Add oil to a pan with the chillies, heat till you can smell the chillies. Toast the sesame seeds and coconut flakes till they just start to turn brown.
Add to a blender or food processor with the garlic (I used my trust Vitamix which makes micemeat of the sesame seeds)
Refrigerate for, oh I don’t know, several months? It never lasts that long in my house.
I was introduced to the idea of preserved lemons through a Moroccan recipe with whole preserved lemons. Preserved lemons are routinely used in India but as pickles – never cooked over heat directly.
My first attempt ended in failure, I used chilies and lemons and salt and had a horrid fungal growth within a week . For my next attempt I used whole lemons with salt as instructed without chilies and I kept off the fungus for a full 5 weeks.
My 3rd attempt (I am persistent) I went the Indian pickle route- I sliced the lemons into eights and I added turmeric with the salt. It worked, the preserved lemons stayed good for months. I now sometimes add whole spices, all-spice berries and peppercorns and dried red chilies etc to different batches and I refrigerate my preserved lemons.
I use these lemons in dals ( wonderful in dal-fry) and pastas. They are particularly good in cold pasta and couscous salads.
Meyer lemons work better than regular lemons. Limes work even better, the picture below is of preserved limes.
Recipe:
4-5 lemons or limes- preferably organic- washed and dried – they need to be dry, very very dry
I wrote this recipe down a while ago. This pasta is a huge hit at our house, the only real work is breaking down the cauliflower. I love recipes that cook for a while without much intervention. The Marcella Hazan recipe adds a half cup of onion (in place of the garlic) and doubles the butter. Sacrilegiously, I like my version better. At the end, the cauliflower should be soft enough to break down. I remember a America’s test kitchen episode where they discussed how the grassiness of cauliflower goes away with a longer than 20 min braise. This is important in this dish
Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower- finely chopped into florets
4 cloves garlic
1 cup vegetable stock
1 can tomatoes
1 cup cream
2 tbsp butter
Melt the butter, add the garlic and cauliflower, let it sizzle. Add tomatoes, cook for 10 min. Add the stock- cook for 20 minutes till cauliflower is soft. Add cream. Add salt to taste.
Add pasta, top with parmesan.
The cauliflower, butter, tomatoes and cream get together to make magic.
Delhi Girl Meets Food 