Ghar pe Gourmet: Cauliflower Purée with Kodo Millet Polenta

Kartik Pendse brings together a delicious cauliflower and kodo millet meal with a genius leftovers-to-bestovers recipe. Photos by Nachiket Pimprikar.

I recently got married and started dealing with the arduous task of meal plans and prep. As a chef and restaurateur, I couldn't let food become a chore. That’s where I started Ghar pe Gourmet. 

Ghar pe Gourmet was born from a desire to revisit my reasons for falling in love with food. The joy was in the very act of cooking, and not tied to whether the creation was good or not. I just want to create fun food from simple ingredients, enjoy an hour of feeling like a child playing with my favourite toys, and hopefully get more folks to join me.

Gusteau was on point when he said “Anyone can cook”. I believe that everyone should. 

This cauliflower recipe was born out of desperation. It was fridge clean-up day and there was a relatively sad looking cauliflower that I had ignored for quite some time. Coincidentally, that week, my cousin-in law started her own company trading in organic groceries including millets. We had decided to eat cleaner, lighter meals for dinner and I was working on a recipe for a restaurant that involved cauliflower so it seemed fortuitous to cook it.  

This dish would pair well with a nice crisp white wine or a rice ale or the millets beer from GSA.

Recipe for Cauliflower Puree with Kodo Millet Polenta

Ingredients
1 small-mid size cauliflower
1/2 a katori kodo millets
3 tbsp garlic cloves
100 g paneer
1-2 green chilli
Mint, to garnish
10-15 leaves basil
Chilli crisp/dried chilli for tadka
Salt, to taste
1 pinch black pepper crushed
1 tsp honey
Olive oil (extra virgin)
Ghee for cooking the garlic and the chips

Method
Wash and soak the millets in 1.5 bowls of water
While the millets soak, clean and cut the cauliflower, — trim the stalk and slice it thin for chips.
Cook the cauliflower and the millets in a cooker (3-4 whistles on mid high flame should be enough)
While the cauliflower and millets cook, pan fry the garlic in some ghee.
Fry the chips in a medium of your choice and salt them when it’s hot.
⁠Blend the cooked cauliflower, pan fried garlic, olive oil, honey, salt and pepper to a smooth puree. Use water to adjust for the right consistency and season with salt and pepper.
Chop the green chillies and basil and mix it with the drained millets. Squeeze half a lime and some salt and mix again.
Plate with the puree first followed by the millets in the centre.
Place the chips and mint leaves on the millets for some height and drama
End with a drizzle of chilli crisp/tadka, and honey.

Kartik Pendse is a chef and food entrepreneur who has spent all his working life with food and all that this deceptively simple word stands for. Kartik is the chef and restaurateur behind the much-loved Fooze (now closed). He is presently heading up his second venture, Scribble Foods.

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