Indian Butter Cauliflower

No meat required, when you have dishes rich in flavours like this Butter Cauliflower. I remember the first time I tasted Butter Chicken was in Montreal at Le Taj. Naan breads slathered with ghee and garlic and all the chutneys opened my eyes to another level of taste possibilities. This became a ritual and would go at least once every couple of weeks to sample new dishes, but always ordered the butter chicken to play it safe. This dish was created in Northern India around 1950 and is similar to Chicken Tikka with the addition of more butter and cream to make the sauce silky smooth. This interpretation is quite mild and smooth. The cauliflower is charred which gives the dish a nutty flavour and sauce is rich and spicy.

INGREDIENTS
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 Teaspoons corn starch
1 Teaspoon ground cumin
1 Teaspoon ground turmeric
3 Teaspoon Garam masala
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
3 Tablespoons butter
1 Onion finely chopped
3 Garlic Cloves minced
2 Teaspoons Chopped ginger
2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
1 medium head of cauliflower cut into florets1 medium head of cauliflower cut into florets
1 Teaspoon paprika Hot
1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
2 Cups Vegetable broth
1 Small can of Coconut milk

INSTRUCTIONS
Cut the cauliflower in floret and place in a bowl in which you will add the cornstarch and lemon juice, salt & pepper to taste. Mix well and let the mixture rest for about 15 minutes.
Using a large saucepan, heat the vegetable oil until it starts to smoke. Stir in the cauliflower florets and saute until they start to char at the edges. Once they have a golden color with some burned edges, remove them and place them on a plate.
Add on a few more tablespoons of vegetable oil and saute the onions until they start to caramelize and brown. Add the garlic, ginger and cook for a few minutes. Add all the spices; Paprika, Garam Masala, Cinnamon, Turmeric, Cumin, salt & pepper and cook for a few minutes, until the spices become fragrant.
Add the butter and then the cauliflower back in the pan and cook for another minute or so, until the florets are covered with the spices. Add the vegetable broth, the tomato puree, the tomato sauce and cook at medium heat for 15-20 minutes. After 15 minutes, add a small can of coconut and cook for another 10 minutes. The cauliflower florets should still be firm to the tooth.
Sprinkle a little greek yogurt with some Cilantro and serve.

The dish can serve 4 people easily, especially if you serve it with Basmati rice. It freezes very well and can also be served as a side vegetable with any other Indian dishes.

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑

%d bloggers like this: