Santoosh shared three Indian recipes in the Caring Place Community Kitchen. We were very eager to learn from Santoosh. We love to cook ethnic food. Such demonstrations broaden our knowledge on the multicultural cuisines we find in Vancouver.
The three recipes were Indian Cauliflower, Dal Mong and Indian Roti. These are her staple food.
Santoosh is seen here demonstrating how to make Indian Roti. I will not blog about how to make roti because I had blogged about how to make roti here.
Can you guess how old is Santoosh? We were surprised when she told us she will be 80 years soon. Her secret to have such good complexion is to apply milk on her face daily 30 minutes before she takes her bath. She also shared with us that she eats a clove of raw garlic daily and she incorporates lots of garlic and onions in her cooking. She never had a cold for the longest time.
The above is an Indian Cauliflower dish that Santoosh shared called Phool Gobi. The bright yellow colour comes from turmeric. Cauli in from Latin which means cabbage. Cauliflower is low in fat, high in dietary fiber, folate, water and Vitamin C. Cauliflower contains sulforaphane which protect against cancer. It also contains Indole-3-Carbinol, a chemical that enhances DNA repair and acts as an estrogen antogonist which slow the growth of cancer cells.
Turmeric is used as an anti-inflammatory agent and remedy for gastrointestinal discomfort associated with irritable bowel syndrome and other digestive disorders. Some may use turmeric in skin creams as an antiseptic agent for cuts, burns and bruises.
Ingredients
- 1 medium size head of cauliflower, cut into flowerets
- salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon chili flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1/4 cup water
- cinnamon powder for sprinkling
Source: Santoosh
Serves 4 to 5
Instructions
 In a large saute pan, saute ginger with some oil until fragrant. Add cumin seed. |
 Add chili flakes and turmeric and cook another minute. |
 Add cauliflowerets and season with salt. |
 Add water. Stir just to coat the cauliflower with all the spices.
Cover the sauce pan and let simmer for a few minutes on medium heat until the cauliflower is tender crisp. |
 If there is too much liquid left, uncover and turn the stove to higher heat to evaporate the excess liquid.
Do not over stir as too much stirring will break up the tender cauliflowerets. Sprinkle with cinnamon powder and serve. |
Oh Cauliflower. This reminds me of a joke I once heard.
A boy was telling a girl: “Your face … it … it looked like a flower”.
Embarrassed, the girl said: “Oh why thank you. That’s so sweet of you. What flower may I ask?”
The boy replied: “Cali-flower”
Lame joke? *shrug*
I love cauliflower! Thanks for sharing. How much garlic should we use in this recipe? The instructions say to cook it but it’s not on the ingredients list.
also ginger is on the ingrediant list but not mentioned in the instructions. I am going to take a flyer and try about 3-4 cloves of garlic together with the ginger. Can’t get too much garlic and ginger.
Hi Peter and Donna, it’s my typing mistake, it’s should ginger only. But, it’s absolutely alright to add some garlic. I have garlic in all my vegetable stir fry dish.
One of my fave dishes 🙂 But I always thought it’s called Aloo Gobi ?
I think it is only called Aloo Gobi if there are potatoes in it. Phool Gobi is just Cauliflower.
Ah, thanks. To think I was such a ….. phool