I don’t think I can say enough about how amazingly simple and delicious Maharashtrian food is. What I love the most about this recipe is how un-cauliflower-y it is. It takes this funny looking food that makes most American children hide under the table and turns into into a delicious and startlingly sweet treat!

Serves: 5-6

Prep time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• one head of cauliflower
• 5 or 6 green finger chillies
• fresh shredded coconut (not the dried kind you use for baking or putting on ice cream, you can find it frozen in indian stores)
• black mustard seeds
• hing/asafoetida (readily available at Indian grocery stores or even on Amazon)
• turmeric
• salt
• sugar
• canola oil

Method

1. Cut the cauliflower into one inch pieces and soak it in salted water.
2. Finely chop the chillies.
3. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a large, flat pan and add 1 teaspoon mustard seeds.
4. When mustard starts to pop, add 1 teaspoon turmeric and 1/2 teaspoon hing.
5. After a minute, add the chillies and then the cauliflower (drained).
6. Add salt to taste.
7. When the cauliflower is cooked, add 1 teaspoon sugar and mix.
8. Garnish with coconut and serve hot with chapatis. Enjoy!

Looking for other great bhajis (Marathi vegetable curries)? When cooking for a big group, I serve often serve this with Ghevda (green beans), Matar usal (peas), or Palkachi bhaji (spinach) and Toor dal (yellow lentils) for protein.