After leaving a big pile of vegetarian cookbooks on the hob before going out yesterday morning, I decided to consult none of them for dinner last night. Instead, I turned to an old friend who I’ve been neglecting recently, what with the dearth of ‘exotic’ recipes in the Perfect column thus far, Cooking with my Indian Mother-in-Law.
I can hardly explain how much I love this book. Madhur is the goddess for special occasions (or Vivek Singh, if there’s a banquet on the cards, which there almost never is), but this is the bee’s knees for simple, everyday curries I promise you. It’s one of those books that I find myself evangelising about, I’m so desperate for everyone to own a copy. Anyway, I knew it would have something fit for an ever-so-slightly hungover Thursday after a humiliating lesson from the bike-repair man. And lo, it did, in the form of ful ghobi bateta ne mattar nu saak – or, for those of you who need help with your Hindi (?), cauliflower, potato and pea curry. Except, as I chose to take the quiet route home past the Turkish supermarket rather than anywhere with freezers, in order to practice my braking techniques, it was a cauliflower, potato and spinach curry instead.
Like any proper curry, it necessitated turning out the entire spice drawer (why do I still never think to get all my ingredients out first?): mustard and cumin seeds, fenugreek, asfoetida (my flatmate had never smelt that before, so that was fun), chilli powder, turmeric and dana jiru, a mixture of roasted and ground coriander and cumin seeds, plus chopped tomatoes, a hefty hit of garlic and, of course, the vegetables. It only took half an hour to cook, and I was pretty pleased with the result – served with pitta, rather than chapattis (thanks to the Turkish supermarket), and topped with fresh coriander, it made a superb dinner, today’s lunch, and tomorrow I plan to stir the remainder into some scrambled eggs after a run.The spices were interesting, without overpowering the rather delicate vegetable flavours, which is why it always pays for me to follow a recipe when it comes to curries.
Interesting footnote, at the bottom of the recipe, the Indian mother-in-law in question, Rose, claims that ‘to preserve the goodness, particularly the calcium, of the cauliflower, it is best washed before you cut it.’ Is this true, does anyone know?
Felicity Cloake 