The Musette: vegan “butter” cauliflower

Posted on 03/10/2020 by

36 Comments

One of my beloved’s favourite Indian dishes is butter chicken but could I make a vegan version that would satisfy us both, since neither butter nor chicken figure in my regime? Instead of chicken, I’ve used a whole roasted cauliflower and then made appropriate changes to the sauce to make the dish both vegan and plant-based. And, you know what? It’s delicious!

Ingredients (serves 4 hungry cyclists)

Whole roasted cauliflower

  • 1 large head cauliflower
  • 1 tbsp neutral flavoured coconut oil
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 1/2 tsp tumeric
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • sea salt
  • juice from 1/2 organic lemon

Sauce

  • 2 medium yellow onions
  • 1 thumb-sized piece ginger
  • 3 fat cloves garlic
  • 1 tbsp garam masala
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 400g (14oz) fresh tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder (optional)
  • 1 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 120ml (1/2 cup) filtered water
  • 1 tbsp neutral flavoured coconut oil

Method

1.Pre-heat oven to 190°C/170°C fan/gas mark 5 (375°F/350°F fan).  Carefully rinse the cauliflower, leaving the last few outer leaves.

2. Mix all the dry spices with oil and lemon juice, season with salt. Brush the cauliflower with the spiced oil mix.

3. Place the cauliflower in a cast iron pan or skillet, add 2 tbsp water to the bottom of the skillet and roast it covered for up to 20 minutes.

4. Uncover the cauliflower and baste the cauliflower with any oil and spice drippings from the bottom of the pan.

5. Roast the cauliflower for  a further 20-30 minutes until it’s golden brown and tender in the core.

6. Begin the sauce whilst the cauliflower is roasting. Mince the garlic and ginger and peel and slice the onions thinly.

7. Heat the oil on a medium heat and sauté the onion, garlic and ginger with the garam masala, cumin, ground coriander and salt until the onion has softened. This is the point where you add the chili powder if you want it spicy.

8. Add the tomato paste, tomatoes, water and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and let it simmer for 20 minutes.

9. Using a stick blender, blend the sauce until smooth, add further seasonings to taste. Pour it into the pot with the cauliflower and let it heat through for another 5-7 minutes.


10. Serve the “butter chicken” with whole-grain basmati rice studded with raisins, chickpeas and pistachios, a few spicy pickles, a sprinkle of chopped coriander and a dollop of plant-based yoghurt.


Sheree’s Handy Hints

1.I generally make much more sauce than  I need so that I can freeze some for next time, and then I’ll have dinner ready in no time. Also, the flavours get better over time.

2. You can substitute cauliflower for broccoli (25% shorter cooking time) or root celery (25% longer cooking time) or romanesco (same cooking time).

3. You can substitute fresh tomatoes and tomato paste with a similar weight of canned tomatoes.

4. Feel free to make it even spicier with more chilli.

5. If you’d like the sauce to  be creamier, add some plant-based oat cream or yoghurt to taste.

 

Category: Food and WineTags: , , , ,

36 Comments on “The Musette: vegan “butter” cauliflower”

  9. Pingback: The Musette: vegan “butter” cauliflower — View from the Back | Ups Downs Family History

  15. 👋 this Is Derrick interesting top didn’t know you could do so much with cauliflower im vegan definitely will have to try interested in adapting a vegan diet give my link a click vegwar.com

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • There are loads of great recipes using cauliflower. I also use it as “rice” and mashed instead of potato.

      Like

      Reply

  16. Have you tried using wheat gluten? Suma have it in small bags as flour to be prepared. For unless you’re really allergic it’s so versitile, versitille, vursitile (oh no I’ve got into one of my ruddy spelling loops again) versatile “Woohoo!” I did it. Anyways, where was I? Oh yes, wheat gluten. I’m sure you can find a recipe on one of my blog posts. The thing I do these days is make a big batch, cut it up into small chunks and place them into zip freezer bags, flattened out so I can defrost the small amounts easily, ready to add to a recipe. I’ve several bags looking like pages of a book in the freezer just now and last night I just added them to some boiling water, brought to the boil and added gravy granules. 🍽 I served this so traditionally British, with plain boiled potatoes and carrots. 🥔🥕

    Liked by 1 person

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