Southern Indian Style Cauliflower and Potato Curry

This is my own invention, and is a fairly quick recipe to make up. Make sure that your curry leaves are fairly fresh so that you can taste the curry leaf flavor.

• Ready In: 21 mins
• Serves: 3-4

Ingredients

• 3  potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1⁄2 cauliflower, broken into florets
• 3  tble.  oil
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons black mustard seeds
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons Urad Dal, split white
• 3⁄4 teaspoon cumin seed
• 5  small  dried red chilies, broken into pieces
• 1⁄4 teaspoon turmeric
• 1⁄4 teaspoon hing
• 12  curry leaves
• 1  teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 cup water
• 1⁄3 cup  frozen peas
• 1  table. minced cilantro

Directions

1. In a large nonstick frying pan put the oil, mustard seeds, urad dal, cumin seeds and red chili pieces (add more or less depending on how spicy you want the curry). Heat over high heat until the mustard seeds have popped a bit and the urad dal is light brown.
2. Reduce heat to medium and quickly stir in the turmeric, hing and curry leaves.
3. Add the potatoes, cauliflower, salt and water. Stir to blend. (Make sure that the potatoes and cauliflower pieces aren't too small or they will overcook.).
4. Cover and cook for 8 minutes. Remove cover and check to see if the vegetables are almost done. A lot of people like to add tomato to this curry and if so, you can add diced tomato here, but you won't be able to brown the potatoes and cauliflower if you do that, so it is up to your own taste whether or not to add this option.
5. Turn heat to high for about 4 minutes. Evaporate any remaining liquid and lightly brown the potatoes and cauliflower, flipping them over occasionally with a spachula. By making sure that a few of the vegetables lightly brown, you will end up with a much more flavorful curry.
6. Turn off heat and stir in the peas (optional). Check for salt. Garnish with cilantro.
7. Optional: Add 1 teaspoons sambar powder to the curry the last couple of minutes. Variations: A.) Replace the cauliflower with fresh green beans and eliminate the peas; B.) Replace the cauliflower with 1/2 head of a large cabbage that you have finely diced (peas are good with this but optional). I sometimes reduce the dried red chili to one and add 1 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper--more of a style from the state of Kerala; C.) Make it a mixed vegetable curry adding to the potatoes 1 finely minced carrot, 2 cups fresh green beans, and using the peas; D.) Another mixed vegetable curry would reduce the potatoes to two, add the carrot, green beans, about six largish cauliflower florets, and the peas. I don't like to add peas too early to any recipe, as they become over cooked. Turn off the heat and stir in frozen peas at the end, and the heat will defrost the peas in just a few minutes.