Chickpea Cauliflower Curry

Today is my first day of this endeavor.  I have been cooking nearly every day for a few years, bur never really thought about sharing any of my experiences with other people. I like to experiment and try new recipes and hopefully I can inspire someone else to also.

Last night I made a chickpea cauliflower curry with an Asian carrot salad. I think my curries taste pretty good and they are really pretty easy, but they never turn out looking very pretty, so I could not bring myself to have my unattractive looking curry as my first post, but I will go ahead and give you the recipe anyway.

1 small yellow onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbs vegetable oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

6 whole cloves

1 tsp cinnamom

3/4 tsp cayenne pepper

salt to taste

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 head cauliflower, chopped to bite-size pieces
1 can garbanzo beans
1 cup basmati rice
¼ cup green peas

2 servings, 800 calories, 10 g fat

In a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat, fry the onions and garlic until tender and lightly brown, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the whole spices in a medium-high heated skillet just until they become fragrant, about 30 seconds. Do not let the spices burn, if they do, start over.  Grind the spices in a spice mill or coffee grinder to a powder. Once the onions are cooked, add all of the spices and mix well.  Add the drained garbanzo beans and cauliflower and toss well to coat the spices on the vegetables. Cover the skillet and let cook until the cauliflower is tender, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep vegetables from sticking. Before serving I like to taste this to see if I need any more salt. The curry can taste a little bitter if there isn’t enough salt. I think salt brings out the flavors of the spices and you can have a completely different flavor depending on how much salt you add.
Serve over basmati rice. I like green peas in my rice with Indian food.

You could use any meats or vegetables with this, just use the spices as your  base and add what you like.  You could even add coconut milk if you like your curry saucy and sweeter.

Asian Carrot Salad

1 small carrot, julienned
½ small zucchini, julienned
Small handful sugar snap peas, julienned
¼ orange or red bell pepper, julienned
1 tbs rice wine vinegar
Salt to taste

2 servings, 55 calories, 0 g fat

This is a really easy way to get my husband to eat more vegetables, and I think it’s pretty. Just remember to cut all of the pieces so they are bite-sized, I always hate when my vegetables are too long to put in my mouth, you don’t look very graceful fumbling to get a long piece of carrot in your mouth.