Quick Cauliflower masala

Cauliflower is a versatile veggie that it can be paired with any veggie or can stand on its own too. This is a quickie adapted from the stable of Mallika Badrinath - A one pot side dish. Throw some cauliflower florets, onion and tomato paste with spices into your pressure cooker and cook for one whistle and the curry is ready.  

 

 

You need

 

• Cauliflower broken into florets - 2 cups
• Aniseed - 1/2 tspn
• Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
• Cloves - 3 nos
• Bay leaf - 1 no
• Oil - 2 tblspn
• salt to taste

 

 Dry roast and powder

 

•  Red chillies - 4 nos
•  Poppy seed - 1 tblspn
•  Dhania/Coriander seeds - 2 tspn
•  Roasted gram/Chutney dal - 1 1/2 tblspn

 Grind coarsely

 

• Onion - 1  
• Tomatoes - 2 nos

Method 

Chop onion and tomatoes. Dry roast red chillies, poppy seeds and dhania. Powder the roasted ingredients along with the chutney dal. To that add the chopped onions and tomatoes and grind coarsely.

 

Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Add the spices and then cauliflower. Fry for 3 minutes. Add the ground paste, salt and just enough water to cover the florets. Close the lid and pressure cook for one whistle. Switch off the heat and open the lid, when the pressure is fully released. Garnish with coriander leaves.

 

Amla/Indian Gooseberry Jam in Microwave

I lolve making jams at home and with microwave its surely a breeze. It gets done easily in less time. After seeing Latakka's amla halwa, I was inspired to try jam.

You need

• Amla - 250 gms (Around 13 nos) gave  a packed cup of cooked amla pulp
• Sugar -1 cup
• Cardamom - a pinch

Method

  

Microwave the washed amlas for 3 minutes till it is soft. De seed and pulse for few seconds in the mixer to get a coarse mixture. Don't grind it smooth else it will effect the texture of the jam. Measure the pulsed amla paste. Take equal quantity of sugar.

Mix sugar and  amla and micro high for 8 minutes. Stir in between. Check if there is any liquid present. If then cook for a minute or so. Adjust the timings according to your oven.  Don't cook long enough that it might turn hard on cooling. When cooked in microwave, it continues to cook even after its removed from the oven. So keep that also in mind.

I added a teaspoon of saffron + cardamom syrup or add just cardamom powder. Next time I am planning to add freshly crushed ginger too.

Enjoy the healthy jam on a warm toast.


The tart taste of amla is very much felt... To mask the taste of amla, you can increase the amount of sugar. After a week, I could not feel  the khatta meeta of amla... not sure if I got used to it or its the result of ageing.

Anyways, not many may like it at the first instant. If you love amla, then you will surely like it. 

Arisi Thengai Payasam - Rice Coconut Payasam with Jaggery

I have settled down well in my new place. Navarathri was the first festival after our move. I kept three steps of Bommai. I got only the small bommais here. Navarathri, here is very quiet since we don't have people visiting golus here. We did the poojas and made payasam in the morning and chundal in the evening. I could not transfer the pics from my camera, since I broke the battery recharger. Yet to buy a new one. There are loads of pics to be transferred and shared with you all. Meanwhile, I have quite a lot of pictures in the drafts, to feed my blog. I thought I will share a recipe of sweet with you all. I have already posted a payasam with coconut and rice, where sugar is the sweetener. This version is similar with jaggery as sweetener. I liked the jaggery version better.

You need

• Raw rice- 2 tblspn
• Grated coconut- 1/2 cup
• Grated jaggery - 3/4 cup
• Boiled milk - 1 cup
• Cardamom powder - 11/4 tspn
• Water - 2 cup

 

 Method

 

Soak rice in water for an hour. Drain and grind rice coarsely . Add coconut and pulse to form a coarse paste. No need to add water.

 

 

Boil 2 cups of water. When it starts to boil, stir in the ground paste. Take care not to form lumps. Cook till the rice is well cooked. By the time the rice cooked, it would have got a thick porridge consistency. 

 

Meanwhile liquidize jaggery in 1/2 cup of water. Add the jaggery syrup to the cooked rice+coconut mixture. Cook till the flavor of jaggery is well absorbed. Add hot milk and switch off the heat. Stir for a minute or so for the mik to be well incorporated into the cooked mixture. Sprinkle cardamom.Serve warm or chilled as desired.

 

Note : Milk tends to curdle when boiled along with jaggery. That's why boiled milk is added at last and no further cooking is done after the addition of milk to avoid curdling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello From Pune...

My blog name, Kailas Kitchen has lost its relevance in the real sense for the time being. It will be sulre there in terms of spirit.  My husband's job has brought me to Pune. The month of September kept me busy with the shifting and settling down in the new place. Everything went on smooth. I just wanted to let my readers know about my absence. Sorry could not leave a post before I went on a break. Yet to get an internet connection at home. Hopefully I get in a week or so.

Thanks for the mails/messages asking about my absence.  Its a nice feeling to know that you are missed. I am wiating to start blogging and blog hopping.

See you all soon....