Monday 28 October 2013

Cauliflower Curry with Mint & Green Chilli

I'm rather new to this Cauliflower thing. I didn't really think it was good for anything other than being smothered in cheese... until now. My husband on the other hand is an avid fan so this recipe was created to satisfy his craving for this bulbous old veg. And it turned out to be quite something. 

A common addition in most of my curries is a fairly ridiculous amount of garlic. It never occurred to me that you might leave the garlic out. I'm what you might refer to as a garlic fiend. But as it turns out removing the garlic really lets the other ingredients shine and this curry in particular, with the addition of mint, has a wonderfully refreshing, almost zingy flavour. 

Firstly I made up a curry paste in a small food processer, you will need:

2 small white onions finely chopped,
1 sliced green chilli,
1 tsp ground turmeric,
1 tsp ground cumin,
1 tsp garam masala,
½ tsp ground coriander,
¼ tsp hot chilli powder,
2 sprigs of mint leaves, ripped.


​Mix together until you have a coarse paste then heat 1 tbsp coconut oil in a heavy based pan. With the heat at medium add the paste to the pan, let it sizzle lightly and release its aromas for a minute or two. Prepare 250ml vegetable stock in the meantime. Add the florets from a full head of a medium-sized cauliflower, to the pan and coat with the paste. Pour in your vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Mix together well, turn down the heat to medium then simmer for 30 mins until the sauce has reduced / thickened. While this is cooking, bring a small pan of salted water to the boil and cook your basmati rice, as per the instructions on the packet. I like to make sure my rice is only-just cooked, keeping to the minimum cooking time to prevent it turning to stodge. Taste along the way to be sure.

​Once you feel that the sauce of your curry is thick enough and your cauliflower tender enough, remove from the heat. Rip up another handful of mint leaves and mix into the curry with 1 tbsp black onion (or Nigella) seeds. 

I love the simplicity of a recipe like this. Relatively short cooking time and a great return in terms of flavour. You can adjust the amount of chilli powder and/or chillies to your taste but the overall flavour is gorgeously aromatic.

No comments:

Post a Comment