Jul

29

Cauliflower Leaves - three ways

July 29, 2007 |

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Gardening is an exercise in optimism. Sometimes,
it is a triumph of hope over experience.
- Marina Schinz

The In Season series is a web diary of the gardening successes and mishaps of two eternally hopeful novices. The ladybug above will lead you to previous posts in the series.

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As a kid, I remember, when my mom returned from work, along with her bag of vegetables from the local market would be a bunch of cauliflower leaves.

In India, at vegetable markets, vendors usually have a pile of freshly plucked cauliflower leaves ready to be thrown away, as they sort and clean the day’s produce and prepare it for sale. The only creatures who seem to relish them are the cows.

My mom ate them once at a friend’s home and quite liked them. She started asking the veggie vendors if they had any. They were happy to give her as many as she wanted, for free. Late Sunday afternoons were fritter times. She would fry up a storm of pakoras and bhajias - potatoes, onions, cauliflower flowrets, plantains, whatever was around. My absolute favourite were the cauliflower leaf fritters, ‘cos they were super crisp and wonderful tasting.

These blue-green leaves are packed with vitamins A, C, and antioxidants.

J had never tasted them, and it’s hard to find them in grocery stores in the U.S., where the cauliflowers are stripped down to the flower. Since we grew cauliflowers this year, we had plenty of leaves, and I must admit to liking them a lot more than the cauliflower itself. Plus, they don’t have that cauliflower odour.

For nostalgia’s sake, and to introduce him to this favourite childhood treat of mine, we fried up a storm. Cauliflower leaves are sturdy and have a relatively low moisture content. J was totally charmed by their crackling crispness. If we’re deep-frying something, it had better taste this good.

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CAULIFLOWER LEAF PAKORAS

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Wash and pat dry 12-15 medium cauliflower leaves. It is important that they are totally dry.

Preheat 4 inches of vegetable oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet to about 360 F.

Soak a marble-sized piece of tamarind in warm water for a couple of minutes to extract about two tablespoons juice.

Whisk together in a bowl, 2 cups chickpea/ flour (besan), 1/4 cup rice flour, 1/2 tsp each chilli (cayenne) powder and cumin powder, 1/4 tsp ajwain (bishop’s weed) and salt. Add the tamarind extract and just enough water to make a batter thick enough to coat the leaves completely without sliding off - like pancake batter. Taste it to make sure it’s well-seasoned.

When the oil is hot, dip the whole cauliflower leaf in the batter, make sure it’s completely coated, and slide it in the oil carefully. You can fry three or so at a time.. Stay away from the pan, ‘cos if the oil gets through the coating, you may have some spluttering action. Fry them until they are golden brown, turning them over once. Drain in a paper-towel lined plate. Let it sit on the plate for 2-3 minutes, to drain and firm up a bit.

Serve with ketchup, chutney or accompaniment of choice.

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CAULIFLOWER LEAF AND ONION BHAJIAS

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Chop up the cauliflower leaves, add about half the quantity of chopped onions, add them to the pakora batter. Take 1 to 1.5 tablespoons of the veggie batter in your hand, and drop it (very gently) in the hot oil. You can make five or six at a time. Turn them over once, and remove when golden brown and crisp.

These will not be as crisp as the pakoras, but have an interesting flavour dimension because of the onions.

Edited to add: We were using up left over pakora batter. If making batter especially for bhajias, these tips posted by our reader Vishakha (see comments) are useful:
“To get the onion - cauliflower leaf bhajjis to be more crispy try this : mix the chopped onions, leaves into dry besan +spices. Let rest for 15-30 mins. Mix again and add only as much water as you need to get the dropping consistency. American onions have a lot more moisture than Indian ones and usually you’ll need very little - at this point whey is better than water if you have it handy.”

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CAULIFLOWER LEAF SPIRALS (PATRA / PATRODE / ALU WADI)

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These spirals are normally made with colocasia (arvi/taro) leaves and are deep-fried. We made this guilt-free absolutely delicious version with cauliflower leaves.

We followed Anita’s recipe @ A Mad Tea Party. They turned out great. (There’s a reason why we call it ‘the idiot-proof blog’.)

The two things we did differently -

** Cauliflower leaves (ours were large), may have a tough and thick inner rib. Making a ‘V’ cut on the leaf, take out the entire inner rib. It makes it much easier to roll. The roll in the picture has the rib intact. We removed it for the next batch of spirals. It was MUCH easier to work with.

** We steamed the rolls, cut them vertically into spirals, then sauteed them in a pan. Splutter 1/2 tsp each mustard seeds and white sesame seeds in 1 tsp oil, add some curry leaves. Toss the spirals in this mixture until a tad crisp. Use a steel or cast-iron pan. They were delicious. You can also shallow fry them with a coating of rice flour or semolina.

Also See
Pel’s Gingery version
Shilpa’s Coconutty version

Other recipe ideas for Cauliflower leaves:

Kashmiri-style HAAK
Maharashtrian-style PATAL BHAJI

- b.

