Curried Ghobi

Ghobi is a word that means cauliflower. Once there was a restaurant named Govinda’s in my town run by Krishna devotees (The Internation Society for Krishna Consciousness) from a nearby temple. Their food was sumptuous and I concluded from it that I loved cauliflower and could be very happy eating a main dish without meat.

This is a great side dish that is vegetarian. You can leave the spices whole or grind them wholly or in part, but remember that you don’t leave the cardamom in the pod, but extract it. Just leave out the red pepper if you don’t like spicey hot.

Preparation

1. Heat ¼ of the ghee and bloom the asafetida. Add cauliflower and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat. Remove cauliflower to a plate and pour the yoghurt over it.

2. Heat rest of ghee and add onions, garlic, salt, bay leaves and all the spices except the red pepper. Cook until onions begin to caramelize. Stir in red pepper.

3. Return cauliflower to pan (with yoghurt) and stir gently to combine. Simmer covered over low heat for 10 minutes. Add hot water and recover simmering for another 25 minutes or until cauliflower very tender.

Yield

Serves 4-6.

 

Ingredients

½ cup ghee
pinch asafetida powder
1½ lb cauliflower
1¼ cups yoghurt
2 large onions, finely chopped
4 bay leaves
1½ cups hot water
salt
 
6 pins whole cloves
6 black pepper corns
1 black cardamom pod
2 green cardamom pods
2" cinnamon stick
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp red pepper, ground (optional)