Cauliflower Vadai

 CauliflowerVadai : Once again a recipe with #cauliflower. The cauliflower and cabbage available here at Raipur, CG are of smaller in size and tastier than that are available in Chennai and Bangalore.

 Cauliflower  is a low calorie food and rich in Vitamin C and B6. Cauliflower contains sulforaphane which researchers believe eliminating cancer stem cells.

Cauliflower is low in fat, low in carbohydrates but high in dietary fiber, folate, water, and vitamin C, possessing a high nutritional density.

Cauliflower contains several phytochemicals, common in the cabbage family, that may be beneficial to human health.

• Sulforaphane, a compound released when cauliflower is chopped or chewed, may protect against cancer.
• Other glucosinolates
• Carotenoids
• Indole-3-carbinol, a chemical that enhances DNA repair, and acts as an estrogen antagonist, slowing the growth of cancer cells.

Boiling reduces the levels of these compounds, with losses of 20–30% after five minutes, 40–50% after ten minutes, and 75% after thirty minutes.However, other preparation methods, such as steaming, microwaving, and stir frying, have no significant effect on the compounds.

A high intake of cauliflower has been associated with reduced risk of aggressive prostate cancer.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cauliflower

It takes very less time to cook and everybody likes fried cauliflower with batter & spiced up with tomato sauce.
Here comes one more fried recipe of Cauliflower with urad batter which is as good as cauliflower manchurian.

Ingredients :

While grinding urad dhal for idly take out approx. 1/2 cup of ground urad dhal in a separate container and store in fridge.

Ingredients :
Urad dhal batter                              : 1/2 cup
Rawa (sooji)                                   : 2 tblsp
Rice flour                                        : 1 tblsp
Cauliflower                                     : 3 to 4 florets
Onion                                             : 1 small size
Curry & coriander leaves                : a small quantity
Green chilly                                    : 1 (optional )
Black pepper grated                       : 2 pinches
Cumin                                            : 2 pinches
Ajwain [ omam ]                            : 2 pinches
Salt                                                : 1/2 tsp
Oil                                                 : 1 cup

Method :
Half an hour before add rawa to urad dhal batter and mix well.
Keep in the fridge to avoid fermentation.
After half an hour thinly chop onion, nicely chop cauliflower, green chilly, curry and coriander leaves.
Add these chopped ingredients, rice flour, crushed pepper, ajwain [ omam ] and cumin to the batter.
Do not add water. If the batter is watery add 1 or 2 tsp of rice flour.
Heat oil in a kadai and when the oil becomes hot flatten a small ball of batter after lubricating hands with water.
Then put a hole at the center and slowly drop into the oil. Fry 3 to 4 at a time.
  Fry over a medium flame until it turns golden brown.
Take out from oil and place on a tissue/ kitchen paper to remove excess oil.
In the same way try to make vadai in batches.