Indian Spiced Cauliflower

This spiced cauliflower salad is another excellent recipe from the Ripe cookbook. We made it recently to bulk out the vege component of an Indian feast that Sarah and I prepared...but it would be equally at home as a side dish at a BBQ or simply as a bowlful eaten for lunch. Even Dad, who is not fond of brassica, claimed to enjoy it. It was delicious the next day too, once it had warmed up enough to lose the flavour-numbing chill fridges inflict on salads.

The yoghurt dressing is great, and would work well as a condiment for loads of things - tossed through a roasted vege salad, spooned over grilled meats and tucked into a pita with salad... I added the chickpeas to the cauli to roast them, thinking they may be more flavoursome this way, but it made their texture a little dry. Next time I think I would add some toasted almonds to this to add another texture, or those roasted chickpeas you can buy might work well. We also flagged the baby spinach as we didn't have any, but this would make it more of a salad. We ate the cauliflower with a cashew nut chicken curry, dahl and our favourite Roti from the freezer at the asian supermarket.

Indian Spiced Cauliflower

1 c chickpeas
1/4 c vege oil

2 onions, peeled and thinly sliced

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp curry powder

2 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp garam masala

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 large cauli, cut into 3cm florets

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

2 c fresh coriander, roughly chopped

1 large handful baby spinach leaves

juice of 2 lemons

juice of 1 lime

s and p

1 c yoghurt dressing

Preheat oven to 180c. Heat oil in a frying pan over a high heat, add onions and salt and cook until transparent. Add the dry spices to the onion and cook for 2 minutes or until fragrant. Place cauli florets into a roasting tray, add the onion and spice mixture and toss to coat. Bake 20-30 minutes or until cauli is tender to bite. remove from oven and cool. In a large bowl place the cauli, sweet chilli sauce, lemon and lime juice, coriander, spinach and chickpeas. Toss gently and season with s and p. Drizzle with yoghurt to serve. (Or toss it all together in the roasting pan to save dishes as we did...)

Yoghurt dressing

1 1/2 c plain unsweetened yoghurt

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

1/2 c fresh coriander, chopped

1 tbsp curry powder

s and p

Combine all ingredients and mix well.