Achari Gobi, Cauliflower With Pickling Spices ( Lucknowi Style )

            I have been seeing these Achari dishes for a long time, but I finally tried this Achari Gobi only now. I wanted to try something new with cauliflower and decided to do this Achari Gobi, after going through so many variations of this dish, I decided to do this Lucknowi Achari Gobi. Basically 'achar' means pickle and Achari Gobi is actually cauliflower ( gobi ) cooked in pickling spices. The pickling spices used here is a mixture of mustard, fennel, fenugreek, cumin and nigella seeds ( also known as kalonji, onion seeds ). The dish is originally cooked in mustard oil, but as usual I have used a mixture of regular oil and mustard oil, Achari Gobi turned out really good and tasted delicious with rotis..

Need To Have

• Cauliflower - 1 mediuum, broken into florets
• Onion - 1 big, chopped
• Garlic - 6 cloves
• Ginger - 1" to 2" piece
• Green Chillies - 3
• Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
• Turmeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Coriander Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Amchur Powder - 2 teaspoons
• Sugar - 2 teaspoons
• Coriander Leaves - 2 tablespoons, chopped
• Salt to taste

To Grind

• Mustard Seeds - 3/4 teaspoon
• Cumin Seeds - 1 teaspoon
• Fennel Seeds - 1 teaspoon
• Fenugreek Seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
• Nigella Seeds/ Kalonji/ Onion Seeds - 1/4 teaspoon

Original recipe here

Method

          Dry roast all the spices given under ' to grind ' and make a powder with it and keep.

          Grind the garlic, ginger and chilly into a paste and keep, add the cauliflower florets to boiling water, leave for a minute or two, then remove and keep.

          Heat 2 tablespoons of oil, add the asafoetida powder followed by the ground spice powder, mix, immediately add the chopped onions.

          Saute till the onion turns transparent, then add the turmeric powder, mix then add the cauliflower. Add the coriander powder, salt and 1/2 cup of water, cover and cook for 10 minutes.

          Remove the lid, add the amchur powder and sugar and mix for another minute, finally mix in the chopped coriander and remove.

Note
Be careful, not to burn the spices while roasting them or when adding the spice powder to the oil, reduce the heat and do it.
Add more or less chillies according to your spice level.