Phulgobhi Tarkari (Cauliflower Curry)

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With winter (which is almost nearing an end at our side here in Australia) comes dry skin. The environment can be quite harsh. With temperatures reaching in lows -5 at nights we have our heaters turned on at highest to keep ourselves nice and toasty. Heaters and hot showers dries my delicate ageing skin. Although I can moisturise most parts of my body but we all know it’s difficult to reach our backs. I once invested in a moisturiser applicator for the back but it didn’t do a great job like a pair of hands would. My DH dislikes the stickiness of the creams so he refuses to put it on for me bahhhh! 😫 When I beg and plead him to put some on he responds with a “yeh peeth hai??😱 Isko peeth kehte hai kya? yeh toh peettha hai peettha!!! Hinglish translation – is that a back? You call this a back? It’s not a back it’s a surf board!! Such wonderful terms of endearment lol. Now that leaves my daughter Mishka who is too young to understand how and what to do.

So if there’s no moisturising then your poor back ends up suffering from severe draught followed by cracks, flakes and an itch that makes you want to force someone at gunpoint to scratch it!!! I’m sure you don’t need to know all these gross details on a food blog but please continue reading. Anyways, recently my back was itching really bad…bad enough to almost bring me to tears. I tried the back scratcher mum gave me (shaped like a hand attached to a long handle with slightly curved fingers) but that felt like I was marking crop circles with the hairs on my back. I tried to guide my daughter to scratch but she got in her acting mode and pretended to be my masseuse instead. I was on the verge of throwing myself on the floor and rolling around like “I was on fire” kinda crazy when I remembered something my mum used to do back in Fiji. It used to make me giggle everytime I saw her do it. She used to look so helpless yet comical.

I then decided to use my mum’s method as the last resort. So there I was, with my back leaning on the corners/edges of the hinged side of my bedroom door looking like I was attempting a seductive salsa with it from the rear. Just lean your back against it (unclothed of course) and move side to side and wriggle up and down. Like your hesitant scratchees fingers this method doesn’t target only certain spots…it gets to your entire back! Woohoo!! With your scratchees method you actually end up more frustrated as you plead with them to move a bit to the right, no left, no up a bit and just a little down and they just never seem to get it! With my mum’s method I was in scratch heaven. It was almost euphoric! Just make sure no one catches you in action or they will think you have a strange fetish with your door! As for mine we now share a special bond. This winter it was the Salsa…next will be the Lambada! Wooppaa!!!💃

* Kids please do not attempt this stunt at home and adults ensure your doors hinges and corners of your walls are strong enough to cope with the rough handling – try at your own risk!

Ingredients
3-4 Cups Of Cauliflower Florets
1 Small-Medium Sized Onion
2 Medium Sized Tomatoes (I used Roma variety)
1/2 Tspn Jeera/Cumin Seeds
2-3 Garlic Cloves
2 Tbspn Oil
Salt To taste

Method
• Cut Cauliflower florets, wash and set aside.
• Slice onions lengthwise and crush the garlic.
• Chop tomatoes roughly.
• Heat oil in a pan and add jeera/cumin seeds. Allow it to lightly brown.
• Now add onions and saute till browned.
• Next add chopped tomatoes and cook till slightly mushy.
• Finally add the Cauliflower florets and cook covered on low heat settings until done.

This dish is best served with roti/chapati.