- Submitted by Dahlia
(Indo Chinese Cauliflower Bajjis, Gobhi Pakoras)
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It has been a rainy Friday afternoon. With the weather being so cozy, all I did after my routine chores and a good lunch is dive into the bed straight. I had the best beauty and a relaxed afternoon nap after a real long time. It is already 2pm and kids will be back from school in an hour and a half. I also need to plan my dinner menu. Just to create an excitement, I thought this time I will share a recipe with you all simultaneously as I make it. When I checked in my refrigerator, I found that there is cauliflower which I bought in the morning from the market, all fresh and waiting to be made into something yummy and tasty. And I wanted to make something that could be served both as an evening snack as well as my dinner. I rattled my brains and quickly I figured what to make. I decided to make Cauliflower 65 , also known as Gobi 65. While I am typing it to you, my mouth is watering to make it and relish it quickly.
Gobi 65 is a favorite of my hubby and children. It is a definite starter in any kind of a restaurant whenever we go out for a lunch or a dinner. Kids also love the bright, colorful and crispy cauliflowers and it would be a treat for them in this rainy Friday afternoon. I wonder why people buy the ready to eat Gobi 65 or even the instant Gobi 65 masala from the market when it is so easy to make. I am personally against the ready to eat and ready to cook food commodities sold in the super markets. They are so much full of preservatives and chemicals, which are added just to increase the shelf life of the product. The salt or the sodium content and sugars are very high in such products which are extremely harmful for health. At this juncture, I would reiterate and reinforce that cooking is not as difficult as its thought so, it is easy and many a times a stress buster.
Getting back to making Gobi 65 today, I have gotten all my ingredients ready and am going to start making it as I have just ten minutes more for the kids to come. May be I will finish all the preparatory work and make it hot when kids arrive. All of you do try at your end and let me know your comments. Cheers!!
Recipe for Gobhi 65
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients
- Cauliflower - 1
- Corn Flour - 3 cups
- Maida - 1 cup
- Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
- Red Chilli Powder - 2 tbsp (You can also add hot sauce instead)
- Ajinamoto - 1/2 tsp
- Soy Sauce - 2 tsp
- Lemon Juice / Vinegar - 1/2 tsp
- Black Pepper Powder - 1 tsp
- Red Food Color - a pinch
- Salt - as needed
Method
- Mix the corn flour, maida, turmeric, red chilli powder, ajinomoto, pepper powder and salt together.
- Add the red food color, lemon juice and soy sauce.
- Add water gradually to avoid lumps and make a smooth paste.
- In the meantime, heat oil in a kadai.
- Drop few cauliflower florets in the batter and toss so that the florets are completely coated with the batter.
- Gently drop the florets one at a time in the hot oil. Do not overcrowd the pan.
- The florets sometimes tend to stick to each other in the oil. Separate the florets using tongs or a spoon with long handle.
- After about 6-8 minutes, the florets will be golden brown. Remove them and drain excess oil in a paper towel..
- Garnish with celery leaves or green onions. Serve hot with tomato ketchup, schezwan sauce or any other sauce.
Tips
- Gobhi 65 remains crisp for a long time. You can also refrigerate/freeze the leftovers. In that case, just heat it in a 400 degree F oven for 5-10 minutes before serving and they will become crispy again.
- Those who love masala flavour can add a pinch of garam masala while preparing the batter.
- Gobi 65 goes very well with Chinese main course dishes like vegetable Hakka noodles, vegetable fried rice and chicken fried rice.
- It also tastes well with the Indian main course dishes likes phulka, sambhar rice, jeera rice and many other rice varieties. You can check for the recipes from the rice varieties page.
- Cauliflower is easily attacked my small insects. Utmost care to be taken while cutting florets to check for the little insects creeping within and remove them. On a safer side you can also blanch them in hot water but it should not be done more than 2 minutes else it will consume a lot of oil.
More Cauliflower Recipes