Cauliflower Cheesecups

Cauliflower Cheese-cups

Cauliflower Cheese-cups

Healthy enough to eat and pretty enough to serve. Just a whizz in the food processor of raw cauliflower, some spicy cheese, or not, if you prefer, and egg to bind it together.  
Fill it with more cheese and a sharp chutney or jam and you have an elegant side.
I would recommend a tamota-adu-limbu ni jam or a mango chutney with this. Both recipes are in The World of Parsi Cooking: Food Across Borders.

Alternatively, fill them up with caramelised onion or a wild mushroom ragout.  

Serves 6

 Makes 12 Cheese-cups

1 medium to small head of cauliflower
1 cup grated jalapeno cheese + 1/2 cup for filling
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 190 °C | 375 °F. Cut cauliflower into chunks. Place cauliflower chunks and grated jalapeño cheese into a large food processor and pulse until pieces resemble little pebbles. With the food processor still running, add the eggs until well-combined.

Grease a muffin pan with butter or oil. Spoon cauliflower and cheese mixture into each cup and press mixture to sides with a spoon to resemble a small cup.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool for one to two minutes before loosening edges with a dull butter knife. Place on a serving platter and spoon remaining ½ cup of cheese into each cup. Top each with a small dollop of Tomato or Mango chutney of choice. Serve immediately.

Tips

Make sure not to over-process the cauliflower and cheese in the food processor. It should be soft enough to spoon but not completely smooth.

Be sure all edges of the cups are even when pressing them down with a spoon. The most common mistake at this step is to press the sides too much and the bottom not enough. This will result in overbrowning of the sides and an undercooked bottom. However, be sure to keep the bottom thick enough that you can easily remove the cups from the pan after baking.

Any cheddar cheese works well. Adding a teaspoon of paprika or finely chopped jalapenos to plain cheese is an option. This recipe does not need salt because most cheese is salty. Add salt only if desired.

TIP

Make sure not to over-process the cauliflower and cheese in the food processor. It should be soft enough to spoon but not completely smooth.

Be sure all edges of the cups are even when pressing them down with a spoon. The most common mistake at this step is to press the sides too much and the bottom not enough. This will result in overbrowning of the sides and an undercooked bottom. However, be sure to keep the bottom thick enough that you can easily remove the cups from the pan after baking.

A tomato ginger, lime jam recipe is part of my 3 award winning cookbook The World of Parsi Cooking: Food Across Borders.

Use a tsp of paprika if you do not have jalapeno cheese.

Make it with pizza fillings; adding saute`d wild mushrooms, caramelised onions and some more cheese would be delicious. 
This recipe does not need salt because most cheese is salty. Add salt only if desired.

If you wish to eat it as a "toast" instead of bread simply spread the mixture into two cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Remember to mark the diamond or square shapes prior to baking. Cook until golden brown and allow to dry slightly.
Using a ''drier'' cheese will help to emit less oils and avoid it from being greasy.
Store in a covered container and heat as needed on a skillet over the stove top or in the oven for a minute or two.

Pieces of cauliflower toasts!

My published cookbooks are available for sale through myself and on amazon.

The World of Parsi Cooking: Food Across Borders is a 3 award winning book. It has been self published in July 2019 and will be going into its second print in 2022. 

The Art of Parsi Cooking; reviving an ancient cuisine was published in 2016 by Austin Macauley and continues to be available through amazon book depot book depository and from the publishers.

Pretty cheesy cauli ~ flowers

Roasted Cauliflower & Garlic Soup

Roasted Cauliflower and Garlic Soup

 

As a teenager, I went on a family holiday across Europe, where I visited the beautiful Austrian city of Salzburg. On a tight budget, we followed the Frommers guide. We were told to visit a restaurant in the crypt of one of the main churches in a town square. Here, the menu was changed on a daily basis, and fresh local produce was cooked and served. We were offered a roasted cauliflower soup and a roasted garlic soup. I tried both out of curiosity and thoroughly enjoyed this new flavour. Years later, I prepared this soup in combination and am sharing it with you. Isn't food the greatest mnemonic? And decades later, this week, I had the same, just as delightful, with the added beauty of basil oil and a few slices of pickled jalapeno.

Serves 10

3 tbsp olive Oil

4 oz butter

One head of cauliflower

One pod of garlic; unpeeled

1 tsp salt

Salt and mixed pepper for seasoning

1 cup whole milk

8 cups of vegetable or chicken stock

One onion

1 tsp brown sugar

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 170 C or 350 F. Cut the cauliflower into florets. Toss two tablespoons of oil all over, sprinkle with salt, and roast in the oven for 45 minutes, or until the tops are golden. Also, rub the pod of unpeeled garlic with oil and roast it on the same tray for 45 minutes.

Once the garlic has cooled, remove the skin.

 

Step 2 

In your soup pot, melt 125 g/4 oz of butter and sauté the chopped onion till soft. Add a teaspoon of brown sugar, the roasted cauliflower, and garlic. Add the 8 cups of vegetable or chicken stock, bring it to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer for 1 hour. Add a cup of milk and 1/2 cup of Gruyere cheese.

 

Step 3

Puree the soup with an immersion blender until smooth. Mix well, taste for seasoning, and serve warm with a drizzle of basil oil,or cream and a few slices of pickled jalapeno, and garlic croutons.

