spy some interesting food item – mostly, it’s that I hesitate to post without a picture, and after a day at work, the lighting in my house can most pleasantly be described as “romantic”. So I’m going to tell you about the pot of risotto I made tonight, but you’ll just have to imagine how beautiful it looks.

No food photo, but check out this asparagus napkin I silkscreened at AS220’s print shop yesterday!

Sometimes I gravitate towards recipes with multiple diced vegetables – I read them slowly, thinking of how therapeutic all that chopping will be (I suspect that visions of the beach do this for most people, but I’ll take what I can get). Last night I was reading Ruth Reichl’s Garlic and Sapphires, and when I got to the Risotto Primavera recipe, I knew it was the perfect fate for my Monday night and the extra bunch of farmers’ market asparagus I’d been saving.

While it doesn’t take that long to prepare, it’s the perfect evening “cooking retreat” – an excuse to turn off the phone, the TV and the computer, and immerse yourself in the acts of chopping vegetables and stirring risotto.

Now for the recipe…

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