Progress in the Kitchen

The nights that Ali doesn’t make it home for dinner are a mixed blessing because:

1. I feel sorry for him…10 hours at work is long enough but having to entertain people at dinner too?  Talk about torture.
2. I feel sorry for myself… I have to single-handedly entertain Maya for at least 4.5 hours.
3. I feel happy…I don’t have to cook!

Yesterday was one of those days when Ali said he “might” not be eating dinner at home.   After wondering why my husband of nearly 10 years still doesn’t know how much uncertainty throws me into a tailspin, I went ahead and made dinner anyway, figuring that we’d eat it eventually. 

I’ve been in an Indian food sort of mood lately.  But since my mother lives at least 1 hour away and there are no decent Indian restaurants near us, I’ve had to take matters into my own hands.  Thus that is why I decided to cook up a cauliflower I randomly picked up from Trader Joe’s a few days ago – Indian style.

If someone told me a year ago that I would not only purchase a whole cauliflower, but would cook it too, I would have laughed. But there I was yesterday, yielding a knife and disassembling the cauliflower like a pro.  (Note that I measure my progress by how much I cut myself while chopping and I am pleased to say that there were zero kitchen accidents yesterday!  No kitchen accidents makes me a pro.  Of course.)

Indian-Style Cauliflower

1 cauliflower, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon of panch phoron (I’m no expert but if you don’t have this you can use 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin and mustard seeds and this will still turn out great.)
1 teaspoons of turmeric
1 teaspoon of garam masala
2 tablespoons cilantro

Heat the oil in a nonstick pan, add the spices and mix well. Once the mustard seeds start sizzling add the onion and lower the heat to medium. Stir until the onion is soft. Add the cauliflower and stir until everything is covered with the spices. Pour 1/4 of water into the pan, cover, and let the cauliflower steam for 8-10 minutes. Sprinkle with garam masala and cilantro and serve.

I served this over a quinoa-peas combination instead of rice (which would be just as good).  Cook 1 cup of quinoa according to the directions (it cooks like rice).  While the quinoa is simmering add 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric and 1/2 cup of frozen peas.  

After two nights off Ali will be gracing us with his presence tonight.  That means that I only need to entertain Maya for 3 hours instead of 4.5, and since I’ve already cooked tonight’s dinner I have 1.5 hours of free time on my hands.  Talk about winning the jackpot!

If you aren’t tired of my sarcasm yet, check out my guest post at The Process of Healing.