TURMERIC CAULIFLOWER CURRY Recipe

{CURRY AU CURCUMA ET CHOU-FLEUR} The idea for each recipe that I post comes from an inspiration. My source this time was David Servan-Schreiber’s book ‘Anticancer’ – the theme of which is how our bodies can prevent & protect us against cancerous cells with a little help from what we eat.

A cancer survivor himself, David’s message about nutrition is clear – there are certain foods that enhance the bodies natural defence system against the formation of cancerous cells, while there are others that diminish it. Tip the scales of your daily diet in favour of the enhancing foods to give your body the best start.

Reduce: 

• refined sugars
• vegetable oils (ie sunflower)
• non-bio fish, meat & dairy
• white flour etc

Increase:

• fruits & veggies (especially red fruits & berries, cauliflower, broccoli, onions, garlic, ginger)
• agave nectar instead of refined sugar
• olive oil 
• bio fish, meat & dairy
• drink 6 + cups of Japanese green tea per day (10 min infusion, drink with the next hour)
• Eating dark chocolate (70%+ cacao) was surprisingly on the list
• the other dark horse was Turmeric

TURMERIC ‘Curcuma longa’, also known as curcuma, haldi or Indian saffron, is an ancient spice from South East Asia.  This fine, bright yellow powder is obtained from the ground rhizome (underground stem), and posses an earthy, peppery flavour with a sweet mustard perfume. It is used for cooking, cosmetics (sunscreen), dyes, gardening (ant deterrent) and medicine.

   

What caught my eye was the marriage between cooking and the medicinale properties of turmeric. For centuries this spice has been used in India as a natural anticeptic & antibacterial agent, and has only recently become a topic of research in the oxidental medical community. According to the book ‘Anticancer‘, turmeric / curcuma is the most powerful natural anti-inflammatory identified to date & can be used as a natural defence mechanism against cancerous cells when used in cooking!!!! IMPORTANT for the turmeric to be absorbed by the body, it must be combined with black pepper and ideally dissolved in oil (ie olive oil). Many curry spice mixes only contain a small % of turmeric, so it is best to buy the pure variety on its own.

I have created a delicious, simple recipe, that uses these essential ingredients and takes only 15 minutes to make.

RECIPE – SWEET PEA Blog

• 300g cauliflower (1 small cauliflower head)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 11/4 tsp turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground mustard
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• pinch of salt
• 2 bay / laurel leaves (dry or fresh)
• 250ml (approx. 1cup) coconut milk

1. Prepare the cauliflower: wash & dry well, remove the the green leaves & stalk, and cut the ‘flower’ into small pieces
2. Spices : mix well with the salt in a small dish
3. In a medium sized suacepan, heat the oilve oil on low heat, add the spices & bay leaves and let cook gently for 2 mintues
4. Now add the coconut milk and mix well until all the spices are absorbed
5. Add the cauliflower and cook COVERED for approx 8 minutes or until the cauliflower is just tender

I normally serve this dish with basmati rice (cooked with 4 black pepper corns, 3 cardamon pods, 2 whole cloves and 1 cinnamon stick). If you find using pure coconut milk is too rich, you can use half coconut milk and half normal milk for this recipe. The sauce will be a little thinner but still delicious.

‘ANTICANCER’:  I would highly recommend reading David Servan-Schreiber’s book  – the French version is currently out in stores, and the English translation will be available on Amazon in Sept. 2008.