This morning, I woke up to a cool day with sun turning to cloud and intermittent rain. It has been humid and warm for a while so I welcomed the cooler weather. It felt like the perfect morning to try a curry I found in the New York Times recently. Yesterday, I shopped for fruit and vegetables; I made sure to buy a head of cauliflower, the star of this Indian curry. The original recipe, ‘Cauliflower, Cashew, Pea and Coconut Curry’ comes from Meera Sodha’s cookbook ‘Made in India.’ Jennifer Steinhauer adapted it for the New York Times and I modified it by adding soaked shiitake mushrooms, eliminating the oil and swapping a red for green chilli; rather than frying, I used activated cashews because of their inherent crunchiness; they are worth the extra cost! The curry tastes fresh and light served with a splash of fresh lime/lemon juice!

Cauliflower Curry

Ingredients

1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

6 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 red chilli, stem trimmed and sliced

2 large brown onions

8-10 small dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in ample filtered water overnight or for several hours

1 tbs organic tomato paste

2 tsp ground coriander

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp Himalayan pink salt + a pinch

1 medium to large head cauliflower, cut in to bite-size florets

400 gram can of coconut milk

1 cup frozen green peas

3/4 tsp garam masala

fresh cilantro, finely chopped (for topping)

handful of activated cashews, per bowl (for topping)

1 wedge of lime per bowl (for topping)

Method

Place the peeled garlic, chopped chilli and peeled and sliced ginger in a large mort and pestle; pound and

grind (or bash and mudde according to Jamie Oliver!) until you have a paste. Put aside.

Prepare all the vegetables. Peel and finely chop the onions. Cut up the cauliflower in to small florets. Squeeze the water out of the mushrooms and thinly slice.

Heat a dutch oven on a medium to low heat and add the onions with a pinch of salt. Saute for several minutes. Add the paste from the mort and cook for another couple of minutes. Add the mushrooms followed by the cauliflower, coconut milk, tomato paste, ground coriander, ground cumin, chilli powder and sea salt to the pot. Cover, bring to a boil and lower the heat to a low simmer. Cook for about 12 minutes until the cauliflower is almost done stirring occasionally to make sure all the cauliflower mixes with the sauce.

Add the frozen peas and garam masala and cook for a further 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Serve topped with freshly chopped coriander, a handful of activated cashews and a wedge of fresh lime or lemon. Enjoy alone as a main dish or over organic potato and mung bean thread or sweet potato noodles.