Mathematics on your plate -- Romanesco with potatoes!

Now I know the title has your interest peaked! Mathematical equation on your plate! you are probably thinking you don't want the plate if it comes with an equation... or if you are more like me, then you are torn between two of the things you like a lot - mathematics and cooking! But don't worry this is a very beautiful mathematics equation which is super tasty and is not intimidating at-all.. okay okay, before you think this girl has lost her mind, let me explain :)

Have you ever heard of fractals? I first learnt about them a few years ago when I happened to stumble across a TV documentary (NOVA) about fractals and since then I have been so amazed with these little known mathematical phenomenon that even on my food blog I can't stop ranting about them :) Fractal is any geometric shape that can be split into multiple small shapes and each of the smaller shape will be an exact replica of the original shape! Now you can inturn split the smaller shapes into even more tinier shapes and they will still be the replica of the original image.. fractals have this recursive self-similarity which makes them so very unique and so very beautiful! Wikipedia has a very good article about fractals here with some of the most beautiful fractal images. If mathematics has ever come so close to beauty, this is it!!!

Now before you wonder where exactly this girl is going with fractals and dry sabzi, let me tell you the connecting link: today's ingredient, romanescos, are among the most admired natural fractals (others are snowflakes, cauliflowers, tree leaves)! There are just so many examples of fractals in the nature, only if we know to look for them :) Look at the picture of romanescos at the end of this post (its a cross between broccoli and cauliflower) and you will know what I mean! Food on your plate can be derived by a mathematical equation, food for thought indeed, right!

(Follow the read more link below for the rest of the recipe...)

Broccoli and Potatoes

If you are like me then you know what I mean when I say that sneaking broccoli into your diet in a "love-it" fashion has been sort of a challenge (well, atleast for me :-)). Don't get me wrong, I love the "concept" of eating broccoli; it's health benefits are well-known and pretty much any healthy cooking show you tune to now-a-days has the hostess screaming eat more greens with a background picture of spinach, kale and broccoli! Well, I love all my greens except for broccoli.... or may be that I just hadn't come across a recipe of broccoli that I really liked. This all changed one evening last week when my husband prepared this broccoli dish!

Now to be fair, broccoli-potato with Indian spices is something I have cooked many times before but always either the broccoli would be too raw, too unwilling to mingle with Indian spices or the whole concoction would be mushy. In contrast this dish was a delight to eat (and not just because I was sipping a Chai and reading a book while my husband was cooking, though that was surely a part of it!) but because the potato was so crunchy and the broccoli was so cooked to perfection... the dish was brought to a whole new level by the sprinkled lime juice-chili flakes and black pepper on top!. I could just eat this dish as a snack without chapati or roti, it was that good! After persistent questions about how this was cooked, finally I learnt the secret: it was the way broccoli was prepared.