Whole baked tandoori-spiced cauliflower by chef Gordon Ramsay

03/11/20204passionfood

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There are so many different ways to cook cauliflower like this recipe of mustardy cheese cauliflower by Ottolenghi, it’s a versatile vegetable.

But I find the fact to keep it whole and roast it, it’s the most visually stunning way to cook a cauliflower.

This whole spicy cauliflower will make a star centerpiece at any dinner party specially Indian one. It’s easy to make, very flavourful and guaranteed to impress your guests . It can be served as a side or a vegetarian main dish. And the best of all, you can make the yogurt sauce ahead of time and marinate the cauliflower overnight, and cook it the next day.

Tandoori is a traditional spice blend from India, it can include paprika, cayenne, cumin, ginger, and coriander. You’ve probably heard of it before, because of the famous “tandoori chicken” one of the most popular dish of Indian cuisine, we’ll use the same marinade in the following recipe for “tandoori cauliflower”.

But the word tandoori actually means “an Indian method of cooking meat or vegetables on a spit in a tandoor”, the English word comes from Hindi / Urdu tandūr, which came from Persian tanūr which all mean oven, typically made of clay.

Now here is what you need to make this wonderful cauliflower.

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Whole baked tandoori-spiced cauliflower by chef Gordon Ramsay

03/11/2020 4passionfood

Baking cauliflower whole in this way is so simple it looks so impressive. I like to make it the centrepiece of an Indian dinner.

Ingredients

1 cauliflower , medium, leaves removed and base trimmed flat
2 garlic cloves, peeled
2 cm ginger, fresh, peeled
1 Tbsp Tandoori - masala , spice mix
1/2 lemon, juice
1 tsp chilli, powder (optional)
150 g yoghurt , natural
2 Tbsp olive oil
dried chilli flakes , for serving (optional)
sea salt

Method

1)
Using a fine grater as a microplane, grate the garlic and the ginger into a large mixing bowl. Add the tandoori masala, chilli powder if using, the lemon juice and the yoghurt. Stir thoroughly, season well with salt.
2)
Rinse the whole cauliflower under cold water and pat dry with paper towel. You’ll need to carefully trim the outer leaves. If necessary, cut the stem, but make sure not to cut through the core. It will end up breaking up the florets and your cauliflower would completely fall apart.

Place the cauliflower, base side up, in the bowl. Using your hands, spread the yoghurt marinade all over the cauliflower ( I used the piping bag to put the marinade inside). Leave the cauliflower to marinate for at least 20 minute, or up to 12 hours (in this case cover the bowl and put it into the fridge).
3)
When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 180C. On a baking tray covered with baking paper, put the cauliflower base – side down, rubbed with olive oil and pour over any extra marinade still in the bowl. Put the tray into the preheated oven and bake, until golden and tender. It’ll take 1hour and 30 minutes maybe 2 hours it depends on the size of the cauliflower and on your oven.
4)
Put the cauliflower on a serving plate, sprinkle with chilli flakes, if using, and slice it into wedge like a cake to serve.

Enjoy !!