Cauliflower

Well wonders never cease. Sure, Israel is at war and school has been cancelled in the south, and the entire country is glued to the TV or radio, and yet life goes on.

Yesterday, on a quick trip to the supermarket, I came across these beautiful, colourful cauliflower. Who knew that in Israel, in an out-of-the-way little city, you could get such things. I picked them up in the hopes that they would be regulars at the market but, trusting my well-honed Israeli shopper instinct, I knew that this may very well be a "one-off". Into the cart they went, and as soon as I got them home, I photographed them, steamed them, and then fried the life out of them.

My mother's fried cauliflower salad is my all-time favourite salad, but it hardly ever gets made. For one thing, there is the frying to contend with. Once fried, seldom is their enough left over to make salad. Allow me to explain.



Fried cauliflower salad has a number of cooking phases. The cauliflower first needs to be cooked or steamed. Then it needs to be dipped: first in flour seasoned with salt and pepper, and then in egg. Finally, it is shallow-fried on three or four sides depending on the shape of the floret.

Now comes the salad part. Once all the cauliflower is fried, my mom then lets it drain on paper towels. People walk in and out of the kitchen all day, taking the occasional floret as they pass by. My husband sneaks one, and then a second, just as unabashedly, and just munches away until someone physically needs to unlock his jaw from the plate. This is where the salad part comes in. If, after say five hours, there is any cauliflower left, my mom will put the squeezed juice of a lemon, some chopped parsley a little salt over the leftover fried cauliflower, and place in the fridge until ready to serve. The combo is amazing, and my disappointment today in having no cauliflower left over was palatable, and yet not as bad as if they had all been white cauliflower.

The different coloured cauliflower had a variety of tastes, and the steaming plus frying got rid of the bitter edge, letting you taste what was going on. The green tasted a lot like white cauliflower, yet even after its treatment in my kitchen retained some bitterness. The yellow was sweet, with a hint of carrot, and the purple, had a taste of artichoke. All in all, great eating.

I think Israel may be OK if, in a small town, in a small country, that is basically at war, we can talk and eat coloured cauliflower.