Paleo Curry: With Cauliflower And A South Indian Secret

Cauliflower, perfect!

I love curry, but the paleo diet was not allowing chickpeas, so I decided to experiment with cauliflower.

That is when I realized that this starchy vegetable comes not only in white but also in orange, yellow, green and even purple! Oh the possibilities for future experiments...

For this recipe I stuck to the yellow one, I wanted a similar texture and as close a color as the chickpeas would do.  It worked!


Ingredients:
Half an orange cauliflower - florets cut out (no stems)

The oils and the chopped onions

One onion chopped finely
Garlic to taste chopped finely (some yogis prefer not to use garlic, that would be OK too)
Coconut oil 1/4 cup
1/4 cup of water
1/2 a square of vegetable stock
5 tomatoes cut into 6 pieces
one spoon of ghee
Curry powder
Turmeric Powder

Why Coconut Oil?

I read that coconut oil is a lot healthier for frying things or for sauteing onions from the man who wrote the book Finding Ultra: Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World's Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself.

Tuns out Coconut is a much healthier alternative than corn or safflower oil for example.  I admit that the taste seemed funny the first couple of times, as if I could taste the coconut, but I got over it quickly and now  enjoy the subtle sweet after-taste of it.

Instructions:

Chop the onions and garlic and saute in the coconut oil until half way done, add the curry and the turmeric powder to taste (one tea-spoon of each is what I use) and mix it all up.  Lower the fire to low.

I use red onions, but yellow would do just fine

Cut the tomatoes and add them together with the quarter cup of water and the half square of vegetable stock.  Let it stay there in the slow fire for a while, so all the sauces mix.

The tomatoes will have to melt, so this will take a good
10 to 15 minutes

South Indian Secret:

This secret for the perfect curry was given to me by a South Indian woman at a Vipassana retreat (when we were finally allowed to talk after 10 days of silence)

Put about a third, or half of the mix on a blender with the Ghee and chop it, meaning that you will leave it not totally liquid, but roughly chopped, I would say about 5 to 10 seconds, no more.  Then put it back on the mix, this will give it a more creamy consistency and it will totally look like the curry in Indian restaurants!

Just like in Indian Restaurants!

I serve it with fish, or vegetables depending on the day.  Yesterday we ate it just with broccoli and it was amazing.

Does that not look like the regular curry that you would have with chickpeas? Not only that but since cauliflower is a bit starchy it also tastes like it.

Buen provecho!