Gobi 65 or Cauliflower 65 is a popular South Indian Starter as well as a good accomplishment for Tea/ Coffee. I often have it with a glass of wine during weekends. Whenever I visit Chennai for office tours I prefer to have typical Restaurant style Gobi 65 there.
Traditionally Gobi 65 is prepared by frying partially cooked Cauliflower florets dipped in a special South Indian Batter. However, in restaurants it is served after tossing in gravy with a punch of Chinese taste. I prefer the wet version i.e. the Restaurant Style Gobi 65 over the traditional version.
Chicken 65 is as popular as the Gobi version however this time I am sharing the veggie version here in Debjanir Rannaghar. This is again another way to add veggies in hubby’s plate apart from Navaratan Korma or Paneer Bhurji especially in Saturday’s dinner( We generally have veg food on Saturdays), since he is not much fond of veggies.
- Cauliflower / Fulgobi / Fulkopi: 1(medium)
- All Purpose Flour: 8 Tbsp.
- Corn Flour: 4 Tbsp.
- Rice Flour: 1 Tbsp. (optional)
- Thick Yogurt: 4 Tbsp.
- Curry Leaves: 10
- Garlic Paste: 1 Tsp.
- Kashmiri Red Chili Powder: 2 Tsp. (Secret for adding beautiful colour)
- Turmeric powder: ½ Tsp.
- Garam Masala powder: 1 Tsp.
- Tomato Powder/ Tomato Sauce: 1 Tbsp.
- Soy Sauce: 1 Tbsp. (Optional)
- Salt: to taste
- Sugar: ½ tsp.
- Refined Vegetable Oil: for Deep Frying
- Onion: 1 Big (sliced thinly)
- Garlic: 6-8 cloves (roughly chopped)
- Green Chili: 2 slit
- Curry leaves – 8-10
- Curd: 2 Tbsp.
- Tomato Powder/ Tomato Sauce: 1 Tbsp.
- Soy Sauce: 1 Tbsp. (Optional)
- Kashmiri Red Chili Powder: 1 Tsp.
- Sugar: ½ tsp.
- Salt to taste
- Refined Oil : 1 Tbsp.
- Wash Cauliflower properly and then divide it into bite sized florets. A medium sized Cauliflower would give around 20 florets.
- I prefer to blanch cauliflowers before adding them to the batter. I've blanched those with plain water in Microwave for around 2 minutes. If you are not available with Microwave then blanch Cauliflowers in hot water for around 2-3 minutes.
- Drain water completely and pat dry the florets.
- Make a paste of Kashmiri Red Chili Powder by adding 2 Tsp. of water. I don't prefer to add additional Red colour to my Gobi 65 and use Red chili powder as my colouring agent.
- Take All Purpose Flour, Corn Flour, Thick Yogurt, Curry Leaves, Garlic Paste, Turmeric powder, Garam Masala powder, Tomato Powder/ Tomato Sauce, Soya Sauce, Salt, Sugar in a bowl and mix them properly to get a smooth, lump free batter. There are few ingredients which are optional but give better taste to the dish.
- Add Rice flour to the mixture. This gives crunchiness to the Gobi 65. Finally add Kashmiri Red Chilli Paste to give ultimate colour to the dish.
- Now Coat each of the Cauliflower Florets with this batter properly and leave those marinated Cauliflowers for around 30 minutes. This step is really important.
- Now heat sufficient Vegetable oil in a skillet and start frying batter coated Cauliflowers till those turns golden brown in colour in medium flame.
- Don't overcrowd the skillet with lots of florets instead fry 6-8 at a time.
- Take the fried Cauliflowers out of the skillet and drain excess oil either using a kitchen towel or tissue papers.
- Now comes the process of making Gobi 65 super crunchy.
- In the same oil fry all the previously fried cauliflowers in high flame for around 1-2 minutes and take them out of the skillet and drain excess oil. This step is extremely important to make Gobi 65 crunchier.
- Traditional Gobi 65 is ready! Next step is absolutely optional to toss the Gobi 65 in gravy.
- Take Oil in a Pan and heat sufficiently. Temper the oil with Curry leaves and add chopped Onions and fry till those turns pinkish in colour.
- Add chopped garlic, Chopped Green Chilies and cook for around 1 minute.
- Add Salt, Sugar and Kashmiri Red Chili Powder to the gravy. Add curd to the mixture and cook for 1 more minutes and add both Soy Sauce and Tomato Sauce and then cook for 2-3 minutes to get semi thick gravy.
- Now toss Fried Cauliflowers in the gravy in low flame and take it out in a serving plate!
- Next….May be some Rice and Daal or a cup of hot Coffee or a glass of wine and Gobi 65!
One thing I would like to add here that I don’t know the reason behind suffixing it with 65! It would be really great if anybody could share the reason for the same….
