Cauliflower Rassa

Flowercha rassa – Truth be told, I am not a big fan of rassa bhajis (curries with a thin water-y gravy) I like more of sauteed or thick curry dishes, but I have had a few life-changing rassas in life recently and that might be changing it for me!

Most rassas are either too watered down in taste, or just have no flavor or body and rarely when it is tasty, its too oil.. But every once in a while, you will come accross a really good rassa, and when that happens, I like to dissect the way it was made and figure out what made the difference! This flower rassa bhaji is one such recipe – its lipsmackingly delicious and with the blanching hack (read for details) and this masala combination, you will get a perfectly flavored, spicy (but not oily), thin and water yet rich and bold curry 🙂

This will make enough bhaji to serve with 12-15 Phulkas or 10 chapatis.

You will need:

1 large head of cauliflower

2 small-medium red onions – finely chopped

1 ripe tomato – finely chopped

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

2 green chillies, finely chopped/ crushed

2 tbsp oil (I used cold pressed ground nut oil)

1 tbsp coriander powder

1 tsp red chilli powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

sea salt

1 tsp Sambar masala (I use, everest brand or 777 brand)

1 tsp Kitchen King masala (I use the MDH brand)

Procedure:

Clean and cut the cauliflower into small florets
Boil wqater in a large pan and add salt. blanch the cauliflower florets in the water for 2-3 minutes. this will ensure that the cauliflower gets cooked evenly, not overcook in the curry later, not become watered down and lack flavor once added to the curry and will not add off notes to the curry as it cooks with it. This step is one of the secrets to maing a tasty cauliflower rassa that will not taste flavorless or off.

In a pan, heat 2 tbsp oil and add the chopped onion to it. saute and cook covreed till soft and light golden, Add salt at this stage, so that the onion does not burn.
Next add the ginger-garlic paste and green chillis and cook until raw smell goes.
Next add in the chopped tomatoes. Add a little touch of tomato paste if the tomatoes are not ripe/ juicy enough
saute everything well until the tomatoes are soft and oil starts to leave the sides.
Next add the powdered spices – corriander powder, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, sambar masala and kitchen king masala

The cobinatoon of kitchen king+sambar masala is truly bomb!! I wanna put this on everythign these days 😛
saute all the things until oil leaves the sides, then add the blanched cauliflower and hot water (as much or as little as you’d like). For this recipe, I added about a cup and a half at first and then a little more to adjust the consistency.