Cauliflower curry

Would you believe if I told you that I have not tasted cauliflower until my late 20 's? When I grew up, I had not even seen cauliflower in the market. And, when cauliflower finally did show up in the market, it used to have lots of worms inside and required extensive cleaning before cooking. So, my mom never cared to venture into it and  kind of developed an aversion towards it. After moving to US is when I started to buy cauliflower and used it in my cooking. Cauliflowers that we get here in US are lot better when compared to what we get in India. Also, I realized cauliflower to be a great tasting vegetable when cooked with spices. These days cauliflower is definitely a part of our weekly menu.

Ingredients
Cauliflower - 1 no (cut into 1 inch florets & cleaned)
Peas - a handful
Chilli powder - 1-2 teaspoons
Turmeric powder - 1-2 pinches
Salt - to taste
Hing - 2 pinches

Tempering
Oil - Little
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Split urid dal - 1/2 teaspoon

Method
Take oil in a deep pan. After the oil is heated, toss all cauliflower florets & peas and let them cook. After saute'ing for few minutes, add chilli powder, turmeric powder, hing & salt.

Simply love the mix of colors

Let the cauliflower & peas cook through all the spices over moderate heat. Once cooked, remove from heat and add spluttered mustard seeds & roasted urid dal.

Serve hot with rice / roti.

Tips

• Jeera (cumin) goes well with Cauliflower. So if you like jeera, add a teaspoon of jeera to the oil and fry it a little as the first step, before adding cauliflower. My hubby doesn't like the taste of jeera in curry and so, I skipped it.
• Do not add water while cooking. If required, just sprinkle a little. Cauliflower tends to get mushy & watery if too much of water is added.
• Cauliflower can also be paired with potatoes/beans (cut into small pieces). But, make sure to cook potato/beans halfway through before adding cauliflower (as cauliflower gets cooked really fast). One day, I cooked cauliflower with potatoes, beans & peas and guess what, curry just got over in a jiffy.

Events:
Linking this to "CWS - Peas" by Priya of Priya's Easy and Tasty recipes.