curried cauliflower and basmati rice (dinner and a movie)

curried cauliflower and basmati rice (dinner and a movie)


Image by postbear
this is a bit of an odd meal for me, in that the cauliflower is roasted at very high heat until it is blackened. i also used a commercial curry powder instead of making my own as one of the local shops was selling tins of malaysian curry powder off very cheaply – it’s not hot at all, but a bit sweet. the flavours of cardamom and cinnamon are prominent. the extreme high heat was a bit of an accident – the first time i made this i was living in an apartment with an ancient stove that took forever to heat up and after checking it a few times i just cranked up the oven as high as the dial would allow. some time later, after checking the stove a few times, the volcano kicked in and my cauliflower was just starting to burn. thankfully it tasted great and it’s been a method i’ve used frequently since.

no recipe: roughly chop the cauliflower, add in onion, parsnips and potatoes or whatever else you have on hand. coat with oil, toss with salt and curry powder and blast on high in the oven until the vegetables blacken (but don’t burn). i use basmati as my standard rice most of the time – making fresh for this meal is fine, but if you have leftover cold rice, toss it into the vegetables when they’re 95% done, then let the rice roast a bit too.

the movie with the meal: leni riefenstahl’s olympia (diving sequence here). yes, i know she was a tool of the nazis. she was also a brilliant film-maker and photographer and olympia is one of the most beautifully shot films out there.

i buggered up the focus on parts of the food, but the plate turned out nicely so i went with it. about the plate: the pattern is saguenay, the manufacturer dominion glass. saguenay was made primarily in this clear pattern, but a few cobalt pieces exist. the clear glass was also subjected to an unappetising layer of fired-on colour in miserable pastels for no reason other than to appeal to people who have no taste or common sense. dominion glass made a few other patterns, notably swirl, but saguenay has always been my choice for its clean look and durability. dominion made these pieces from the 30s through the 50s with various stops and starts, from what i can recall.