The humble Cauliflower is such a versatile vegetable and one of my favourites, standing up to big bold flavours as well as being robust enough to fill you when eaten as a main course. The Keralan spices in this dish marry perfectly with the creamy cauliflower and together with the lightly spiced root vegetable purée they are a match made in vegetable heaven. This dish is completely vegan.
We make our curry paste from scratch and this version if stored in an air tight jar can be store for at least a month in the fridge. So for the paste first:
Keralan Curry Paste
(This can be made in advance)
Ingredients
2 tbsp vegetable oil
8 garlic cloves, smashed with a pestle
A finger of fresh ginger, roughly chopped
1 tbsp coriander seeds
6 dried Kashmiri chillies ( These are mild chillies)
1 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
½ tsp black peppercorns
A 3 inch piece of cassia bark
6 green cardamom seeds
Method
Place a heavy based skillet pan on a lowish heat and add the vegetable oil, allow to warm up before adding the ginger and garlic. Sauté for about a minute. Add the coriander seeds, Kashmiri chillies, fennel, black pepper, cassia and cardamom and continue to sauté for a further 6-8 minutes, or until the spices start releasing their oils. Leave to cool, then blitz in a blender or food processor, adding a couple of tablespoons of water to blend into a fine paste. For this recipe I like to keep it more on the thick side.
Set aside.
Root Vegetable Purée
You can use any root vegetables you like to create your purée, we used the following:
( This can be made in advance)
Heat the oven to 200 degrees
Ingredients
A large glug of olive oil
2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
1 large potato, peeled and roughly chopped
1 shallot, peeled and diced
1/2 a celeriac, peeled and chopped
1/2 a small butternut squash, peeled and roughly chopped
1 large pinch of salt
1 large pinch of black pepper
A large pinch of cumin seeds or powder
A large pinch of coriander powder
Method
Place all the ingredients in a bowl, cover with the seasonings and spices and Olive oil and roast in the oven until softened enough to mash or blend around 40 mins. Place all the ingredients in the blender with some cashew milk. Start with 150 ml, (you can always add) until you have a smooth purée. Either use immediately or put in an air tight container in the fridge until needed. To reheat either place in a saucepan and heat gently or put the amount you need in a microwavable bowl and cook for 1.5 mins on full until piping hot.
The Cauliflower
You can get two good steaks out of a medium-sized cauliflower.
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil. Remove the outer leaves then slice either side of the cauliflower leaving the central part still attached to the stem. (Don't throw these away, you can make delicious soup or rice out of the remaining cauliflower) Slice down the middle, creating two steaks. Add the steaks to the boiling water and par boil. Remove and plunge in iced water to stop them cooking further. Leave too cool down. Once cooled Paint the cauliflower steaks generously with the curry paste all over. Place in a baking dish and cook for 25 mins in the oven or until cooked through and charred. Timing could be longer by 5-10 mins if your steaks are a lot bigger.
Additional Ingredients
A small handful of fresh micro or big leaf coriander.
A drizzle of curry oil ( olive oil steeped in curry leaves, crushed cumin and coriander seeds and grated fresh Tumeric ) / or some pan juices from the cauliflower steak.
To Assemble
Place the heated purée on a plate and put the cauliflower steak on the top. drizzle with curry oil and add fresh coriander.
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