Indian-style Roasted Cauliflower

Indian-style Roasted Cauliflower
Home Cooking



I'm one of those people who find stereotypically 'boring' vegetables like cauliflower and cabbage really appealing. I like cabbage stir-fried till soft. I like cauliflower stewed till almost melt-in-the-mouth mushy. Probably sounds geriatric and awful to everyone else in the world but I love it.

When I was leafing through Jamie Oliver's "Cook with Jamie" for the first time, I felt instantly interested in the roasted cauliflower recipe. I've never had cauliflower roasted before but it just looked and sounded so good. He loosely describes the flavors as 'Indian' but admits it's probably not very authentic.


I pretty much followed the recipe exactly, without being too hung up on quantities/ratio of the spices. One alteration is that I didn't have any whole blanched almonds so I just used almond flakes and roughly broke them up. Also, I didn't have dried chilies so I used a tiny amount of hot cayenne pepper for a bit of a kick.

Indian-style Roasted Cauliflower
Serves 2 as sides

Ingredients:

• 1/2 head of cauliflower, broken into small pieces
• 1/2 tbsp of salt
• 1 tbsp knob of butter
• drizzle of olive oil
• 3 tbsp almond flakes (or crushed whole almonds)
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp hot cayenne pepper

Procedure:

1. Blanch the cauliflower pieces in boiling, salted water for a few minutes. Drain thoroughly.
2. Toss the cauliflower pieces with a knob of butter and drizzle of olive oil till evenly coated.
3. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Grind up the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cayenne pepper and salt in a mortar pestle.4. Combine the almonds and spice and spread on a baking tray. Toast for a few minutes (monitor the tray) until almonds are starting to change color.
5. Add the cauliflower pieces to the tray and toss to coat well with the spice and almonds. Continue to roast for another 5-10min until cauliflower is tender within but slightly crisp on the outside.
6. You can serve with a blob of natural yogurt but I used the roasted cauliflower as a side to my chicken adobo.


Overall, this makes for a pretty decent side-dish. Low fat, tasty but nutritious. The coriander and cumin give it a bit of an Indian flair without being overwhelming.