Cooking for Pleasure: Indian style cauliflower and potatoes

The finished dish. (Photo by Patty Schied)

By Patty Schied

Cauliflower and potatoes can be bland and boring, but if cooked Indian-style, they are completely transformed into a bright, aromatic side dish that goes great with roast chicken, roast pork, or as part of an Indian meal.

Cauliflower and potatoes cooked together with spices is a very typical vegan Indian dish with variations of this recipe in many cookbooks. It is not difficult to put together. You just need the right spices: ground cumin, cumin seeds, cayenne, turmeric and coriander.  

All of these should be available in your local supermarket.  

You may wonder why cumin is used three separate times in this recipe. Chefs use this “layering of flavors” technique in many recipes and in cuisines from around the world because this manner of cooking enhances the complexity of flavors of the finished dish. So please don’t cut corners by adding the seasonings all at once.  

Another thought: if your spices are very old, the dish won’t be very flavorful. If you can’t remember what year you purchased your spices, this is a good time to replace them. They certainly don’t keep forever. Cumin especially should be replaced every year.

This recipe serves four people.  

Ingredients for Indian style cauliflower and potatoes. (Photo by Patty Schied)

Ingredients

• 8 oz of potatoes, unpeeled (about two small potatoes)

• 1 small/medium cauliflower, about one pound

• 5 tablespoons of vegetable oil

• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin

• ½ teaspoon ground coriander

• ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric

• ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper

• ½ to 1 fresh hot green chili (such as serrano), finely chopped. Taste for heat. Some of them are very hot and others are mild. Decide for yourself how much you want to use.

• ½ teaspoon ground roasted cumin

• 1 teaspoon salt

• Freshly ground black pepper

Cooking the cauliflower. (Photo by Patty Schied)

Directions

Boil the potatoes in their skins until cooked through. Let cool to room temperature, peel and cut into ½ inch dice.

Cut the cauliflower into small florets and soak in cold water for 30 minutes. Drain thoroughly.

Heat the cooking oil in a large nonstick frying pan over medium heat. When hot, put in the cumin seeds and let sizzle for three to four seconds.

Now put in the cauliflower and stir for about two minutes. Let the cauliflower brown in spots, then cover, turn heat to low and simmer about four to six minutes or until the cauliflower is almost done but still slightly crisp.  

Add the diced potatoes, ground cumin, coriander, turmeric, cayenne, green chili, ground roasted cumin seeds, salt and black pepper.  

Continue to cook uncovered on low heat for another three minutes or until the potatoes are heated through.

Taste for salt and pepper.

Can be served hot or at room temperature.

Note: Cumin seeds can be roasted by heating a small frying pan at medium heat, then putting the cumin seeds into it for a few seconds or until you begin to smell them. Immediately remove from the pan and let cool. Then they can be crushed using a mortar and pestle. If you don’t have one, heat up the ground cumin instead, the same way. The heat accentuates the flavor of the spice.

• Patty Schied is a longtime Juneau resident who studied at the Cordon Bleu in London and has written a cookbook. Cooking for Pleasure appears every other week in the Juneau Independent's features. She welcomes questions about her column at patschied@yahoo.com.