Cauliflower with Spiced Yoghurt and Fried Potatoes

I’ve been away from the blog for a while, traveling for work, and later I just didn’t find the things I cooked and baked interesting enough to blog about. The food in today’s post was made before my trip, but I didn’t have a chance to write it up then. Remedying that now.

There’s this (south) Indian chutney that I absolutely love. Its main ingredients are fresh coconut and green chilis, and I had it many times without realizing what it was that made it so special. It turns out that the special ingredients are mustard seeds and curry leaves. I never really make this chutney myself, though, mainly because of the nuisance that is fresh coconut. However, deciphering the chutney ingredients has taught me the joys of adding mustard seeds and curry leaves to random things, just to see if they improve it. They often do, that’s how good they are.

So recently when the craving for these flavors snuck up on me, I tried adding them to yoghurt. Not a big leap, since yoghurt is a frequent ingredient in Indian food anyway, but it was new to me. The whole dish ended up being a take on a steamed cauliflower with herbed yoghurt, which I made in school cooking class in the 5th grade. And which I’ve clearly been thinking about since.

So: steamed (romanesco) cauliflower, fried baby potatoes with chili, and a yoghurt sauce with fried onions, mustard seeds, and curry leaves was the end result. The yoghurt sauce is a definite keeper – the recipe is below.

As I’m typing this, I’m in the process of baking several sourdough breads, so look for a baking post in the near future.

 

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Steamed Cauliflower with Spiced Yoghurt Sauce

Servings: 2

Ingredients

  • 2.5 dl yoghurt
  • 1/2 yellow or white onion
  • 2 tsp olive oil (one at a time)
  • 1 tbsp brown mustard seeds
  • 1 small handful curry leaves (I keep mine frozen so they last longer)
  • salt (to taste)
  • 1 pinch other spices (cumin, coriander, cayenne, masala)

Instructions

  1. Chop the onion and fry in 1 tsp olive oil until dark golden brown. Leave to cool on a plate.

  2. In the same pan, heat another tsp olive oil. When hot, add the mustard seeds and let them cook until they start to pop. Add the curry leaves and cook for 10-15 seconds. Leave to cool for a few minutes.

  3. Mix together yoghurt, onion, mustard seeds, and curry leaves in a bowl. Add salt and spices to taste. Serve at room temperature.

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