Tips

The soup will be thick and creamy. You may add more milk to thin it down if needed.

Alternate basil and jalapeno and add 1/4 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg.

Some cheese melted on croutons will taste wonderful, especially a nice sharp cheddar or fresh Parmesan.

Trivia 
A teaspoon of balsamic vinegar will bring any soup to life if you feel it is bland.

Mixed peppercorns are a bag of red, rose-pink, white, black, and grey peppercorns. The French love this variety. White peppers are the spiciest and are generally added to most soups.

It is now the right time to help bring this inexpensive and highly nutritious vegetable back to its former glory in our home kitchens. Let us start by putting its reputation for being bland and tasteless behind us and reforming our ways to make this humble, frowned-upon floret into everything delicious.

Mnemonic: Imagery and Visualization: Our brains remember images much more easily than words or sounds, so translating things you want to remember into mental images can be a great mnemonic device. Food memories can be referred to as mnemonic devices when one can taste the food in one's memory bank.

For more soups click Niloufer's Kitchen: Soups

For Parsi recipes click The Art of Parsi Cooking; reviving an ancient cuisine. and The World of Parsi Cooking Food Across Borders.

Cauliflower & Mixed Vegetable

Cauliflower Gajjar ni Subji | Cauliflower Carrot and Potato Stew

A mixed vegetable stew that is interchangeable with other root vegetables if preferred. Add parsnips, pumpkin, or sweet potatoes if desired, but the main flavour of this recipe comes from the mustard seed and curry patta tarko—a deliciously infused oil that is gently heated. Not to be confused with the traditional Parsi lagun nu Ishtu. Eaten with fresh warm rotlis, this dish is complemented by a lemon and date chutney on page xxx or the delicious tomato chutney on page xxx. 

   Serves 6                             

 

In a pan heat……

3 tbsp of oil

Fry till light brown, 2 medium sized finely chopped onions

 

Add to this pan and cook for a minute, constantly stirring,

2 sprigs of curry leaves

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 ½ tsp garlic 

1 ½ tsp tsp ginger

3 green chillies

1 ½ tsp cumin powder

¼ tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp red chillie powder

1 tsp salt

pinch of brown sugar

 

Add in and mix well, cover and cook till almost done

3 medium finely cut tomatoes

2 medium potatoes in cubes

1 cup water

then add

small florets of 1 small cauliflower head

4 green onions cut into 2 “ pcs

2 carrots in cubes

 

Cook for another 10 minutes after adding a good handful of chopped fresh coriander leaves.

There should be no water remaining and all of the vegetables should be cooked through.

Tips

 Alternatively prepare a tarko seperately in a teaspoon of oil, with the mustard seeds and curry leaves and add it at the end.

Remove the green leaves from the cauliflower head but save the hard base since it contains more healthy nutrients than the remainder of the veggie.

Cut it into smaller pieces to ensure consistent cooking. Maintain the crispness of the cauliflower. This preserves both the flavour and the nutrition. 

A cupful of fresh green peas will add sweetness and colour to this recipe. 

To make it creamy, substitute 1 cup of light coconut milk for the water. 

If you don't like it spicy, cut the chillies in half.

      

For more recipes from the Parsi Food repertoire read my cookbooks
The Art of Parsi Cooking; reviving an ancient cuisine and The World of Parsi Cooking Food Across Borders.

Photo credit Niloufer Mavalvala

The Mighty Caulis-Floris

Variety of Cauliflowers fresh and  colourful

Each year, people who like to eat healthy seem to concentrate on rejuvenating one ancient vegetable.

These folks are taking the time and trouble to educate us on all the goodness of it, eventually hoping that by the end of the year, after sharing every tiny detail of its health benefits, we will be clever enough to make that particular vegetable a part of our lifestyle.

 

With kale now being an intrinsic part of my daily life, we are ready to face the mighty cauliflower. The caulis, or stem, has the higher share of the magical stuff. The floris, or flower, takes its share from the root itself. Like everything else, a raw vegetable gives you the maximum benefit.

 

Unsure of its true origins, there is a toss-up between the 12th century Arab gardeners and the Romans, almost a thousand years prior. It is commonly grown in the Mediterranean region; the Spanish and Italians consume it on a daily basis. The Medici and other Medici royals from France and Italy served many elegant dishes made of this flower-head at their royal feasts. It is believed there is a chance that it originated in Cyprus, as the French often referred to it as Chou de Chypre!

 

Imagination is a wonderful artform of the human mind; taking a moment to stare at the Mighty Cauliflower suggests it is a clever vegetable. The hard-rooted white base holds the delicately grape-like clusters of flowers, while the strong green leaves naturally protect the delicate florets! Nature, it seems, is a genius.

 

Trivia

The French call it a chou-fleur; the literal translation is cabbage flower.

Not all cauliflowers are white and green; there is an all-green variety and a purple one as well.

Canada has started growing an orange one, which has 25 times more vitamin A than any other.

Unlike other vegetables, their size does not affect the taste, but their age does. Be sure to find a young one.

Frost destroys the crop, yet it is a spring vegetable that takes 75 days to grow.

 

Health Benefits

It helps alleviate arthritis pain and it is known to prevent prostate cancer 

For more Parsi Food recipes and its history and origin read my cookbooks
The Art of Parsi Cooking; reviving an ancient cuisine. and The World of Parsi Cooking: Food Across Borders.