Fragrant Cauliflower
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Author Notes: I’m always finding a lot of inspiration from the food52 cooks. One of my favorite recipes on the site is Amreen’s Shrimp Biryani. The flavors in that dish are so complimentary and aromatic. I thought the chile paste might go nicely with cauliflower, so I adapted Amreen’s recipe to fit this veggie dish. I prefer a less-dressed veg, but feel free to double the amounts for the chile paste, if you like it wetter. - mrslarkin - mrslarkin
Food52 Review: This recipe was absolutely delicious and very easy to make; I made it a second time using both crushed garlic and minced ginger from a jar and substituting sriracha for the serrano, thus eliminating the need to break out the food processor. Both times it was fantastic. I love how healthy the recipe is and that it happens to be vegan. I doubled the quantities of the chile paste, as mrslarkin suggested others might prefer more, and I was happy I did. If you love sautéed onion you can increase that as well. My husband and I were fighting over the yummy bits of flavored onion left in the pan. - Sadassa_Ulna - A&M
Serves 2 or more
- 1 small head cauliflower, trimmed and cut into florets
- 1/2 inch piece of ginger, peeled
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 serrano chile pepper, seeds removed if less heat is desired
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
- 1/8 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/8 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped, plus more for garnish
- Steam the cauliflower. When I can’t find my steamer basket for the stovetop, here’s how I do it:
- Pour 1 cup of water into rice cooker. Place cauliflower in steamer insert and place into rice cooker. Close the lid and press the “cook” button. Check cauliflower after 15 minutes. Poke it with a fork. Go ahead and taste a piece, even. It should be crisp-tender. Cook an additional 5 minutes if necessary. When done, remove and set aside.
- Place ginger, garlic, chile and cilantro in mini chopper and process. Add a smidge of vegetable oil or water to make a paste. Set aside.
- In a nonstick sauté pan, heat oil on medium-low heat. Add onion and brown lightly. Add the chile paste to the pan and stir to combine. Stir in the turmeric. Add the cauliflower and stir to coat.
- Turn up the heat to medium-high and cook the cauliflower, pressing down with a spatula, or your crushing implement of choice, to caramelize the bottoms. Don’t crush them pancake-thin; keep some heft on your cauliflower. Watch that the heat is not too high. Turn heat down if veg is starting to burn, and/or move pan off heat. Flip and brown the other side. Add just a touch of oil if you think pan is too dry. Season with salt. Sprinkle with cilantro and mint.
- If you'd like, serve with cilantro-mint raita: Mix together 1 cup Greek yogurt with 1 tablespoon each finely chopped mint and cilantro, a few pinches of cumin to taste, juice of ½ a lime and a pinch of salt. Chill until ready to serve.
- This recipe is a Community Pick!
- This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Recipe with Mint
- This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Vegetarian Holiday Side
- This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Cauliflower Recipe
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11 months ago lorigoldsby
Wonderful! The girls at horse camp are going to love this next week, and Sadassa's testing notes are quite helpful!
11 months ago mrslarkin
Mrs. Larkin is a trusted source on Baking.
Thanks Lori. Let me know how they likeit!
11 months ago sdebrango
Suzanne is a trusted source on General Cooking.
What a wonderful recipe for cauliflower, which I find good but a tad bland. This sounds perfectly flavorful and delicious.
11 months ago mrslarkin
Mrs. Larkin is a trusted source on Baking.
Thanks, sdebrango. I agree - cauliflower definitely needs a bit of zsuzsing up.
11 months ago em-i-lis
Emily is a trusted source on General Cooking.
sounds wonderful, liz!!!
11 months ago mrslarkin
Mrs. Larkin is a trusted source on Baking.
Thanks Emily!
over 2 years ago luvcookbooks
Meg is a trusted home cook.
I like the detailed directions in the recipe and luv the name. Will be trying the mint and coriander with yogurt, I'd gotten lazy and just served plain greek yogurt with curry. Thanks!!
over 2 years ago mrslarkin
Mrs. Larkin is a trusted source on Baking.
Thank you, luvcookbooks!
over 2 years ago gingerroot
This sounds amazing!!
over 2 years ago mrslarkin
Mrs. Larkin is a trusted source on Baking.
Thanks, gingerroot!!
over 2 years ago Lizthechef
Looks delicious - you sure have the eye for a great recipe...
over 2 years ago mrslarkin
Mrs. Larkin is a trusted source on Baking.
Thanks, Liz!
over 2 years ago Sunchowder
Ah..Mrs. Larkins!! I do love this recipe, I am saving it to my favs :)
over 2 years ago mrslarkin
Mrs. Larkin is a trusted source on Baking.
Why thank you, Sunchowder. I pulled a thirschfeld and ate the whole entire thing. By myself.