Gobi musallam recipe
Gobi Musallam is a recipe wherein whole intact head of the cauliflower is cooked/baked along with the gravy/sauce made with flavourful spices.
Ingredients
FOR BLANCHING CAULIFLOWER
- 1 head Gobi/Cauliflower 1 kg/2.20 lbs
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- Water as needed
FOR MAKING GRAVY/SAUCE
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds
- 1 tsp Fennel seeds
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 3-4 dry red chilies
- 2 cloves
- 1 inch Cinnamon stick
- 1 black cardamom
- 2 green cardamoms
- 1 star anise
- 1 tbsp dry Fenugreek leaves
- 1 tbsp ginger roughly chopped
- 4-5 Garlic cloves
- 10-12 Cashews
- 1 tsp melon seeds
- 1 tsp red chilli powder/paprika
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 big onion roughly chopped
- 4 tomatoes roughly chopped
- 1 cup Coconut milk thick
- Salt to taste
FOR BAKING CAULIFLOWER
- Parboiled Cauliflower drained
- Half of the gravy
FOR SERVING
- Baked Cauliflower
- Rest of the gravy
- 1 tbsp coriander leaves/cilantro finely chopped
Instructions
- Take a whole cauliflower and remove it's leaves and cut the extra stem. Make sure cut the cauliflower in a way that its head/florets should remain intact and it can sit at the base facing the florets upwards. Note that 1 kg/2.20 lbs of cauliflower remained 584 gm/1.28 lbs after its stem and leaves were removed.
BLANCHING OF CAULIFLOWER
- Add water, salt and turmeric powder in a deep wide vessel and let the water come to boil. Quantity of water needs to be such that most or entire cauliflower immerses in water.
- Once water begins to boil, put cauliflower head in the water carefully as the hot boiling water may splash.
- Put the lid and let it boil for 5 minutes.
- Uncover the vessel and turn the down side upwards of the cauliflower.
- Again put the lid and let it boil for 5 minutes more or until cauliflower is almost 50% cooked.
- Take cauliflower out of water and keep aside.
MAKING OF GRAVY
- Heat oil in a pan. But don't heat it too much otherwise spices will burn.
- Add cumin seeds, bay leaf, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, dry red chilies, cloves, cinnamon stick, black cardamom, green cardamoms, star anise, ginger, garlic cloves, cashews
- and melon seeds.
- Roast them on low heat until spices begin to turn slightly brown.
- Add onion and cook it until it turns pink and translucent.
- Add tomatoes, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and dry fenugreek leaves. Mix well.
- Put the lid on vessel and let tomatoes cook on low heat for 10-12 minutes or until they turn soft & mushy and their raw smell is gone.
- Remove the vessel from heat and let mixture turn cool completely.
- Transfer the mixture into grinder jar and also pour coconut milk in the jar.
- Grind the mixture into a fine paste. Gravy is ready.
BAKING OF CAULIFLOWER
- Place cauliflower having florets side upwards in a baking tray.
- Drizzle half of the gravy over the entire cauliflower.
- Bake the cauliflower in a preheated oven @200°C/392°F for 35 to 40 minutes or until the head of the cauliflower turns dry.
- Once the time is over, take cauliflower out of oven and shower cilantro over it.
- Gobi musallam is ready. Enjoy hot.
Notes
- Always choose the fresh worm free cauliflower having no stains and with a tight florets because this recipe uses cauliflower as a whole.
- If you don't have each and every spice, you may cut down few but it is at your wisdom which one can be dropped, which don't affect the over all taste of the dish.
- You may choose one from cashew nuts and melon seeds. And if adding only one, then better enhance the quantity.
- If not vegan, then instead of coconut milk, you can add thick curd/yoghurt and/or cream also.
- We have added coconut milk only while grinding the mixture because coconut milk curdles on boiling. But in case you are using yoghurt and/or cream, you can directly add both these ingredients to the cooking vessel during the last stage of cooking.
- Some prefer a completely creamy gravy/sauce, so sieve it after making. But we don't prefer so. Choice is yours.