Quick post – Char grilled Broccoli with cherry chillies n garlic tadka – The best way to enjoy broccoli

September 18, 2011

Hey..hey ..hey…Summer is not over yet. So what if the leaves are turning yellow and the weather is getting colder. I am still not ready to say Goodbye to all those gorgeous berries and vegetables. Sunshine and fresh produce that is what I am going to miss the most about the summer but not the Heat – no way!! 🙂

So this post is the last post for Food Network’s summer fest. It was really fun participating and trying out new recipes. Especially I really stepped out of my comfort zone for my Tomato – Basil ice cream. I am so proud of myself.

Back to the summer fest, this week’s main ingredient is “Broccoli”! I used to hate this green weird looking vegetable till I had amazing pita pockets at one of the Greek restaurants in Pocatello,ID. And that had fried broccoli in it so there was nothing not to love about it. So I started experimenting and now I really like broccoli. But I still cannot eat it raw :(.

At first I wanted to post about Roasted broccoli soup but it did not come out well. If you have nice recipe for that, please leave a note below. It was a bummer.

So rather than experimenting on new stuff I thought to share our favorite Char grilled Broccoli (side) dish. Actually I will not just call it a side dish, because it is good as salad or I can just eat it as my main dish. It goes very well with marinated minty tofu n rice. You won’t imagine what bit of char-grilling, chilli and garlic can do. Just give it a try. You will start loving broccoli even more. I guarantee that.

Also do not forget about my “Brown bag challenge”!! This is what I had for my lunch today.

Char grilled Broccoli with Cherry chillies and garlic tadka

(Adapted from http://gourmettraveller.wordpress.com but with bit of my changes)
serves 2-4

Total time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 big heads of broccoli
5 Tbsp of Olive oil – use less if preferred
1 tsp of Soy sauce
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 mild red-hot cherry chillies/jalapeno thinly sliced/diced
coarse sea salt
black pepper

Method:

Separate the broccoli into florets and blanch in boiling water for 2 minutes – don’t be tempted to cook longer!
Remove immediately to a bowl of ice water, then drain and leave to dry completely. Use paper towel if needed.

"Boiling Broccoli"

"Broccoli cooking process"

Once the broccoli is dry, toss with 3 Tbsp of the olive oil, soy sauce and a generous amount of salt and pepper. Place a griddle pan on high heat and leave for 5 minutes until smoking hot. Grill the broccoli in batches on the hot pan, turning to get lovely char marks on all sides.
While the broccoli is cooking, you can prepare tadka for it. Place the remaining oil in a small saucepan together with the garlic and chillies and cook on a medium heat until the garlic begins to turn golden brown. Be careful not to let the garlic and chilli burn – they will continue cooking in the hot oil even when off heat.
Pour the garlic and chilli oil over the hot broccoli and toss well. Season to taste and serve immediately or at room temperature.