Why Warm Winter Spaghetti is all you need sometimes…

Winter Spaghetti with Cauliflower, Green Beans, Capsicum, Tomatoes n Parmesan

After a gap of the whole month of February and 20 days of March here I come back, in fact I never have been away,  I used to come n look around but I could never posted  somehow. To tell you I was away from my home in a different city for a new project which is not related to food, so there were long journeys across India  and some of it took as long as 32 hours! I missed all of you so much, even though we are not directly connected, somehow we are connected mentally for the love of food n life and I missed all of that of being with you while I was not here.

                        Spaghetti is close to my heart, not that it has always been. In fact when I first started eating it I quite disliked it, I found it hard n chewy, around that time I was a fan of noodles which are relatively softer , I loved stir-fried noodles that time, I still do. When I started cooking spaghetti initially my disappointment stayed for a couple of trials, the flavors I was putting into it were not attracting me but as I went on cooking it, I was slowly getting there. There is this time period when I realized I’m cooking it right and I began to like it, that was time when the love developed and the spaghetti opened itself to me. It is like the spiral of the spaghetti was a puzzle and when you finally solve it you get to the real flavors where you can only love it. So here is the truth be told: I Love Spaghetti.

                                                                  This recipe that I cooked  just before my journey begun is in fact a true winter recipe, because not just it was made in the winter, it was made with cauliflower, green beans, capsicum which comes in abundance in the winter in my place. When I finally bite into it, I said ‘Ah! Man’ my mind just sang a song, the flavors of the cauliflower, green beans, onions, Parmesan all coming together, the texture of the veggies, the depth of flavors, it was a little heaven for me. This is what good food does to you, it can make you happy n smiling at toughest times, it can make you friends with complete strangers, it can make you feel at home when you are thousands of miles away, in a long tiring tough journey it can make you feel everything is going to be all right.

So now I will present you the recipe straight away! Cook it and discover it!

For The Recipe:

Spaghetti – 150 gm

Cauliflower florets -2/3 medium florets, cut into 1 inch sized thin sizes

Green Beans – 50 gm, chopped diagonally into 2 inch sizes

Onion – Half a medium onion, sliced into half moons

Green Capsicum – Half a medium capsicum, cut into thin slices of 2 inch lengths

Tomato – 1 and half of a medium tomato, chopped

Coriander leaves – 2 tbsp chopped

Garlic – 1 clove, chopped + 1 small clove or ½ a small clove made into a paste

Parmesan cheese -2 tbsp grated

Freshly crushed black pepper-1/2 tsp

Red Chili Powder- a pinch or ¼ tsp

Vegetable oil/olive oil -2 tbsp

Butter – a small blob

Salt to taste

Pink rock salt/Kala Namak – a pinch

Sugar – a pinch

1.  Let’s begin by making the spaghetti, heat 5/6 cups of water in a large bowl, add good amount of salt in it until you can taste the water has got enough salty, when the water comes to a vigorous boil put the spaghetti in and cook it for the amount of time mentioned in the packet or the way you like. When the spaghetti is done, take the spaghetti out n keep some of the water of the spaghetti.

2. While the spaghetti is getting ready, let’s prepare the beans, take a pan and add a blob of butter and 3 tbsp of water in it and add the beans, put the pan on a low heat, cover it. Give it 7/10 minutes, check in between and toss the beans around; when the water dries up add some more water. Take the beans out with any remaining water into a bowl after 7/10 minutes.

3. In the same pan heat the olive oil/vegetable oil. Once the oil is moderately hot add the sliced cauliflower, they will begin to sizzle, keep the heat on medium flame, the cauliflower should start to get slight brown all over, stir them in between. Because we have cut the cauliflower quite thinly it won’t much time to get cooked, once they are slightly brown add the chopped garlic to the oil, give them 2 minutes, then add the onions n give them a mix. Give them 2 minutes, after that add the capsicum slices n give them 5-7 minutes, stir in between. As the cauliflower gets more brown and the onions softens, so will the capsicum it is time to add the chopped tomatoes. Add a tiny pinch of sugar n mix, put the flame to high now and add salt, add half of the fresh coriander leaves, a pinch of black pepper and give everything a good stir. Keep the flame high for 1 minute, then reduce it a low flame and give the whole thing about 7-9 minutes. Stir in between and soon the tomatoes will lose their form and become like a sauce, add the pinch of pink rock salt/kala namak, red chili powder n mix, taste n adjust the salt. At the end of 7/9 minutes when the tomatoes have softened add the prepared beans, then the spaghetti and the 1 tbsp or 2 of the spaghetti water, mix well, when the water dries up a little bit add the small amount of garlic paste that you prepared from a tiny garlic n mix well, add the Parmesan, the remaining black pepper n toss.  And hey! Our spaghetti is done! Sprinkle the remaining fresh coriander leaves.

4. Serve the spaghetti in plates; sprinkle some Parmesan over it if you like more n fresh coriander leaves. Now tell me it is looking amazing right? I know, I know. Now dig in

Bon Appétit.

