Spiced Cauliflower

"This decorative dish can be prepared in advance. Bake for a few minutes when ready to serve."
 
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photo by Leslie photo by Leslie
photo by Leslie
photo by Leslie photo by Leslie
Ready In:
35mins
Ingredients:
17
Serves:
8
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ingredients

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directions

  • Soak cauliflower in about 4 cups salted water for ½ hour.
  • Drain and put several half cuts on the stem side of the cauliflower.
  • Steam it until tender.
  • (You may microwave at high, covered, for about 8 minutes.) Heat the oil in a wide skillet on medium to high heat.
  • Stir fry garlic and onions until translucent.
  • Add crushed ginger, green chilies, coriander, cumin, turmeric, and salt.
  • Stir until the onions are golden brown.
  • Add the remaining spices (except poppy seeds and cashews).
  • Keep on stirring.
  • Add tomatoes and ¼ cup water to cook them.
  • Blend in the yogurt gradually and keep on stirring until the oil is separated.
  • Add crushed cashews and poppy seeds and ¼ cup water.
  • Now add the cauliflower, head down, and coat with masala to let everything cook together for 5 to 10 minutes.
  • Place the cauliflower, stump down, in a casserole dish.
  • Coat with all the masala.
  • (Put more cuts in the cauliflower to ensure that all sides are covered with the masala.) Before serving, bake for 15 minutes at 350°F.
  • Garnish with green coriander.
  • You may also decorate with cooked green peas and pan fried potato slices.

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Reviews

  1. We had this for lunch this afternoon. LOVELY! We started off by soaking the cauliflower in 2 tsps. of salted water. I brought down the amount of cooking oil to 1 1/2 tbsps. and lessened the red chilli powder to 1/4 tsp. and I used black pepper powder as a substitute for paprika (1/4 tsp.) as we can't have very spicy food (health and personal taste reasons). I didn't have poppy seeds on hand and I had to leave that out as it's very difficult to get it in Oman. For the cashews, I used broken cashews which I powdered in my mixer (and obtained 2 tbsps. of coarsely powdered cashews) and then used. Before baking the cauliflower as in step 16, I tossed in 1 cup of boiled greenpeas into the dish that contained the cauliflower coated with the prepared masala. I had this with bread and later with plain rice and topped with a dollop of plain yogurt. YUMMY! :) I was most excited with step 4 of this recipe of the microwave - REALLY WORKS SOO GOOD! A billion thanks for that.
     
  2. I tried this recipe this weekend and it came out great! I cut the caulifower into florets and cooked them in the sauce (so I had to add a little more water which cooked off). It came out a tasty dish for our vegetarian potluck and everyone really ernjoyed it!
     
  3. Wonderful! I had no cashews, and forgot to put in the poppy seeds, but it was great in spite of this. This is a really hearty dish and could be served with brown rice as a meal.
     
  4. I made this as part of a big Indian feast for friends the other night, to show them that there is more to Indian food than butter chicken! Everyone asked for the recipe and was amazed(?) vegetarian food could be so good. I made it ahead of time and then reheated it in the oven.
     
  5. Great flavor and almost better the next day as leftovers. I didn't read the directions all the way through before starting, so I ended up pulling the cauliflower apart before steaming it. I then just put all the steamed cauliflower into the sauce and it still turned out great.
     
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Tweaks

  1. Delicious! I ended up cutting the cauliflower in to florets. I used less oil and crushed red pepper instead of dried green chilies and omitted the poppy seeds and cashews. I have never made anything like this before and I'm really looking forward to the leftovers. Thanks so much for posting!
     
  2. This was a delicious way to serve cauliflower, i didnt have green pepper so used crushed red pepper instead.
     
  3. This was wonderful. I didn't have cumin or coriander, so added a little curry powder instead. Also didn't have the poppy seeds or cashews; I'm sure they would have added a little extra something, but it was fabulous even without those things. We aren't vegetarians, but like to eat a lot of veggies, and it's always great to have a new way to prepare them. Thank you, Kusum, I'm looking forward to trying more of your recipes!
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

After a successful professional career of 36 years, I am involved in several activities, for example,: Teach Indian cooking, organize India festival, member of Interfaith Council. Have published a cookbook 'Recipes with a Spice - Indian Cuisine for Balanced Nutrition' available from me at a discount price. Visit [http://www.healthyindiancuisine.com/] Also published 'Hindu Spirituality - A Practical Approach based on the Bhagavad Gita'.
 
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