Calling the Cauliflower

Continuing on the vegetable theme, yesterday I tried an interesting recipe from another Madhur Jaffery Book, Madhur Jaffery's World Vegetarian. The cookbook has over 600 recipes (all vegetarian) from around the word. I first bought this book for my father. He happens to be a great cook. In fact in my house both my mom and my father have an excellent reputation for the great food they come up with. My father is the more experimenting kind. Since both my parents due to various diet restrictions are leaning towards a more vegetarian diet, I thought this book would give them enough food for thought not to get bored with the vegetable. After browsing through it though, I really wanted to get my hands on one copy as well. When I whined away to my hubby, he promised to get it for me. So a couple of months ago, I finally got a copy of the book. The reasons why I liked the book is firstly it has recipes from all over the world. In fact there is a wealth of Chinese and Indian recipes which are very easy to tackle. Secondly, it also has a comprehensive section on Daals. Thirdly due the sheer variety you don't get bored experimenting with various kinds of vegetable. I picked up this book from Words n Pages.

The recipe I tried yesterday, first spiked my interest because of the unique ingredients that were used to flavor this dish. It has a subtle flavor and it was quite a success at home. It is very simple to do and even the most novice of a cook can boldly go for this dish. The dish uses milk which is very unusual for a Chinese dish. Hope you enjoy it.

Cauliflower in Milk Sauce
Serves 4

Cauliflower (cut into florets) - 2 1/2 cups
Milk - 1 cup
Water - 4 cups
Oil - 2 tablespoon (1 if using non stick cookware)
Spring Onion (white part only) fine chopped - 2 tablespoon
White pepper powder - 1 teaspoon
Corn powder - 2 teaspoons
Sesame Oil - 1 teaspoon
Salt - to taste

Heat the water in a medium pan. When the water starts boiling, drop the cauliflower and cook them until they are tender and cooked through. To see if they are cooked, poke the stem of the cauliflower piece with a fork. If it goes in easily then your cauliflower is cooked. Don't over cook them or else they become soggy.

Drain the cauliflower well and set them aside.

Heat the pan again, add the oil. When the oil is heated through, add the spring onion and fry for 1 minute. Add the boiled cauliflower and fry for another 2 minutes.

Mix the milk with sesame oil, white pepper, salt and the corn powder. Add this mixture to the cauliflower and cook for another 3 -5 minutes until the sauce thickens and coats the cauliflower well.

Pour into a plate and serve hot with rice.

Enjoy!!!!