ANJEERI GOBHI

The weekend was a lazy one. V and I spent it at home mostly. Last few weekends have been very hectic, so both of us enjoyed this one by just sitting it out and watching movies the whole day.

I also managed to clear my inbox- from 7000 unread messages to 0 unread! Do not ask how I managed to have 7000 unread messages- thanks to all the needless subscriptions I was tricked into keeping =/ but, finally, I am down to zero unread messages! And believe me, its a great feeling to open your inbox and see just 1 or 2 unread messages!! 🙂

 

We did get out of the house though during the weekend. Our microwave broke down last week. So we had to get a new one and thus, had to make a trip to Home Depot.

Now as the proud owner of a new microwave, I thought of making today’s lunch completely in it. My in-laws gifted me these two books on microwave cooking and both are wonderful books. This also is the start of a new section on the blog solely dedicated to microwave cooking. Microwave cooking is not only fast, but since food  gets cooked in its own juices, it is full of natural aroma, texture and colour.

Another plus, which according to me is the biggest one, is that one ends up using only one dish for the cooking and the serving! I have always been apprehensive about using the microwave too much because of the radiation but the book guarantees no such evidence of it being harmful, especially since todays health standards limit the amount of micro waves that leak from a microwave oven to a safe level. So you have quick, healthier cooking with negligible clean up!

Today I made anjeeri gobhi. Its basically cauliflower cooked in a yogurt and dry figs paste. The end result was a pretty tasty dish and thanks to the microwave a snap to make!

This was my second attempt at microwave cooking. The first time I tried kadhai paneer with quite good results ( I do have to say that kadhai paneer made conventionally tastes better, but this wasn’t bad either. Plus, cooking in the microwave was really quick and clean!)

ANJEERI GOBHI

Ingredients

1 big cauliflower- cut into medium size florets with long stalks

1 tsp jeera (cumin seeds)

2 onions- chopped

3/4 ” piece ginger- chopped

1/4 tsp turmeric (haldi)

2 green chillies

1 tomato- chopped

For the Anjeeri paste:

8 small anjeers (figs)- chopped

3/4 cup yogurt

1/2 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

Directions

1. Break the cauliflower into medium florets, keeping the stalk intact.

2. Churn all the ingredients given under anjeer paste in a mixer till smooth.

3. In a microwave-proof dish put 4 tbsp oil, cumin seeds, chopped onions and ginger. Add turmeric. Mix. Microwave for 9 minutes.

4. Add the prepared anjeer paste. Mix well. Add cauliflower and mix very well. Mix in whole green chillies and chopped tomato. Cover and microwave for 10 minutes or more till the cauliflower gets cooked.