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Cauliflower Masala – Hearty and Delicious

This cauliflower masala is creamy and hearty, full of delicious toasted spices and oven-roasted, tandoori-style cauliflower.

Creamy cauliflower curry

Spring may be here when I write this post but the nights are still cool and a hot meal goes down a treat! This creamy cauliflower masala is so yummy, full of toasted spice flavour. My whole family loves it and I think yours will too!

The Masala

I’ve called this a masala because a masala is a mix of spices, and that’s exactly what this dish has

It’s a vegan dish, with spices, coconut cream and tomatoes as the base. The cauliflower florets are also coated in spices and yoghurt before being oven baked. Coconut yoghurt, dairy yoghurt or even coconut milk with a little lemon juice all work for this step!

Creamy cauliflower curry

A stocked spice shelf is what you need in the kitchen to make humble ingredients shine. It is so much fun experimenting with spices and tastes to create dishes.

The ingredients and spices

This masala has fenugreek, cumin seed, Garam Masala, coriander seed, fennel seed, turmeric and chilli. The spices are pounded and toasted before being blitzed into a curry paste with ginger and garlic.

Sliced almonds, chopped tomatoes and coconut cream finish it off.

The cauliflower florets are coated in a spiced yoghurt and oven baked prior to being added to the sauce. This gives them a slightly charred taste, similar to tandoori.

As with most dishes that use spices, the flavour deepens overtime. This means the sauce is perfect to make in advance. You can simply roast the cauliflower at the time of serving and warm up the sauce.

We eat this with crunchy fried poppadoms and rice.

Cauliflower Masala

Cauliflower Masala

This masala is creamy and hearty, full of delicious toasted spices and oven-roasted, tandoori-style cauliflower.

Ingredients

Spices For Curry Sauce

  • 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds or ground fenugreek
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds or ground cumin
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds or ground coriander
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds
  • 1/2 tsp Garam Masala
  • 1 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1/4-1/2 tsp ground chili optional

Curry

  • 1 medium brown onion, finely diced
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 3 cm fresh ginger
  • 1 tsp salt (plus more to taste)
  • 1 bunch coriander leaves and stalks
  • 4 tbsp liquid coconut oil or olive oil
  • 1/2 tbsp coconut sugar or brown sugar
  • 400 grams canned chopped tomatoes
  • 400 ml coconut milk
  • 1/2 cup sliced almonds optional

Cauliflower

  • 600 grams cauliflower florets and stalks
  • 3/4 cup greek or coconut yoghurt coconut milk with a squeeze of lemon juice works too.
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin or crushed cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika
  • 1 tsp salt
  • black pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Unless making the sauce ahead of time, begin with the cauliflower.

  2. Break the cauliflower up and cut it into small florets. Place it in a bowl.

  3. Mix the yoghurt with the 1 1/2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp sweet paprika, 1 tsp turmeric , salt and pepper and coat the cauliflower. Set it aside.

  4. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius and grease an oven tray.

  5. Tip the cauliflower on the tray, spread it out and bake it until soft, around 20-25 minutes. Let the edges of the cauliflower brown up

  6. Then, combine the spice seeds for the curry sauce into a mortar and pestle or blender and grind them as fine as you can. Add them along with the ground spices to a large frying pan and toast them over medium heat until fragrant.

  7. In a blender, combine the garlic, ginger, coriander stalks (set the leaves aside for now), oil, salt and the toasted spices. Blitz into a paste.

  8. Heat the same pan over medium-high heat and add in 1 tbsp coconut oil. Add the diced onion and saute until it starts to caramalise.

  9. Add the paste to the pan with the onions and fry it for another 5 minutes. Add a little more oil if it starts to stick.

  10. Add in the chopped tomatoes, almonds, sugar, and salt and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Pour in the coconut milk and lower the heat to low-medium. Simmer the curry for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally until it has slightly reduced.

  11. Roughly chop up the coriander leaves and stir through the sauce at the end of cooking. Season more to taste if necessary. Serve with rice, naan or poppadoms and a sprinkle of sliced almonds and fresh coriander.

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