A while ago, this green goodness wasn’t as popular as it is in India today. Some people still have no clue although I don’t blame them. I believe it was not as abundantly consumed as it was in the west then. Maybe because it hasn’t got that “yum” feeling like fried okra/ladies finger or say even its closest cousin cauliflower. Even for me, it was an acquired taste after trying a lot of different recipes. A couple of years ago, My husband who once ate a very scrummy starter made out of broccoli and cheese somewhere on a night out in chennai kept insisting me to try it with cheese. And as usual I kept on delaying it as I wasn’t a big fan of broccoli then. Then finally, I decided to give it a go. Much to my surprise, I fell in love with it straight away. Although what my husband ate was a tandoor oven grilled broccoli with cheese which will probably take a long time to cook, my version is a very easy one as I do like to spend time doing other things than cooking all the time on some days. This recipe is great for any season and will please your little ones as long as you are generous with the cheese on top.

So here is all you need :

Broccoli florets – As required

Grated cheese like cheddar or mozzarella – enough to coat each floret

Salt & Pepper – To taste

Clean the florets thoroughly in warm water and separate them into neat bite size portions. Take a microwave safe wide bowl and place these florets and sprinkle some water. Cook for 3 minutes in full power and remove to make sure that it hasn’t turned too dry. If it does look a bit dry, sprinkle more water and again cook for another 4 minutes. At this stage, it should’ve cooked enough to be able to pierce through a fork easily. Now, add salt and give it a good shake so it gets mixed well. Then add the grated cheese all around to get it evenly across the bowl. Now microwave for two more minutes or till you can see the cheese just starting to melt. And thats about it really. All you do is sprinkle some black pepper and serve.

I don’t think I have got a great picture in here but I can vouch for the deliciousness!

Some suggestions :

1. When you are choosing a microwave safe bowl, try to pick one that can be used for serving too as some cheese and broccoli is going to get stuck under and it may not be easy to transfer the entire portion into another serving bowl. We have found the best way is to probably eat it straight from the bowl.
2. For a prettier look, you can stick each of them onto colorful toothpick sticks which will also be mess free. But this might not work well elegantly with kids
3. You can also slightly roast them in a pan before melting it with cheese in the microwave.
4.  This dish is best served immediately with all the warm stringy-gooey cheese