Phulkopir Dalna
Cauliflower fried gold at the edges, potatoes cut big, and a light ginger gravy that goes red at the sides of the pan before the ghee goes in at the end.
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 1 medium cauliflower (600 g), cut into large 5 cm florets
- 2 medium potatoes (300 g), peeled and cut into large 4 cm chunks
- 5 tbsp (75 ml) wooden cold pressed black mustard oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds, 2 bay leaves, 2 dried red chillies
- 1 inch cinnamon, 3 cloves, 2 green cardamom
- 2 tbsp (30 g) ginger paste
- 1 large tomato (150 g), chopped fine
- 1/2 cup (75 g) green peas, fresh or frozen
- 1 tsp turmeric, 1.5 tsp cumin powder, 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp stone-ground red chilli powder
- 1.5 tsp salt and 2 tsp (10 g) sugar, or to taste
- 1.5 cups (375 ml) hot water
- 2 green chillies, slit
- 1 tbsp (15 g) Gir Cow's A2 Ghee and 1/2 tsp Bengali garam masala, to finish
Quantities are scaled up. Taste as you go and adjust the salt and spice.
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December in Bengal, and the cauliflower in the bazaar is the good kind, tight and heavy with a faint sweetness. The florets are cut big and fried in mustard oil until they colour at the edges and the kitchen smells nutty, and then they are lifted out and set aside so they do not go soft. The potatoes go in next. The gravy is built slowly on ginger and tomato until the oil rises red at the sides of the pan. Everything comes back together with a little hot water and simmers, uncovered, until the cauliflower is just done. A spoon of ghee and a pinch of garam masala go in at the end with the flame off, and the lid stays on for five minutes. Then it is eaten with plain rice, and the gravy is thin enough to mix into the rice with your fingers.
Dalna is a light gravy, so the two fats have to do all the work. Wooden cold pressed black mustard oil is unrefined, so it still has its full pungency. Heat it until it smokes and goes pale, take it off for half a minute so the raw sting settles, and it becomes the sharp, savoury base of the gravy. Then Gir Cow's A2 Ghee goes in at the very end, off the flame, where it stays raw and fragrant and rounds off the mustard oil. Cooking the ghee would waste it. That order, mustard oil at the start and ghee at the finish, is how a Bengali kitchen builds this dish.
Do not overcook the cauliflower. Fry it first, keep it out of the pan while the gravy is made, and only put it back for the last ten minutes. Cauliflower goes from firm to falling apart in about two minutes, and once it collapses the whole dish turns woolly. A floret should still hold together when you lift it on a spoon.
How to make it
- Cut the cauliflower into large florets and soak them in hot salted water for 10 minutes, then drain and pat them completely dry. Wet florets will not colour, they will steam.
- Heat the mustard oil in a kadhai until it smokes and turns pale, then take it off the flame for 30 seconds so the raw bite settles. Return to medium heat.
- Fry the cauliflower with 1/4 tsp turmeric and a pinch of salt for 6 to 8 minutes, turning, until the florets are gold at the cut edges but still firm. Lift them out onto a plate.
- Fry the potato chunks in the same oil with another pinch of turmeric for 5 minutes until their edges brown. Push them to one side or lift them out.
- Add the cumin seeds, bay leaves, dried chillies, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. When they crackle, about 15 seconds, add the ginger paste and fry one minute until it stops smelling raw.
- Add the tomato and cook 5 minutes, pressing it with the back of the spoon, until it collapses. Mix the turmeric, cumin powder, coriander powder and stone-ground red chilli powder with 3 tbsp water and add. Fry on low for 2 to 3 minutes until the oil separates and rises red at the sides of the pan.
- Return the potatoes with the salt and sugar and turn them through the masala for 2 minutes. Pour in the hot water, cover, and simmer 8 minutes until the potatoes are nearly done.
- Add the fried cauliflower, peas and slit green chillies. Simmer uncovered for 8 to 10 minutes, spooning gravy over the top, until a floret gives easily to a spoon but still holds its shape. The gravy should be light and pourable, not thick.
- Switch off the flame. Stir in the ghee and the garam masala, cover, and let it stand 5 minutes before serving with plain steamed rice.
Tips
- Fry the cauliflower separately and keep it out. This one habit is the difference between a dalna and a pot of mush. It also gives the florets their nutty, browned edges.
- Sugar belongs in the gravy. Two teaspoons is the Bengali balance. It does not make the dish sweet, it rounds off the mustard oil and the tomato.
- Ghee goes in with the flame off. Raw ghee stirred in at the end keeps its smell. Cooked into the gravy, it is money spent for nothing.
- Winter cauliflower is worth waiting for. Off-season cauliflower carries more water, browns badly and falls apart faster. If that is all you have, fry it hotter and for less time.
- For the niramish version, leave out the onion and garlic entirely, which this recipe already does, and add 1/4 tsp hing with the cumin seeds. That is how it is cooked during Puja.
