Mshat

‘you shouldn’t want him to stay young, it’s a blessing that he grows up’ Mama says to me over a giggle as we eat our lunch.  She reaches over to squeeze my arm and then quickly refocuses on the mshat on her plate, pushing one into the yoghurt dip and rolls her eyes at me.

My youngest son is six months old today.  We started to give him solid food a few days ago.  It’s a happy time to be moving onto a new stage of his development, but I also feel so emotional that it’s his first step moving away from me.  He has been exclusively breastfed directly from me since he was 4 days old and I am so proud of that.  Both my sons were born early, small and unwell and I have always harboured an enormous guilt about that, compounded by the guilt i felt over the baby i lost last year; why could my body not take care of them, give them the best start and ‘do what it’s supposed to do’?  Because of that terrible guilt and disappointment I have in my own body, I am so glad that I could breastfeed them and give them what they needed while they were on the outside if not on the inside.  Now moving Rupert onto food is happy…. and sad…

So today for lunch we eat Mshat, delicious crispy Palestinian cauliflower fritters, for lunch, Otis will have them for supper and Rupert will gum the steamed cauliflower we put aside for him.

These make a perfect addition to the Christmas get-together and are delicious served warm with a glass of white wine or bubbly.  1 large head of cauliflower makes about 20 large pieces, so will be fine for 5/6 people with other food also offered.  You can make these ahead by a few days and freeze.

ingredients

1 large head of cauliflower

1 cup of flour

½ cup cornflour

1 cup of milk

1 cup of flat leaf parsley, chopped

I glove of garlic, crushed

1tsp paprika

(optional) 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

½ litre vegetable oil

 

method

cut the florets of the cauliflower and steam until soft

in the meantime, make the batter by whisking together the flour, cornflour, milk, parsley, garlic, paprika and red chili if using

a few at a time, place the steamed cauliflower florets into the batter and coat well and then spoon them out and into the hot oil.  Fry until light golden brown, and then drain on kitchen paper.  Serve with our minty, garlicy, cucumber dip and lots of wine!