Biryani: Spicing Things Up

Biryani: Spicing Things Up... My mom sent me this wonderful packet full of Indian spices, dried lentils, and crispy onions this week. She gets it from a spice shop (also where she gets the Dukkah which I have no started buying from Trader Joe's). I love veggies, roasted, sauteed  steamed, grilled, you name it. I think veggies have their own flavors that often are enough on their own with perhaps just ta little olive oil, salt and pepper. But sometimes it's fun to spice them up.

Lately I have been roasting a lot of cauliflower. It's one of those veggies I forget about but now that I'm on a roll I have not been forgetting to pick it up every week, furthermore it's been a hit with the other consumer of my evening meal. When I mentioned last night that the cauliflower was getting a little face lift I was greeted with suggestions that "it's good the way it is" or "just do half with the new stuff". But, alas, I used it on the whole head of roasted cauliflower and it was gobbled up very quickly.

Biryani - it seems as I have researched this blend a bit that there are many variations. Unfortunately my package doesn't seem to include ingredients per se but based on what I've read I think it includes some spices such as cardamom, clove, coriander and saffron  Along with dried lentils, garlic, and crispy onion. I'm sure there are many more ingredients but those are the ones that I can definitely taste and that I have seen mentioned in many recipe's for making the blend yourself.

On the Menu:
Seared Tuna, sauteed Broccolini, and Roasted Biryani Spiced Cauliflower.

The Tuna: 
I actually bought really nice fresh tuna steaks this week from a new local market called Mariano's. They were very thick, almost 2 inches and so they took a while to sear but there was a definite difference in the quality. I marinated them for about 15 minutes in olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper then just gave them a nice crispy outside and a medium center. Not totally rare.

The Broccolini:
Sauteed with olive oil and a pinch of salt.

The Cauliflower:
Chopped into even bite sized pieces, drizzled with olive oil and baked at 350 or 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Once they were golden with some slightly crispier browner pieces I pulled the baking sheet out and turned the oven off. I sprinkled two spoonfuls of the spice mixture over the roasted cauliflower along with a pinch of salt and then used the spoon to mix all the pieces up to get them more evenly coated. Then I popped the baking sheet back in the oven for a few minutes on a low rack while my tuna steaks finished  up.

The Spices!

Roasted and tossed 

Din Din

I served it all with a lemon wedge - I love fresh lemon on just about everything - and dinner was served! Low fat, low carb and super flavorful. It was pretty quick too - besides for the 40 minutes in the oven for the cauliflower the tuna and broccolini only take about 10 minutes.

Hope everyone enjoys this healthful and Dahlicious meal!!