Cuisine

Lauraine Jacobs www.laurainejacobs.co.nz/blog/

Spicing up winter veggies

I have always been puzzled about eating spicy meals in countries where the climate is hot throughout the year. I like salads, barbecuing and eating food outdoors and chilled dishes when the weather is hot. But we have now moved into the cold season, the time has arrived when I crave food that’s spicy and hot.

The vegetables of winter can become very boring, very quickly and it’s easy to overcook them and serve up soggy meals that noone will truly enjoy. Cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli and spinach are all much better if cooked fast and lightly. They’re even better when a little imaginative flavouring picks them up and makes these stalwarts of the winter really interesting.

Curries are not for the fainthearted or lazy cook, as a good spicy curry needs careful attention and a good knowledge of how spices work. The shelves of the supermarket are packed with jars and packets of spicy flavouring mixes, so you don’t have to be troubled about keeping the the French Café, brought out a range of excellent curry sauces which might be life-changing if you love a curry, but don’t have the patience or time to make it. His Cassia curry sauces are also an opportunity to taste the deliciousness of Sid’s food with a minimal investment. My favourite of the four flavours is the Karahi and if stores near you do not stock them, they can be bought online. Being a cook with a lifetime passion for being in the kitchen and cooking up a storm, I am happy to embrace the colder weather with curries of my own.

The doyenne of curry is the English actress and chef Madhur Jaffrey and in my cookbook library I have a battered copy of her BBC cookery book, Madhur Jaffrey’s Flavours of India. Some of the pages are so badly stained with splodges of sauce I can hardly read them anymore. One of my favourite ways to cook cauliflower is a Madhur recipe that I have tweaked over the years. It’s a great dish to serve with grilled steak, lamb or fish and can

Cauliflower & potatoes, banquet style

1/2 cauliflower

4 medium potatoes, scrubbed

8 tbsps vegetable oil

2 onions, finely sliced 5cm piece of ginger, peeled and cut into fine slivers

1 cup light tomato puree or pure tomato juice

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

Break the cauliflower into florets. Cut the potatoes lengthways into halves. Heat the oil in a wok or heavy, deep frying pan. When hot, add the potatoes and fry them until they’re medium brown and barely cooked through. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper towels. Put the cauliflower florets into the same oil and fry until golden and just barely cooked through. Remove with a slotted spoons and drain on kitchen paper towels.

Remove most of the oil from the pan so only about 3 tablespoons remain. Add the onions to this oil and stir over gentle heat until they are golden. Add the ginger and continue cooking until the onions start to brown. Add the cayenne, turmeric, coriander and salt. Stir in and fry for a minute,

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