Warm Cauliflower with Nigella Seeds

I never get to work from home unless something major happens.. like today. So our IT guy decides to wipe out  my hard drive without backing anything up and me, obviously did not back up or save my extremely important documents that I have worked for the past 2.5 years. I was furious at first but regardless of what happens, all that work needs to be done. I just could not fathom sitting down and staring at the computer typing endlessly inside my office. So this rare 'work from home' was much needed to finish some work from the comfort of my bed with bottomless tea. 

Maybe someday I will get to work from home like I have always wanted to but for now let's pretend that I do okay. So my idea of working from home involved lazily peeling myself out of bed...and getting back to bed with a lot of  tea (their Green Tea is my favorite) and working until late morning. Normally, morning is a rush hour in between taming my hair and finding something that does not need ironing. It was a nice breath of air to lounge in my sweats and leave my hair messy - isn't that one of the perks from working from home? 

When lunch time rolled around, I took a quick break and made these cauliflower with nigella seeds. I am not sure if I should call this a warm salad, a side, or an appetizer because it really could work either ways. The original recipe is from my ecookbook (warm potato salad with nigella seed) but to make it whole30 friendly, I substituted cauliflower and it turned out great.

Nigella seed is also known as black cumin, black sesame seed, black caraway, and black onion seed. They are used a lot in Indian and Middle Eastern Cuisines in curries, bread, salads etc. This sesame look alike seed has a nice combination of onion, black pepper, mustard, and oregano and they taste best if dry-roasted before using.  In Arabic culture, it is known as Habbatul barakah, meaning the "seed of blessing" and believed to be a remedy for all diseases except death (click here for more on its health benefits). 

Enjoy it as a side or if you are hungry and need something more substantial, top it with fried eggs....been there done that! After all this working from home wasn't bad, heck I even had time for a decent post with a recipe on a day I normally don't post. Okay I am off to bed now..someone has to be back at the office tomorrow. Do you guys work from home? If you don't, would you like to? 

Warm Cauliflower with Nigella Seeds
Author: Dixya @ Food, Pleasure, and Health
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1/2 small head of cauliflower, washed and cut into small florets
  • 2 teaspoon neutral oil
  • 1 teaspoon nigella seed
  • 1 teaspoon chopped jalapeno (or use 1 teaspoon red chili powder)
  • 2 tablespoon water
  • salt, to taste
Instructions
  1. Steam cauliflower ( I used pan-method for about 6-7 minutes until soft but not mushy).
  2. In a medium pan heat oil and fry nigella seeds until it is fragrant for about 1 minute.
  3. Add cauliflower to the pan and stir everything together.
  4. In a small bowl, mix jalapeno (or chili power) with water then pour in the pan. - Continue cooking for another 4-6 minutes until the water evaporates.
  5. Season it with salt as needed.
  6. Serve it warm.
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