Cauliflower in a gravy of poppy seed n yogurt

On Christmas Eve while I was at the market I was checking out the fresh crisp cauliflower hanging around, needless to say I was attracted to them. So I ended up buying two of them. At this time of the year  the cauliflower has a very nice taste n texture when you cook them or bake them, now we get cauliflower all the year around but there is quite a difference in texture n taste between what I get in summer and in winter, I always happen to like the winter version more.  Walking back home I was trying to think what should I do with them, I wanted to do something that is rich and yummy, something that also suits the festive spirit. And at this thought of mine the cauliflowers nodded too.

Back home I pulled a recipe down from my notebook of sketches n cooking, a recipe that I had written down from my sisters mother-in-law’s cooking notebook while I was at her home. The recipe is Bengali in its origin, so the Bengali name for this recipe would be “Doi Posto kasha Phulkopi”.  Here I was staring at the page, running in my mind how can I improve it or change it according to my taste and I ended up changing it a bit based on my experiences in cooking. The result was lip smacking- big proof was my mother asked me to make it again next day on Christmas. Wallah!

               

So I thought I must share this recipe with you, my dear readers…and I sincerely hope that someday you will make it too and experience this taste. Now for this recipe we need to make some paste of poppy seed, for that we need a heavy stone grinder or a mortal n pestle made of stone. I use a traditional stone grinder which I Know as “SIL-NORA”. The weight should be heavy, for it makes it very easy to make the paste while you rub the poppy seed between the stones or bang them in the mortar n pestle, if you have a light wooden mortar n pestle it probably won’t work. If you have even 2 stones, one flat and big, the other small you can do it even there! Try it…it should be fun J

The recipe: you will need

                         1 medium/big cauliflower                               1 big/1 ½ medium size red-onion

                         2 1/2 tbsp poppy seed                                     2 medium cloves of garlic

                         3 heap tbsp of plain yogurt                             ½ - 1 inch ginger

                         1 medium size tomato                                     2-3 dry red chilly

                         1 tsp whole cumin seeds                                 1 dry bay leaf

                         1 green cardamom                                           1 inch cinnamon sticks

                         2 cloves                                                               2 pinch of pink rock salt

                         Pinch of sugar                                                   Flavorless vegetable oil for deep frying

                         Salt to taste

First of all just cut or break the cauliflower in big florets, wash and dry them  well if needed, we are going to deep fry them so it is better to pat them dry. While they are drying heat 5 tbsp of water and soak the dry red chilies in that water for about 5 mins, you will see they will get soft. Next chop the onion roughly, now grind them to a paste where there are some smooth part and some chunks left. You can do it in a mortal n pestle or stone-grind them or just put it in a blender.  Next in the same way make a paste of the soaked red chilies, then the ginger n garlic to a paste followed by the poppy seed until you get a smooth paste of poppy seed. If you are using a blender it is not going to work with poppy seed, best is to use a heavy mortal n pestle like made of stone or a stone grinder and use sprinkle of water in between while making them to a paste. In case you don’t have a heavy stone grinder soak the poppy seed in warm water for an hour and then approach them with a mortal n pestle, it will be easy…a blender won’t work so fine on them but it will produce a coarse paste of them which will also do. Beat the yogurt until it is quiet smooth, mix 1 tbsp of water smoothly. Next chop the tomato.

Now in a deep wok or in a deep fryer heat the vegetable oil, make sure the oil is not too high or the floret will brown too quickly, next drop in the florets like 5-6 at a time and keep them at a rather medium heat for about 5 mins, what are we looking for is that they will have light brown color outside and the stalks will be little tender, when done take them off on kitchen paper.

When all the florets are done, heat up a pan and use 3-4 tbsp of the same oil. When the oil is quiet hot reduce the flame to a low, add the whole cumin seeds, slightly crushed green cardamom, cinnamon sticks, bay leaf and cloves, let them be in the oil for about 30 seconds while they release their flavor and the cumin seeds will sputter up. After that add the onion paste, saute it in a medium low flame , add another tbsp of oil if you feel they need it, give them about 6 -7 mins and they will start to  brown slightly, when they are slightly brown add the ginger n garlic paste along with the red chili paste. Keep the flame low at this point and give them 2mins. Next add the poppy seed paste and mix well, give another 4-7 mins until the poppy seed paste starts to release oil from the sides and starts to go light brown, as you are frying it you will see the whole gravy now has started to release oil from the sides which is what we are looking for. Now we are ready for the yogurt part, take the pan off the heat and add 1 tbsp of yogurt, mix well, next add another, then another until you have used all of it. Now place the pan back in low heat and give it around 5mins, you will see that the gravy again starts to release oil from the sides after about 5 mins, meanwhile add the chopped tomatoes, 2 pinch of sugar (if the yogurt is quiet sour you need to adjust the sugar according to it), 2 pinches of the rock salt and season with salt to taste. Now add the cauliflower pieces and mix well with the gravy cover with a lid and give it around 5-7 minutes. We are now very close to getting done so put the flame off and give it 2mins of standing time.

By now your kitchen must be filled with that aroma of this dish, and it’s moments like this that I pause for a moment, smell the air and it feels lovely.