Braised Tofu and Cauliflower in Curried Coconut Milk

I realized earlier today that I hadn't had anything new this week and would have nothing to blog about. So I turned to Mark Bittman's book and opened it at random. I wanted to have something a) good, b) new and c) something with cauliflower to use up the remnants from last week. The recipe I stumbled upon certainly seemed to fit the first two, and a bit of modifications made it fit the last as well.

Braised Tofu and Cauliflower in Curried Coconut Milk

3 large onions, cut into eighths

1 28-ounce can of tomatoes (with liquids)

5 cloves garlic

1 dried chili pepper

2 tbsp neutral oil

Salt and pepper

1 tbsp curry powder

1 tbsp garam masala

700-900 grams tofu, blotted dry and cubed

2 cups cauliflower florets

1.5 cups coconut milk

Combine the onion, tomatoes, garlic and chili in a blender or food processor. Purée. Add oil to a deep pot over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the pureed mixture with the salt, pepper and spices. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes: until it becomes saucy. Meanwhile parboil the cauliflower (toss in boiling water for a few minutes) and add the cauliflower and tofu to the mixture. Cook for about about 5 minutes and stir in the coconut milk. Bring to a boil and cook for a little bit more. Serve over rice.

Serves 5?

I thought I'd made it too soupy, but once it was over the rice it turned out quite nicely: with a hearty and complex taste. I'm not quite sure how many it serves, my parents and I all had a meal out of it and there were plenty of leftovers.

Restaurant: Raja Fine Indian Cuisine

I was up in Stratford today, seeing A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum with the 'rents. It was funny with good performances all around except for the mother. The bar at intermission didn't even have completely outrageous markups, actually relatively competative vis-à-vis certain bars. Their premium wine seemed overpriced though, it was something like $9 for a glass of Jackson-Triggs (I guess "premium" has a different meaning in the theatrical world?) Afterwards we went to Raja, which my boss had recommended to me.

The waiter brought over papadum with chutneys, including an excellent cilantro one. Still smarting over the "potato incident" at Massey's I made sure to push for getting dishes with a lot of potatoes.

We got the Aloo Gobhi, Sag Aloo and the Mixed Vegetable Dupiaza. All with potatoes and all very good. My parents vetoed dal, as they are of the opinion that I eat too many lentils as it is. The only quibble I would have is that I was hoping that the dupiaza, at least, would be a little spicy. But I guess they know their audience and don't want to rock the boat spicewise. I should have asked for it to be hot, which probably wouldn't have worked but at least I'd have known they made the effort. It was a nice place though and apperently they opened up a twin restaurant in London. So I can agitate for that one if people want to go for Indian.

Raja Fine Indian Cuisine
10 George Street W, Stratford, Ontario

Restaurant: Savera

Food critic Joanne Kates once glowingly reviewed an Indian restaurant in Toronto. During the course of the glowing review she said how it was so nice that there was finally an Indian restaurant that catered to the upper class. All the others, you see, were centered on serving the plebeians and thus could not devote the proper resources to preparing sauces and such (I'm paraphrasing, but not by much). Savera is not the kind of chic-chic Indian place that Kates was lauding. It's a cute, small family-owned place that has good food.



Like many Indian places, I find the waiters are very attentive and are always refilling my water glass. I like having water, though the problem is I inevitably drink it whereupon it is filled up again and the cycle continues. The end result is that I leave the restaurant having had far too many glasses of water. We maybe ordered a little too much food – though its never a bad thing to have leftovers. We started off with samosa, which were solid – not great. Next we had some naan and rice (we had too much naan and not enough rice) with the Aloo Gobi, Channa Masala and Dal Makhani.



I really liked the Aloo Gobi, though then again I always like the Aloo Gobi. As always, I secretly prefer the potato element. The Dal was a little soupy, but that wasn't a problem for me when spooned over rice. The chickpeas weren't my favourite but they did a pretty good job with them. For those who like that sort of thing, the ambience was very nice: there was a lot of light and the interior was pretty. All in all, an enjoyable meal.

Savera Indian Cusine
815 St Clair Avenue West, Toronto, ON