Gobi Moomphali - Cauliflower with peanuts

There are few things that work better for a quick weeknight dish than a classic simple dry vegetable dish infused with the basic goodness of a few staple spices. The peanuts in the recipe are an inspiration to get my daughter to eat.

So here you have it, Gobi Moomphali

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/8 tsp asafetida

2-3 dried red chillies

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 cauliflower cut into floretts

1 tsp salt

1/2 cut peanuts roasted

Method of preparation

1. Heat the oil, and add the mustard and cumin seeds, when they crackle add in the asafetida, chillies turmeric and cauliflower.

2. Cook on medium heat turning frequently till the cauliflower begins to brown lightly.

3. Add the salt and peanuts and cover for 10 minutes and cook on low.

4. Check seasonings and serve.

Potatoes and Garlic - How can you go wrong?

Several years back, I tried potato pancakes and confessed to a jewish co-worker that I liked them and they had potential for improvement. Her candid statement to me was, potatoes and garlic, how can you go wrong? what not to like?

Several variations of latkes, I agree, what's not to like?

So here is a variation that I tried a couple of days back. The key to good latkes in my opinion is to use a good hand grater, the food processor squishes texture a bit much....

Potato Pumkin Latkes

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 cup grated red pumkin

1 cup grated idaho potatoes

2 green chillies minced

3 cloves of garlic minced

2 shallots finely chopped

3 tsp flour

2 tbsp cilantro finely chopped

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

Method of preparation

1. Place the pumkin and potatoes in a colander to drain, the excess water out for half an hour.

2. Squeeze the excess water out and mix with the chillies garlic, flour, cilantro and salt.

3. Heat the oil.

4. Drop by tablespoons and fry till crisp

5. Serve with sour cream on the side.

This goes out to Anna at Morsels and Musings, a good recipe thinking of the feel good spirit of Hannukah. Not necessary jewish, but, the good thing about having kids in the house is that one can celebate anything without boundaries, and good food tastes wonderful irrespective of the origin.