Mom's Green Cauliflower Masala - A Mother's Day Special!

A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.

- Sophia Loren, Women and Beauty

I'm dedicating this post to my Mom for Mother's Day! There have been a few random thoughts floating around in my head for the last few days, whenever I thought about Mother's day. Those thoughts were mainly about my mom and on what to gift her for Mother's day. The more I thought about it, the more I decided to come up with something original. And then a couple of days back, as I was driving to work, I slowly started wondering why not for this mother's day I dedicate a post for her! Though all mothers deserve recognition and appreciation throughout the year, I thought when there is one such special day created called Mother's day completely dedicated to mothers, I should use this opportunity to write a special post for my mom and make her Speciality-dish to let her know that she is special today! So, this is going be a long post :)

I read this quote somewhere - The moment a child is born, a mother is also born! I undeniably think that a mother's qualities are already built inside a woman, but comes out only when she becomes a mother. From then on, her role of motherhood becomes everlasting. I think mothers make the greatest impact in our lives, especially in girls' lives. No matter how "grown-up" we all claim to be, there is always something that we learn from our mothers in every stage. I'm a mother now, and I can understand how much hard work and dedication is required to raise a family. I've also learnt that being a mother never gets easier, but it just gets different in every stage! Things that didn't make sense a while back, make sense to me now. In today's fast paced world, in spite of having everything that I need in my finger-tips today, and having so many amenities all around me like Cell phones, Internet, Car etc., raising my only child has been a challenge for me everyday. And, I always get amazed how my mom was able to bring-up four kids those days without complaints! She has incredible patience with kids and is a very good listener - she's never tired of listening to our ramblings and daily musings, a good friend to all of us - yet strict when needed! Most of all, she takes interest in our individual activities - whether its education or career, music or dance , cooking or shopping, or even when we have nothing else to do but chit-chat! She's been a part of everything. Even now, she continuously encourages me to sign-up for music, dance and meditation classes that I left back as child. I think she still watches her middle-aged children for signs of improvement :)

As I type this post, I'm able to recall all her special qualities. My mom has this great determination and inner-strength that makes her very special to all of us within our family. We 4 sisters are hardly 2 to 3 years apart in age, and we all of us pretty much grew up together demanding attention simultaneously. Its amazing when I think how she managed during some of those hard-hitting days when we used to fall sick one after the other, when we all had exams around the same time, and when we relocated frequently due to dad's official demands. To me, taking care of our individual health and education needs, managing the household, while giving the same amount of attention to all of us, is too much to handle. But she did it without flaws and I've often heard her say that she never ever had any regrets in her life that she had to bring-up four girls with very little help and I've always admired her perseverance! This is one thing that I think all mothers need to possess. Oh, I have to share this! My mom is very good looking! We all have heard countless compliments from friends and relatives while growing up and those compliments continue till date :) She is very fair, slim and looks much younger for her age. Believe me, she was named as her college's "Beauty Queen" during one of her college years! She still has her annual magazine that has her name and title :)

Now we all sisters are well educated and established, and have taken different directions in our lives. But I'm sure we all still think about her in the back of our minds and try following her foot-steps in our day-to-day lives knowingly and unknowingly. I'm sure she had given up many things for herself, to make us become who we are now. But after saying all these great qualities of my mom, I'm asking to myself - Do I have all of her qualities ? Frankly, not all of them. I still have a long way to go in some aspects, but I'm also getting better in some aspects. As I work on it everyday, I have a big hope to become a great mother like her one day!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO YOU AMMA AND TO ALL MOTHERS!

Moving to the recipe, today I made this Green cauliflower Curry that is Mom's speciality. Honestly, I've not tasted this dish anywhere else till date. When I think about some dishes that has mom's special touches, this one stands-out for sure. It has an incredible flavour and tastes quite unique than other cauliflower dishes. This is an ideal dish if you are looking for a change from your regular gobi sabjis for Rotis. Green , luscious and the fresh corriander flavor is the highlight in this dish. Hope you all like it too!

Ingredients:

• Cauliflower - 1 medium flower
• Onion - 1 medium (chopped finely)
• Shredded Coconut - 4 tbsp
• Green Chillies - 4 small
• Fennel seeds - 2 tsp
• Garlic - 1 pod
• Curry leaves - about 10 leaves
• Corriander leaves - 1/2 cup (chopped)
• Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Procedure:

• Cut/break the cauliflower into medium size florets and wash them thoroughly.
• Make the following to a smooth paste - Coconut, 1 tbsp of the chopped onions, garlic, curry leaves, corriander leaves, fennel seeds and G.chillies. Set aside.
• In a large pan, heat oil and season with cumin seeds. Now add the remaining chopped onions and fry in high heat for 2 mins.
• Add the cauliflower and fry for 4 - 5 mins in high heat. Add the paste, salt and 1 cup water and mix well.
• Cover and cook in low heat for 10 mins or until the cauliflower is completely cooked. Increase the heat and saute until it becomes thick.

Serve hot with Rotis or Rice.