Exactly one year ago today, I posted my favourite cauliflower soup recipe. I love that recipe because it is easy and creamy (although it has no cream in it). My dear friend, Katherine Endy, wrote in response to that post, that she had just made the Ginger Cauliflower Soup recipe from Madhur Jaffrey’s Quick and Easy Indian Cooking. She said that this recipe was quick and easy (as the cookbook title promises) and that in her opinion it was delicious without the cream that the original recipe recommends.
Katherine and I have a lot of history around this particular cookbook. In fact, the very first time my dear friend Alex Endy brought his girlfriend (now wife) Katherine to my apartment for dinner, I cooked food from this very same cookbook. Due to health problems, I was on a very restrictive diet at the time (just fish and vegetables). Alex warned Katherine about this, and she told me later that she was dreading the meal. But this cookbook has amazing healthful recipes that are full of flavour! I made the spicy fish steaks and the spinach with ginger and it was a terrific meal. So terrific that I remember what I made nearly 25 years later (!!!!!?).
A few months later (when my diet has expanded a bit) Alex called to ask if I would come to Katherine’s apartment to cook some deer meat that Katherine’s brother had given her after a successful hunting trip. Katherine and Alex, like all good college students,were in a no red meat-eating phase at the time. They were happy to make an exception for deer meat caught by a family member, but wanted my help cooking it. I adapted a lamb recipe from this same cookbook that called for yogurt and the use of pressure cooker, both of which have a tenderizing effect.
Finally, I am pretty sure that I gave Katherine her copy of this book as a christmas gift one year, along with a bunch of Indian spices. But all of this was a long time ago so I can’t quite remember if that is true.
Anyway, one year later I am finally taking Katherine’s advice and making this soup (without the cream). It is so good and takes so little effort. I cannot recommend this cookbook enough. This is a great cookbook if you are someone who does not have any time to spend on cooking, but who wants to prepare healthy, delicious food. For even more gushing about this cookbook you can click here. To buy a copy you can click here.
GINGERY CAULIFLOWER SOUP
from Quick and Easy Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey
- 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
- 1 inch piece of ginger cut into fine slivers
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
- cayenne pepper to taste
- 2 medium peeled potatoes peeled and cut into 1/3 inch dice
- 1/2 pound (about 2 heaping cups) cauliflower florets
- 5 cups chicken stock (home-made chicken or vegetable stock is good if you’ve got it)
- 3/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 2/3 cups heavy cream (Katherine and I agree that this is unneccessary)
- Warm the oil over medium heat in a good size saucepan
- Put the onion, ginger and garlic together in a bowl next to the stove. Put the spices together in another bowl next to the stove. Also, have the potatoes, cauliflower and stock prepped and nearby.
- When the oil is hot add the onion, ginger and garlic and fry until the onion is browned (about 4 minutes).
- Add the spices and stir once. Add the potatoes, cauliflower, stock and salt and bring to a boil.
- Cover and turn the heat to low. Cook for 10 minutes or until the potatoes are soft.
- Blend the soup until smooth, adjust the salt and add the cream (if you must) and serve!
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Big Sis Little Dish 
I was just telling my friend, Margaret, about this venison meal TODAY.
A few days ago I watched Michael Pollan’s movie, Food, Inc. It is so very disturbing that I have not been able to eat meat since. Fortunately, I have fallen in love with veggies all over again, especially after discovering aoili on sweet potato fries (or, yanno, pretty much anything). And re-discovering cauliflower, too!
Aforementioned friend, Margaret, recently brought over Brussels sprouts and cauliflower (a dish which her 6- and 3-year-old children REQUESTED!) from Deborah Madison’s Local Flavors. It is made with lemon zest and marjoram and it is soooo yummy! (Actually, the Local Flavors recipe involves an herb butter – Margaret makes it differently. I’ll send you the recipe when she sends it to me.) This, too, is delicious with aoili. But again, what isn’t?!
Yeah. Meat is tricky. You really, really have to be careful about where it comes from. Does your brother still hunt? I wish that I knew people who hunted…other than my family who live thousands of miles away. I enjoy eating a lot of vegetables at this time of year. Its kinda odd because the seasonal choices are very limited. But the funny thing is winter vegetables all really agree with me. I am eating a giant pile of red cabbage that I braised with red onion, apple and duck fat right now! My body is saying yes to this meal. Please send me cualiflower recipes. I am obsessed. Last year, you also mentioned a roasted cauliflower with horseradish… something?
xo
Erin