Sunday 1 February 2009

Knollshire Cauliwobblies in a Secret Sauce

Reading about The Solitary Walker and The-Grizzled-But-Still-Incorrigible-Scribe-Himself!'s delicious soda bread recipes has inspired me! As I mentioned in a previous post, my culinary efforts usually just extend to chutney. However, today I decided to make my Knollshire Cauliwobblies in a Secret Sauce, and to share the recipe with you, dear bloggy friends.

Fear not - I will not give away any giraffe secrets - the meaning of my 'Secret Sauce' is that it varies every time I cook it. The game is that the family have to guess what is in it each time!



The recipe for the version we have eaten today is as follows:

Ingredients:

1 cauliflower for each adult giraffe. (I leave you to judge the amount for humans).

Sauce: (I hazard a guess that this may serve 4 humans).

1 onion finely chopped

1 red pepper finely chopped

Garlic (we put a whole garlic bulb in - crushed, of course. You may prefer a little less).

1 banana medium sliced

Lots of mushrooms!

A pinch of curry powder, (your preferred style).

A little sunflower or other cooking oil

Half a mug of milk.

For the decoration:

2 large thin slices of cheese

Method:

Separate the cauliflower florets and boil in a large pan of water.

Saute the onion in the oil and add garlic, chopped pepper and mushrooms and saute some more.

Add the curry powder and sliced banana, and saute.

Stir in the milk, and boil up into a thick sauce. (You may wish to add more milk depending on how ferociouly you boil, and how runny you like your sauce).

Drain the cauliflower and arrange on plates in a circle. Pour the sauce into the middle and decorate with the cheese. We like to cut the cheese slices so that they melt into the shapes of giraffe markings!

Delicious served with a chilled glass of medium sweet white wine, or apple juice.





Littl' Nicky has his portion all mashed up.

I've put a blank speech bubble on this picture of him especially for you, my bloggy friends ... What fun for you to think up a caption to go in the bubble!

(And if you try the recipe, don't forget to let me know how you liked it!)

26 comments:

Kat Mortensen said...

Sounds delicious, Raph! I wouldn't mind one of your chutney recipes either. I love to make curries.

Kat

Raph G. Neckmann said...

You were very quick there, Poetikat, I've only just finished posting! (I think your time zone there is slightly different to ours). I hope you didn't see all my spelling mistakes before I edited them!!! Let me know how you like the recipe ... and don't forget a caption!

sribbler said...

caption to go in the bubble "need more"..

Raph G. Neckmann said...

Thank you justin manas prince jaspher ligin - "need more" is something Littl' Nicky very frequently says!

Sepiru Chris said...

Ghobi Khumb Masala, Raph!

And you make chutney too!

I knew that the subcontinent had had a monumental impact on Britain, and by extension the entire Commonwealth of Natures...

(slightly self-referential there...)

...From tea to opium to salt taxes to bungalows to chutney and curries...

But, I had no idea that what is now known as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh had had a culinary impact, through the aether, all the way to Camelopardalis!

Or is this an example of convergent culinary evolution?

Giraffes, on earth at least, are largely (well, they are large but I am going to throw another word in here, so keep reading) vegetarian.

So is much of India.

Hmm, things to ponder.

You truly can see much more from being higher up, I guess. It is hard for me to muddle through in the haze, down here.

I just discovered that my last post on the mane event never made it up. I wonder what I did wrong.

Ah well, as the ecologist commenting on global warning in the downs said "Hare today, gone tomorrow".

Thank you for the comment on the site today, regarding the memorial for the father of a friend of mine.

I have a suspicion that readership will taper off sharply after a post like that, but I would love to be proven wrong.

Oops, my telescope is fogging up and the Wondercat keeps sitting on the keyboard and my fingers.

I have to run.

Tschüss,
Chris

The Solitary Walker said...

Thanks for the link! Guess your 'secret sauce' ain't such a secret any more!

Littl' Nicky could be thinking: 'Now I'll try splatting that cloud with my eyes CLOSED!' Oh well, I tried. Hardly Paul Merton or Ian Hislop, I know.

The Pink Cowboy said...

Knollshire Cauliwobblies! I'm going to make this dish if only to pronouce its name. Your giraffes must be really spoiled with all this great food.

Linda S. Socha said...

Ralph Giraffe....
Ok I have to be honest here. I absoloutely do not know ANY giraffes..However, I have always wanted to know at least one!! So this seems to be an awesome beginning!
I am new to your blog and already ( I am getting good at this) I know I am going to love it. I do enjoy exchanging following blog links. Toward that end I invite you to visit Payche Connections
and I have attached myself as a blog lurker to your ramblings with the sincer hope that you will be moved to do likewise ( Exploring new giraffes is not a trivial undertaking.) Hope to see you there and thanks for the great blog!
Linda

Raph G. Neckmann said...

Sepiru Chris - have I then missed a Comment from you re Mane Washing?

I'll be wondering what it was, as I look through my telescope tonight ... unless ... maybe it is wedged inside, or refracted out at an angle and possibly bounced off onto another planet?

Or maybe Pommes the Wondercat sat on the keyboard over the delete button?

Convergent culinary evolution? This sounds interesting. I assume Ghobi Khumb Masala is a recipe? I am not too familiar with Planet Earth recipes yet. Soda Bread is a good start.

