Garam Masala Tuesdays: Roasted Masala Cauliflower

by Shumaila

Sorry for being MIA. Haven’t been feeling too much love for the laptop and technology, keeping myself busy with other things. Of course, as a result, the blog always suffers! And since one of the ways I have been keeping myself busy is cooking, it also means recipes piling up in my folders! But, hopefully I should be taking care of them soon.

Luckily, I have GMTs to pull me out of my technology-detoxifying sessions. 🙂

When my in-laws were here, my mother-in-law made this roasted masala cauliflower dish for us. Its a fairly straight forward and easy to make dish and was a welcome change from the usual cauliflower dish I make. So I thought I will share it with you for this week’s Garam Masala Tuesdays.

If you have been following the past few GMTs, I have been cooking a lot with whole spices. If you haven’t become a convert yet, I hope you do soon. Whole spices opens a new dimension of flavors for you and will make you wonder why you didn’tcook with them earlier.

ROASTED MASALA CAULIFLOWER

The cauliflower in this dish is first roasted in the pan and then finished off in the oven. My mother-in-law says that dish can be prepared with a whole cauliflower as well, but I have never tried it that way, finding cutting the cauliflower into huge florets an easier way to eat the dish.

The amchoor in the dish provides a fruity tang to the cauliflower and is the star of the dish besides the whole spices.

Amchoor is basically raw mango powder. It is made by pulverising sun-dried, unripe mango fruit into a fine pale beige to brownish powder.

Amchoor is an essential ingredient in chat masala.One teaspoon of amchoor has the equivalent acidity of three tablespoons of lemon juice. So, if you don’t have amchoor on hand, feel free to use freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Ingredients

  • 3 tbsp oil
  • 4 cloves
  • 2 big bay leaves
  • 2-3 dry red chillies
  • 3 green cardamom pods
  • 1 black cardamom
  • 2 inch cinnamon stick
  • 1 cauliflower, cut into huge florets
  • 1 small onion
  • 6 cloves of garlic
  • 1 inch piece ginger
  • 4-5 green chillies
  • 2 tsp coriander powder
  • 1 tsp turmeric powder
  • 2 tsp cumin powder
  • 2 tsp amchoor (preferably)/ lemon juice
  • a generous pinch of roasted cumin powder
  • 1 tomato, quartered

Directions

  1. Puree onion, garlic, ginger and green chillies with 1/4 cup water in a blender or a food processor. Keep aside.
  2. Chop the cauliflower into huge florets.
  3. In a little more than usual oil, (I used 3 tbsp but  I am sure my mom-in-law used more) take the whole spices- cloves, bay leaves, dry red chillies, cinnamon stick, green and black cardamom and let the oil get fragrant.
  4. Add the florets of cauliflower. Brown it.
  5. Add pureed onion mixture and cook on med high heat. Cook fr 4-5 min.
  6. Add in the ground spices- coriander powder, turmeric, cumin powder and salt, to taste. Mix well.
  7. Add in the amchoor/ lemon juice.
  8. Preheat oven to 35o F.
  9. Transfer the cauliflower into an oven proof dish.
  10. Quarter a tomato and add it to the cauliflower. Sprinkle the dish with roasted cumin powder and bake for 20 minutes, till cauliflower is tender.
  11. Serve sprinkled with chopped cilantro.