Gobi Raswali

Sometimes, all it takes to tingle those tastebuds is the simplest of recipes. No standing over the stove for hours, no extra spices, no rare ingredients, no indigenous ingredients that you have to look for, in a different country. Sometimes, such recipes are most ignored too. They are these silent uncelebrated recipes. No one talks of them, no one requests for them, there are screams when you see it at the dinner table. But when you eat it, you swear that you could eat this everyday. Gobi Raswali is one such recipe of my mom's.

Most blogs are either titled after their moms or refer to their mom's cooking. However, I realized I haven't spoken once of my taken-for-granted mom or her cooking. My mom, in my opinion, is the most taken-for-granted person. People take her for granted consciously and unconsciously. My memories of my mom are not in the kitchen. I see her coming to school with me, helping me with my homework, making sure my handwriting is pretty, handling everything and anything about her kids, being patient with her husband and in-laws, being there for everyone, basically. I know most of you will say that most moms do this. But most moms cook too. My mom never cooked.

Let me tell you why. My granny is an orthodox woman. She did not let any of us touch her or her kitchen. She'd cook laboriously, and serve us too. There were a lot of rules. A lot to fight against which the 3 of us sisters did. My mom did too, sometimes. But ya, she never was allowed to cook except for say, a quick breakfast since we had to rush to school or some dish with onions. Or sometimes dinner if my granny wasn't eating. It was one of these days that my mom'd dish out North Indian dishes (It was special for us then, because we are South Indians :P) like Alu- Gobi, or Dal and Roti or that special Masala Dosa treat :) She always made it special. Thanks, Amma.

However, I always thought Alu-Gobi was a highly over-rated curry/sabzi. I do like it. But I feel the Gobi doesn't always get perfectly cooked. Kill me if you want, but Alu Gobi is not my favourite Gobi dish! Gobi Raswali is a spin-off from my mom's Alu Raswali. I love it and make it all the time for A. Imagine my joy when he loved it too! :) Here is my mom's recipe for Raswali. She makes it with Alu and I make it with Gobi. I think you can make a mixed veggie Raswali too!

Ingredients:

Gobi or cauliflower roughly chopped

1 medium onion roughly chopped

1 tomato roughly chopped

2 tbsp Ginger-garlic paste

1 tbsp Turmeric powder

2 tbsp Chilli powder

1 tbsp Garam Masala

1 tsp Jeera

1 tsp oil

1 tsp ghee

Salt to taste

Water

1. Grind the chopped onions into a paste along with the tomato.

2. In a pressure cooker, heat the oil, add jeera and once it splutters, add the ginger-garlic paste and let it cook until the raw smells are gone.

3. Now, add the onion-tomato paste and let it cook

4. Add the gobi or the cauliflower florets and add water just enough to pressure cook it.

5. Add turmeric, red chilli powder, Garam Masala and stir

6. Pressure cook it for 2 whistles.

7. Add 1 tsp ghee and mix before serving hot with Rotis or rice.

A likes to eat it with Rotis. He soaks the rotis in the gravy and hogs until it is over :) I love the gravy too. The cauliflower is perfectly cooked, and almost melts in your mouth. I like it spicy and loaded with the ginger-garlic flavour. Adding the last teaspoon of ghee totally raises the taste levels to a different high and I highly recommend it. Go on and try it. Its easy to make and high up there on flavour and taste!