My friend Rob, had this recipe on his Facebook feed and the Accidental Locavore thought it looked great. It came from a new cookbook, Made in India, which I promptly added to my bookshelf (floor actually) and am glad I did (even though I always swear, no more cookbooks, it was justified by donating a bunch to the local library). This serves 4, but you can scale it up or down depending on the size of your cauliflower.
- 1 large head of cauliflower, about 1 ½ pounds
- 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
- 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 5 tablespoons canola or other vegetable oil
- 1 lemon
Preheat the oven to 350°. Line two sheet pans with aluminum foil (or parchment paper) and set aside.
Wash the cauliflower and pull off the leaves. Break the cauliflower into small florets and set aside. Steam the cauliflower in a pot of boiling water and blanch for a minute or microwave for about 2-3 minutes. Drain it really well and let it dry for about 5 minutes.
Using a mortar and pestle, grind the cumin seeds with the salt then add the chile powder and turmeric, followed by the oil. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, you can run the cumin and salt through a spice (coffee) grinder and put it in a small bowl with the chile powder, turmeric and oil. Mix well.
Put the cauliflower on the sheet pans in one layer and drizzle the oil over it. Toss to make sure the cauliflower is well coated. Roast in the oven for about 30 minutes, shaking the pans every 10 minutes to ensure it browns evenly. Put cooked cauliflower in a bowl or platter and squeeze the lemon over it. Serve and enjoy!
My verdict: This is going to be has become one of my go-to dishes! Delicious, simple and easily tweaked. Since I was making Mexican spare ribs, I used lime instead of lemon to give it more of a Mexican flavor and they were perfect together. I steamed the cauliflower in the microwave—it’s faster and rather than getting oil in my mortar and pestle, ground and mixed the spices, then put them in a measuring cup and added the oil. That made it easier to drizzle over the cauliflower before roasting. Since I wrote this I’ve done broccoli the same way, this time with lemon (and I let the steamed broccoli marinate for a few hours in the oil) and it was great!
Glad you liked it! I’ve also been doing it with broccoli. LOVE the bacon fat idea!!
Absolutely addicting. Had to force myself to put it away before I ate the entire head of cauliflower. I used a preheated cast iron skillet seasoned with bacon grease, added a little chopped garlic and drizzled the cauliflower with olive oil. I let it go until it actually started to carmelize and crisp on the edges. My new favorite way to make cauliflower!
Tumeric is really good for you! Enjoy!
have added turmeric & cauliflower to my list….can’t wait!! xx, m