Are you getting tired of cauliflower yet? No? Good, because strap in for some more of its nutritious deliciousness.

I was feeling very ambitious last week while at the local asian supermarket. I was buying ingredients for a drunken noodle recipe I was preparing for someone as a New Years meal before the festivities and decided to purchase a few vegetables that I can’t get at my regular grocer: chinese eggplant. I’m really not a huge fan of eggplant in general, actually. However, about a year ago I took a cooking class and learned to make an amazing sezchuan stir-fry with chinese eggplant so I felt bold. The results were…. disappointing.

The Mighty Chickpea

It can be very frustrating to put a lot of time and effort into something only to end up with failure. But, as the saying goes, you learn more from failure than success. Fortunately Heather came to my rescue a few days later with this recipe from the New York Times. My indian food repertoire is quite limited so I was excited to try this and it didn’t hurt that I’ve been having good luck with cauliflower lately.

The Makings of a Stir-Fry

I’m not a fan of spicy food. In fact, I’m quite the wuss in that area so I dialed down the heat and added a bit of my own variation to the spices. On top of that I felt it needed some protein so I included chickpeas. Overall, I was quite satisfied with this recipe and may bring back a bit more of the spice when I do it again.

Indian Cauliflower Stir-Fry with Chickpeas

Indian Cauliflower Stir-Fry with Chickpeas
adapted from New York Times

2 tablespoons peanut or canola oil
1 large head of cauliflower; broken into florets
1 cup dried chickpeas; cooked and drained (or one can of cooked chickpeas)
1 red bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 can diced tomatoes
1 serrano chile; seeded and minced
1 1/2 teaspoon ginger; minced
1 1/2 teaspoon garlic; minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon ancho chili
1/2 teaspoon hot curry
1/2 cup cilantro; chopped
lime

Steam the cauliflower for 10 minutes until just tender. Remove from heat and immediately rinse in cold water to stop the cooking. Then cut the florets into equal sizes; probably quartering the larger florets and halving the medium sized ones. Set aside.

Combine the minced ginger and garlic with a pinch of salt and mash it together by scraping your knife against it several times into you have something similar to a very chunky paste. Don’t try to overdue it. Just scrap it a few times. Set aside.

Heat one tablespoon of oil in a large pan or wok over medium heat. Add the additional table spoon of oil with the cumin, coriander and curry for about 20 seconds then follow with your ginger-garlic paste, chile and bell pepper; sauteing for approximately one minute. Add your chickpeas and stir-fry for one minute. Follow with the rest of the rest of the spices, cauliflower and tomatoes; stir-fry for five minutes until fragrant and some of the juices have reduced down. Add the cilantro, toss and cook for 30 seconds and then serve.

Add a spritz of lime before eating.

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