I'm sorry I've been too scattered to write much. Fortunately you have all probably gotten good and bored and wandered off to greener pastures by now. Just quickly, for the record, I want to note our household's great delight with my experiments with Indian-Chinese food -- that is, Chinese food as it's made in India, or at least as it's made in the happily-assimilated way of a lot of "Chinese" food you can find in the U.S. In particular I am now in love with Gobi Manchurian.

I have become addicted to the dining model in which I make a ton of things on the weekend and then reheat (in the oven, which works remarkably well for many of my favorite wintery dishes) and assemble for the occasion. This dish is no exception, even though it has a fried element. For frying I finally broke out a bottle of crazy high-tech Enova oil I bought a while ago. Apparently it is the most popular cooking oil in Japan. I don't really understand it and have no idea if it is truly healthy in any real way, but it is neutral-tasting and worked fine for my purposes.

The recipe I used is below. It is probably not authentic anything at all, but we both loved it.

MANCHURIAN CAULIFLOWER
1 small or medium cauliflower, broken into florettes
1/4 c. flour
1/4 tsp. cayenne
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 c. water
oil for shallow-frying

Mix the dry ingredients and water in a large bowl to make a thin batter. Add the cauliflower and toss/stir until coated. Fry in batches and drain on a brown paper bag. Clean out your wok and heat 2 tablespoons more oil.

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T minced or grated ginger
1 small onion, 1 large shallot, or 4 spring onions, chopped fine
1 dried red chile pepper
2 T tomato puree or tomato sauce
chile paste or hot sauce to taste
1 T soy sauce
salt to taste
2 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 1 cup water

Fry the garlic, ginger, and onion or shallot for a minute. Add the dried chile, tomato, chile paste, and soy sauce and cook another minute. Add the cornstarch and water. Simmer until the sauce thickens. Then add the cauliflower and toss to coat. Cook another few minutes, until the cauliflower is heated through.

If you are me, transfer to a container and refrigerate until later in the week. Dump the contents into something wide and shallow and ovenproof -- I used a pie pan -- and heat at 350° F for 15 to 20 minutes.