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47 Comments so far

  1. Suma Gandlur on July 29, 2007 8:02 pm

    Great pictures. Never seen a cauliflower leaf or heard about these recipes before.
    Want to know why you add tamarind extract to pakora batter.
    Does it help in anyway?

    just gives a tangy taste - my mom also used to add tamarind. - b

  2. Manisha on July 29, 2007 8:21 pm

    Whoa! That’s a lot of deep frying for a no-fry zone! :D

    Your homegrown cauliflower is poster-pretty!

    we exhausted six months of our deep-fry quota in one evening. :-) b.

  3. sra on July 29, 2007 8:29 pm

    The spiral looks nice.

  4. pelicano on July 29, 2007 8:35 pm

    Beautiful food pics; I especially like those whole-leaf pakoras! It is a shame that these leaves are normally wasted, but when I buy cauliflower from the open markets they normally include the surrounding leaves so I cook them as well.

  5. archana, mama of twins on July 29, 2007 8:36 pm

    These look so perfect for a nice rainy afternoon with spicy chai. I have never heard of eating cauliflower leaves either. If the cows like it, why not?:)!

  6. archana on July 29, 2007 8:42 pm

    Making the spiral patra is an excellent idea. Would like to try it :)Pakoras look tasty :)

  7. Anita on July 29, 2007 8:46 pm

    My mum would always add whatever leaves there would be still sticking to the cauliflower to whatever she was cooking with it. And when they were from Dad’s garden, there would be a lot! And they do, indeed, make a swell haak!

    BTW, you are supposed to slice off most of the vein on the alu leaf too ;-) but I forgot that time…I think (hope) it got addressed in the comments though…so much for the idiot-proof bit…

    I, too, was shocked to see the phrase ‘deep-fry’ even mentioned here!! But the photo is proof. :lol:

  8. musical on July 29, 2007 8:50 pm

    I love this post! Brought many great memories of my childhood…..ah! the bliss of homegrown vegetables!

  9. Sig on July 29, 2007 9:00 pm

    Hmm never tasted the leaves before… you guys are deep frying stuff, must be good…

  10. tee on July 29, 2007 9:38 pm

    Never knew that cauliflower leaves could be eaten and that too in such a delicious way! Thanks for this gyaan :)

  11. Suganya on July 29, 2007 9:50 pm

    Everyday is a learning day in the blogging world. Today I learnt cauliflower leaves too are edible :)

  12. Mary on July 29, 2007 10:20 pm

    My mom used to cook these leaves too- but as thoran.. She used to cook plantain peels too… I always thought she must be the only one doing that… Now I know she’s not alone… The pakoras are a must try…Thanks

  13. Mary on July 29, 2007 10:21 pm

    And yeah.. looks like patra can be made with so many kinds of leaves.. Thanks for that too!

  14. Jyothsna on July 29, 2007 10:52 pm

    I always use the cauliflower leaves in aloo gobi, tastes good! I never thought of pakodas and patras!

  15. Srivalli on July 29, 2007 11:00 pm

    Excellent idea…one doubt…did you use the leaf in layers or chopped?…

    Srivalli
    http://www.cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com

    for the pakoras, the whole leaf. for the bhajias, chopped. for the patras, the whole leaves rolled and steamed, then chopped into spirals. - b.

  16. Rachna = Dumel on July 30, 2007 12:01 am

    wow, u blew me away with this post… cauliflower leaf pakoda reminded me of spinach leaf pakoda that i love to have, but i bet this one was much more crunchier… and patra is a cool idea too… im gonna try thoran too, sounds good…thank u so much for the ‘gyaan’ as tee said…..please guys dont ever stop blogging :)

  17. Padma on July 30, 2007 1:39 am

    That looks awesome, Bee! and you guys must have enjoyed them through….This will be added to my list for India’s visit ‘To-eat-list’ for sure ;-)
    Thanks for sharing

  18. gvbarve on July 30, 2007 2:33 am

    Hey bee,
    I thought of making pathrode in turnip leaves usually thrown to bin.I made thuvayal( course chutney)out of it.I thought of making pathrode other than colossia leaves.What a coincidence.I made it and took a snap.Every time you blogged it first.Difference is You presents as a journalist,I am not.thanks for sharing.I loved your pics!!

  19. Raaga on July 30, 2007 3:07 am

    My mom makes these as well.

    When we make patrodo at home, we hit the rib portion down with a kitchen stone. That should help too.

    Great stuff :-)

  20. Nupur on July 30, 2007 3:38 am

    Ah, everything looks beautiful, and the patra…you can see every speck of red chili powder. What an appetizing picture!

  21. Asha on July 30, 2007 5:22 am

    So good to see some fried stuff in your blog!! YAY!!! They all look delicious!
    I bought two huge Cauliflower yesterday but they have them stripped them naked! Not one tiny green leaf on them. Daannngg!!!:D

  22. pelicano on July 30, 2007 5:23 am

    Oh thank you for the pingback! I actually planted some taro/arbi root thingies and they did sprout- and I have a few leaves now, but quite water-demanding I must say! And to side with Anita: wow! I see deep-fried stuff! ;-)

  23. richa on July 30, 2007 6:39 am

    pakoras look crisp, ready to be savored NOW :) loved the addition of imli :) patra is a great idea

  24. Kanchana on July 30, 2007 6:47 am

    Simply Awesome! I love your gardening series. It is SO fascinating to read. The vegetables from your garden look so inviting, and beautiful. The food just seems more interesting, delicious, and fresh when we see the produce straight out of the ground!

