Scrambled Cauliflower Stir Fry : Masala Gobhi Bhurji

Whats for dinner tonight ? Is the most common question we often ask ourselves and then get stuck with the usual thing we prepare with kids complaining and demanding for newer recipes. A typical story, huh ! We then are left with searching new recipes on net or books that should include the same old boring vegetables. Don’t we ?

Here is one such recipe which I prepared just for the sake of experimenting and is now being made quite often at our place. This scrambled cauliflower is a light and easy recipe which serves good purpose as a side dish to Dal –rice or chapathi.. We all are aware of the anti-ageing and anti-inflammatory benefits of Cauliflower, but one precaution that we need to take along with it is that it produces a gas in stomach. So, people who are susceptible to gas problems, should not forget to add a pinch of Asafoetida (Hing)while cooking. It imparts a mild flavour too, which is an added bonus.

 Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cup grated cauliflower
• ½ cup green peas, thawed
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
• ½ tsp Asafoetida
• 1 tsp cumin seeds, red chili powder, turmeric , coriander powder each
• Slatto taste
• 2 tsp Oil
• 2-3 green chilies, chopped small
• Black pepper to garnish
• 1 tsp garam masala
• Spring Onion to garnish ( optional )
• Cilantro leaves to garnish

Preparation:

• Wash cauliflower with warm water, grate it and drain well.
• Now, heat 1 tsp in another pan and roast grated cauliflower for 5-6 min on medium flame so that it gets dry and fluffy, the water should evaporate quite well. Keep aside once done, it should take 5-6 minutes. You can chop the vegetables during this time.
• If using fresh peas, blanch them in microwave for 5 minutes , thaw frozen peas. Keep aside.

Method:

• Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan, splutter cumin seeds and add Asafoetida to it. Fry for 10 sec, then add chopped onion and sauté till brown.
• Add ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute on low flame. Then add tomatoes and green chilies, cook covered for 4-5 minutes stirring in between.
• Add all the spices except garam masala and black pepper, combine well and cook again for 2-3 more minutes till the Masala gets cooked.
• Now add peas and cook covered for another 3-4 minutes till it gets slight tender. It might take longer if using fresh peas, you just need to get them almost cooked not completely mashed up.
• Add in grated cauliflower and give a gentle toss, don’t mix it hard else it will result in mushy cauliflower. Just cook it uncovered for next 3-4 minutes folding gently in between. Turn off the flame and add garam masala to the dish, keep covered for next 2 min so that it acquires the aroma of Garam Masala well.
• Serev hot garnishing with black pepper, cilantro and spring onion..

Notes:

• Don’t keep the cooked cauliflower covered for long before serving else it will release water and then you will have to reheat it to dry it up.
• Although I grated the cauliflower in my food processor, the best dish will come out with coarsely chopped one. So, you could use chopper blade of
• Your food processor to get the coarsely grated texture or just give a pulse to retain it. Extra fine cauliflower tends to get soggy soon.
• The original recipe calls for deep frying the grated cauli, but I have just used 1 tsp oil for shallow frying it. You can use more quantity of oil to get that crisp texture of cauliflower at the end. It indeed tastes heavenly.
• A very good recipe to roll into Paranthas for Lunch boxes, since its neither too dry nor runny. 

Off to Chandrani's Spotlight - Lunch Box Ideas, Srav's Vegan only diet, Sumee's Bon -vivant moments