Recipe: Warm, Crunchy Broccoli Salad

I love broccoli, but it's not really used in Indian cooking, so when I'm making Indian food for dinner and I have some in the fridge, I'm not always sure what to do with it.  Yesterday, we had a salad with a ginger-y dressing, dal with spinach, brown rice with saffron, tomato-cilantro-chaat masala raita, and diced yams with ginger and dried cherries, and I served this warm broccoli salad alongside.  This is not exactly an Indian recipe, but the flavors complemented the other dishes.

Warm, Crunchy Broccoli Salad for 4 as a side dish

3 small heads of broccoli, florets chopped into bite-sized pieces and stems peeled and chopped, and steamed until al dente

2 cloves garlic, minced

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

2 tbsp. almond butter

1 tbsp. olive oil

1/4 cup apple cider

freshly ground black pepper

salt

(I like to steam broccoli with a small amount of water in a covered microwavable dish.  It's quick and you lose fewer nutrients compared with blanching.)

In a saute pan, warm olive oil on medium heat and add garlic, and allow to warm until garlic is softened and olive oil is permeated with the garlic.  Put into a large bowl.  Put the apple cider into the saute pan and let it boil on high heat until it's reduced to a more syrupy consistency.  In the large bowl, combine the warm garlic and olive oil mixture, reduced cider, lemon juice, almond butter, and salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste, and toss with the still warm broccoli.