Chilli Gobi- The Chinese connection

With the monsoon around the corner, it feels like winter every day with gloomy days with hardly any sun anywhere in sight. Rainy evenings have the best of us craving for spicy warm food, which not only to perk us up but brighten our days. 

These are the times which calls for all those nice appetizer dishes like Manchurians, Pakodas, Bhajjias and the likes. With the search on for a perfect appetizer dish, we can't ignore Chilli Gobi which is commonly found in restaurant menus.Chilli Gobi is very similar to Gobi Manchurian but with spice levels at a new high and more indianised. Also unlike Manchurian, chilli gobi is not a chunky or wet, this is very dry with less saucy stuff.

Things you need:

To prepare cauliflower florets: 2 pinch salt, 1 cauliflower, florets separated, 3 drops white vinegar, 5 cup water

To make the coat for cauliflower: 5 tbsp Maida (Plain flour), 5 tbsp corn flour, 2 pinch Ajinomoto, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1/4 tsp red chilli powder, 1.2 tsp coriander powder, 1/2 tsp salt for bhajji, 1 tsp dark soy sauce (2 tsp light soy sauce), 1 tsp chilli sauce, 3/4 tsp ginger garlic paste, 2 pinch Food grade colour Red (I don't prefer using it), 2 Pinch black pepper powder, 1 cup onions roughly chopped 

To make the gravy: 3 nos onions diced big, 6 nos green chilli slit open, 1/2 tsp ginger finely minced, 1/2 tsp garlic finely minced, 2 tsp red chilli sauce for sauteing, 4 stalks spring onions chopped finely, 4 stalks coriander leaves chopped finely, 2 pinch ajinomoto, 1/4 tsp salt to taste, 4 cup oil for deep frying, 2tbsp oil for sauteing, 1 no capsicum diced.

How to make it:

Blanching Cauliflower: It is better to use a whole medium sized cauliflower which would feed 3 to 4 hungry stomachs' approximately. Separate the florets, wash them and keep aside. Bring the water to boil with salt and vinegar. Add the cauliflower florets to boiling water for 3 minutes. Turn off the stove and let it stay in warm water. Finally drain all the water and pat dry the cauliflower in a clean kitchen towel and keep aside.

Batter for deep frying: Mix maida, corn flour, salt, ajinomotto, turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, black pepper powder, food colour, ginger garlic paste, soy sauce and red chili sauce. Add the steamed cauliflower to the mix and coat. No water is necessary as the steamed cauliflower will release water to make it into a thick paste similar to bhaji batter. Keep adding the florets until you get a thick batter. 

Heat 4 cups of oil and deep fry the florets until crispy on the outside. Just to increase the volume of the dish and its flavour, I usually add some roughly chopped onions and capsicum to the leftover batter to make similar bhajias and add them finally to the fried cauliflower.But this step is optional.

Final dish: Heat little oil, fry the slit open green chilies and then add diced onions, chopped ginger and garlic. It would take roughly 4 minutes on medium flame to become slightly brown. If you want to increase the volume of the final dish you can add chopped capsicum at this stage, but it is entirely optional. Now add the fried cauliflower, capsicum and onion bhajias along with red chili sauce, ajinomotto, salt and green spring onions. Fry over low flame till rolls up to a dry fry in about 6 minutes. Switch off and garnish with chopped coriander leaves. 

This is a very famous Indo-Chinese recipe which works well with fried rice, noodles or rotis but you would be highly surprised if this would ever makes it to the table as it vanishes within minutes of making literally. The real flavor of this dish is in the sauce that gets coated with the cauliflower. No doubt as this will be a great hit at parties.