I think my family prefer it when I don't do too much cooking ...

Raph G. Neckmann said...

I like the caption, SW!

You will have to enlighten me as to who Paul Merton and Ian Hislop are ...

PS I'm intrigued as to which time zone you are in.

Raph G. Neckmann said...

We do eat well here, Pink Cowboy! Hope you enjoyed cooking the dish and pronouncing the name ...

Raph G. Neckmann said...

Hello Linda! Many thanks for your visit to my blog, and glad you have enjoyed it.

I shall come and visit your blog tomorrow, as it is rather late here in Giraffe World, and I must go outside and bring my telescope indoors before dawn.

Sepiru Chris said...

Hi Raph,

Gobhi is Hindi for Cauliflower.

Kumbh is Hindi for Mushrooms.

Masala is Hindi for a spice mix.

Together they name your culinary creation, the nexcellent Gobhi Kumbh Masala that you prepared for little herd..

We put the Gobhi first, because it is the predominant element by cooked volume and by weight.

We put the Kumbh second as it would be the secondary element by cooked volume and by weight. Masala means there is an Indian spice blend involved (wet or dry).

That is how culinary dishes are generally named in the many states (that I think of as countries) in what remains India of the old subcontinent.

By the use of the banana, I am tending to think that, on Earth, this would be a southern Indian dish. Possibly Keralese Giraffes (I doubt there are many, but everything is possible in India) would recognise it as one of their own...

...

Who knows what happened to the prior comment on the mane event. I like the idea that it bounce to another planet. Maybe another curious creation will read it, and start scanning in their telescope for the intended recipient and the sender and we will both get to make another contact...

Maybe it was meant to be this way?

I will ask the Moirae (Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos) the next time I see them.

(As Camelopardalis seems to have an affinity with Roman times (speed of light maybe?), these three ladies might be better known to you as the Parcae [Nona, Decima, and Morta]).

Tschüss,
Chris

sandy said...

That sounds kind of good, the banana intrigues me though...I might have my husband cook this for me,ha!

Cute cute cute drawing.

Raph G. Neckmann said...

Sepiru Chris, I see you are proficient in many languages!

I wish I was. My small knowledge of Latin stems from my passion for plant names. (Another convergence of Planet Earth and Camelopardalis!) Here our Camelopardalian language would be beyond the hearing range of the human ear. The Interneck does a masterful job of translating.

For etymological erudity, especially with a Roman theme, I think you would enjoy The Middenshire Chronicles, which you can access from my blogroll.

Raph G. Neckmann said...

Thank you Sandy. Littl' Nicky is a cute little toddler indeed who charms everyone he meets with his baby talk!

I hope your husband enjoys cooking the dish!

Heather said...

Your recipe sounds delicious - I shall have to try it when I next have a cauliflower. Your son is saying 'That was cauliscrumptious Dad - can I have some more please?' Thanks for your kind comment on my blog - I like the trees too - now promise me you wont eat all the foliage!

bindu said...

Littl' Nicky says "it's good to eat, but also good to toss into the air and catch!" Sounds pretty good. Now I feel like cooking cauliflower!

The Weaver of Grass said...

It will be on my next dinner party menu, if only for the name! Might try it first on just the two of us to see if our taste is different from that of giraffes!
As for the speech bubble, I am guessing he cannot speak all that well yet and feel he might be saying "more wolliecobblies".

Raph G. Neckmann said...

Thank you Heather - let me know how you like the recipe when you've tried it.

'Cauliscrumptious' - I love it!

I promise I won't eat your foliage ... it is more our wild giraffes who do that kind of thing, which is why we have good fences here!

Raph G. Neckmann said...

Bindu, thank you!

Catch the cauliflower would be a good new sport! Or using raquets, a bit like badminton, but with cauliflower florets ...

I'd better not tell Littl' Nicky or he may take it up seriously!

Enjoy your cooking.

Raph G. Neckmann said...

Wish I could be at your dinner party, Weaver! Let me know how you both like the recipe ...

'Wolliecobblies' is wonderful! Littl' Nicky will love saying that. He tends to make up songs using words he likes, so doubt we'll be hearing a lot of it!

(I wonder if it could be incorporated into a haiku?)

Sepiru Chris said...

Dear Raph,

You ask, I deliver:

Tschüss,
Chris

Wolliecobblies haiku:


Serve wolliecobblies.
Follow with eyes; swing racket!
Thwack; microflorets.

Raph G. Neckmann said...

You are brilliant, Sepiru Chris!

What a wonderful word-picture your haiku conjures up.

I shall be thinking about this all evening now ...

The Solitary Walker said...

Merton & Hislop are the resident team leaders on the telly programme 'Have I Got News For You'. (Probably not that well known to giraffes - who probably prefer 'The Natural World' or old re-runs of 'Zoo Time'.

Time zone? I wonder myself sometimes. Feels like more of a time warp at the moment.

Raph G. Neckmann said...

Thank you Solitary Walker. I've never watched that programme, (or the two animal ones!) I do have a penchant for Heroes and, as you know, the X Factor. My supreme favourite earth programme has to be Gardener's World.

These time zones are confusing - it is currently 2.05pm here, but I'm sure my comment will have a completely different time underneath it ...