While buying a beautiful head of locally grown cauliflower recently, I reminisced about the way my mother prepared it when I was a kid.
She would separate it into florets that she boiled and served smothered with cheese sauce as a side for dishes such as roast beef.
I still love cauliflower served that way. But when I made cooking my career, I discovered there were many other tasty ways to prepare it.
That includes using cauliflower in tempura, adding it cooked or raw to salads, simmering it into all kinds of soups, and using it in curries, which is what I did today’s recipe.
You start by sautéeing some onions and celery for a few minutes, before adding curry powder, ginger and garlic.
Coconut milk, vegetable broth and other flavourings are stirred in. While it’s all simmering, you mix in a generous amount of cauliflower florets and some diced apple, an addition that works well with the other elements in the dish.
When the cauliflower is tender, you thicken the curry with a bit of cornstarch, and accent it with some bright green cilantro (or green onion).
You can serve the curry over steamed basmati rice and, for added protein, top it with chopped cashews (or almonds).
The curry recipe yields three to four servings. Any leftovers will freeze well.
While enjoying the curry, know that cauliflower is a source of dietary fibre, is low in calories, is cholesterol-free, and is a good source of folate and vitamins C and K.
Cauliflower Coconut Curry
This easy-to-make vegetarian coconut milk-based curry features cauliflower, other vegetables, ginger and bits of apple. Serve it over steamed basmati rice.
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: About 12 minutes
Makes: three to four servings
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, halved and sliced
1 cup diced celery (see Note 1)
1 Tbsp madras or other mild to medium curry powder
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger
1 (400 mL can) coconut milk
1 1/4 cups vegetable broth
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp lime juice
4 cups small (about 1- to 1 1/2-inch wide) cauliflower florets (see Note 2)
1 medium (unpeeled) red apple, diced
2 tsp cornstarch mixed 1 Tbsp water
2 to 3 Tbsp chopped cilantro or thinly sliced green onion
• salt and ground white pepper, to taste
• coarsely chopped unsalted roasted cashews or skin-on almonds, to taste
Place oil in a pot over medium, medium-high heat (my pot was eight inches wide and four inches tall). Add the onion and celery and cook and stir three to four minutes. Mix in the curry powder, garlic and ginger and cook one minute more, or until very aromatic.
Add the coconut milk, broth, brown sugar and lime juice to the pot and bring to a simmer. Stir in the cauliflower and apples (curry will look very thick, but will thin as it cooks). Return to a simmer, and simmer curry until cauliflower is tender, about six to eight minutes.
Mix the cornstarch mixture into the curry, return to a simmer and cook one minute more. Stir in the cilantro (or green onion), taste and season curry with salt and pepper, and it’s ready to enjoy. Top servings of the curry with chopped cashews or almonds, to taste.
Note 1: Diced in this recipe mean to cut into 1/2-inch cubes.
Note 2: One medium to large head of cauliflower should yield the florets needed here.
Eric Akis is the author of eight cookbooks. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
