Out Of The Garden

forever calling me home… vast and wild… beautiful Lake Superior

an upbound laker (actually a tug-and-barge combination) assisted by a G-tug, and a downbound “saltie” (ocean vessel) pass in the St. Mary’s River, Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan (the “Soo”). In the photo, the “saltie” appears larger, but the laker is the longer of the two…

A Michigan trip is always fantastic, but after two weeks of vacation indulgence I was really craving a healthy, tasty veggie dish.

As I expected, I returned to find a very meager selection of goods in the fridge.
For inspiration, I turned to the blogs and the first I visited was ISG’s Daily Musings.
As usual, she read my mind and had a dish ready and waiting for me! She and her aunty cooked up a gorgeous cauliflower subzi using even the leaves! I always use cauliflower stalks, but only this summer did I begin using the green leaves as well. As ISG says — they are tasty!

My crisper yielded half a rather old head of cauliflower, so I couldn’t use the green this time, but I did include the stalks. To make up for the lacking half, I added a giant ichiban eggplant from my own garden, hooray! I also chopped up a garden tomato to use; because it was not quite ripe, I omitted the amchur powder.
No fresh onion to be had meant frozen chopped for a substitute, my curry leaves were past their prime, and the ginger-garlic paste was from a jar. No fresh green chiles either (I really have to go shopping). As tribute to ISG’s spicy recipes, I used two big dried red chiles instead of my usual one

eggplant, tomato and cauliflower with seasonings — ingredients for a quick and tasty subzi

In spite of a few sub-par ingredients, this dish was really delicious.
Thank you ISG, and thanks to your aunty as well!

Garden Subzi a la ISG
this is done backward because I used frozen onion –
if using fresh I would do the tadka first rather than last

1 tsp canola oil
1/3 c frozen chopped onion (or 1/2 small fresh onion)
1 TB ginger-garlic paste (or use fresh)
2 big dried red chiles
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
few curry leaves

1/2 head cauliflower, cut into florets
(use stems and also green leaves if fresh)
1 big eggplant, preferably long asian type, cut in cubes
1 semi-ripe tomato, chopped small

Salt to taste

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Heat oil over medium-high flame and add frozen onion — when sizzling and beginning to brown, add ginger-garlic paste and stir 2-3 minutes. Add dried chiles, cumin, mustard and curry leaves. When mustard pops, add chopped tomato and reduce heat to medium. When tomato softens, add cauliflower and eggplant. Cook 5 minutes on medium heat, stirring once or twice. Add about a cup of water, cover, and cook an additional 10-15 minutes or until cauliflower is tender. Add salt to taste, and give all a big stir before serving (or gobbling up straight from the pan — it’s that good!)

simply delicious — a garden subzi a la ISG!

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While I was away, I was lucky to receive some special thoughts from two very dear and special friends — thank you so much, Supriya and ISG, for thinking of me with these lovely awards! Your kindness truly makes me happy every day. I will be passing these along soon, too

And last but certainly not least, please allow me to wish you all a very happy (albeit belated) Independence Day — from 1947 to 2007 is a wonderful accomplishment and still going strong!