    Thanks for sharing and keep it up! You guys should write a book on your gardening series.

    Kanchana

  25. Coffee on July 30, 2007 7:10 am

    If you show this to any of the bhajiwalas, they are gonna start selling this at a higher price than the cauliflower ;)

    I have only seen naked cauliflower over here. :(

  26. sia on July 30, 2007 9:09 am

    patrode with cauliflower leaves??? now thats somethig i would definately try

  27. sia on July 30, 2007 9:10 am

    only if i had known that we can use cauliflower leaves in cooking i wouldn’t have removed the cauliflower plants from our veggie patch :(

    so did you get any cauliflowers? - b.

  28. Manasi on July 30, 2007 9:34 am

    Wow!! looks Yum! never thought cauliflower leaves could be used so effectively.

  29. Mekhala on July 30, 2007 9:39 am

    Awesome! They remind me of the malabar spinach bonda/bhajji my mom used to make, crisp and yum. Ofcourse, those leaves are not as firm. So, mom would layer atleast 2 leaves together and dip in the batter. We call the whole leaf ones bhajji or bonda and the chopped-&-dropped-spoonful ones pakodas.

  30. Vishakha on July 30, 2007 9:58 am

    To get the onion - cauliflower leaf bhajjis to be more crispy try this : mix the chopped onions, leaves into dry besan +spices. Let rest for 15-30 mins. Mix again and add only as much water as you need to get the dropping consistency. American onions have a lot more moisture than Indian ones and usually you’ll need very little - at this point whey is better than water if you have it handy. This is what I do to make the Maharashtrian Khekada(crab :-)) bhajji.

    that’s a great tip, vishakha. we had pakoda batter lying around already, so used it up, but if we’re making the batter just for bhajias, we’d do it your way. - b.

  31. Poonam on July 30, 2007 10:29 am

    your blogs are so full of information!! love reading them…beautiful as always!

  32. neroli on July 30, 2007 11:07 am

    I *love* the cauliflower leaves also! Thank you, dear Bee, for suggesting Anita’s recipe for patra for them—I’ve used the recipe w/ ruby chard and collards—never the cauliflower leaves.
    It’s so great to see new things!

  33. Dee on July 30, 2007 11:33 am

    wow! what a treat!! these look divine and yes, my mother always mixes her pakoras in dry besan and add water later , bcos we always used the white/ sweet onions at home in india instead of the red ones.

  34. mandira on July 30, 2007 12:07 pm

    i like all three, glad we didn’t have to choose. That would have been tough!

  35. evolvingtastes on July 30, 2007 6:42 pm

    You guys are something!! I have heard of lots of things, especially foodwise, but cauliflower leaves being cooked I had not heard of. Love your pictures, and oh, I loved the pictures of your road trip too. Coming late to the party, but thanks for sharing those.

  36. roopa on July 30, 2007 7:31 pm

    wow thats interesting recipes. but i never got to use cauliflower leaves :0

  37. Sally on July 31, 2007 1:04 am

    I’ve never heard of cooking cauliflower leaves also. However, it’s interesting since it’s packed with vitamins and completely edible.

  38. priyanka on July 31, 2007 6:25 am

    Thats such a unique recipe with the cauliflower leaves… thans for sharing

  39. sharmi on July 31, 2007 8:55 am

    wonder how it tastes!! looks so good though. first time I here of this recipe.

  40. What’s wrong with this picture? » jugalbandi on July 31, 2007 7:31 pm

    […] Cauliflower Leaves - three ways […]

  41. Oscar on July 31, 2007 8:12 pm

    Since those cauliflower leaves have vitamins, I wonder why this wasn’t considered as a food back then. It has something to offer, so it’s definitely worth trying.

  42. Pat on July 31, 2007 8:14 pm

    Since those cauliflower leaves have vitamins, I wonder why this wasn’t considered as a food back then. It has something to offer, so it’s definitely worth trying.

  43. lakshmi on August 8, 2007 2:47 am

    earlier this week i discovered that radish leaves were edible, and now i bump into your post!!! :) patra with cauliflower leaves seems like a great idea.

  44. E-D of Indian Vegetables » jugalbandi on August 29, 2007 7:15 pm

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  47. pinky on February 18, 2008 5:04 am

    there’s one more typical bengali receipe wd couliflower leaves and its tastes gr8 when mixed wd rice n eaten…
    all u hv to do is to cut the leaves into small pices n just bake it a bit so that it gets bit soft and then grind it wd fried red chiili and kalounji(black jeera) and garlic into a fine paste… and then heat the kadai put little oil and add the paste into it and fry till its dry…
    try this receipe .. u wd really love it

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