Marinated Cauliflower In Coconut-Chickpea Flour Gravy

I was looking for an elegant one-plate dish, and came across this marinated chicken recipe. The gravy was what caught my attention, and I duly veganised it. Boy, the taste knocked my socks off. The gravy was smooth and creamy. I used homemade coconut milk, as I find the store bought ones to be excessively creamy. The chickpea flour, instead of the usual, but bland corn flour, added a subtle flavour. I am going to try this technique for other gravies too. There is nothing I would change in this recipe except, making a double batch next time.

Marinated Cauliflower In Coconut-Chickpea flour Gravy

Ingredients

Roasted Cauliflower

Cauliflower – 1, big, cut into large florets
Chilli powder – ½ tsp
Olive oil – 1 tbsp
Lemon juice – 1 tbsp
Salt

Coconut-Chickpea Flour Gravy

Onion - 2, small, sliced
Green chilli – 2, minced
Garlic – 4 cloves, minced
Tomato – 2, cubed
Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
Cumin powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
Chilli powder – ½ tsp
Cinnamon stick – 1 inch
Chickpea flour/besan – 3 tbsp
Coconut milk – 1 cup if homemade, 2/3 cup if store bought
Oil
Salt

Method

Soak cauliflower florets in salted hot water for 5 minutes. The florets not only get cleaned but softened. Drain well. Prepare the marinade by mixing oil, lemon juice, chilli powder and salt in a large bowl. Add the florets and coat well in the marinade. Leave it aside for 15 minutes.

If you are making coconut milk at home, soak 2/3 cup of grated coconut in 1 cup of warm water for 10 minutes. Put this in a blender and grind to a smooth mixture. Drain this mixture using a cheese cloth. Extract as much milk as possible. Discard the pulp and reserve the milk.

Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with foil. After the florets have marinated for 15 minutes, arrange each floret separately on the baking sheet. Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until the florets have cooked and browned toward the edges. Carefully remove the florets from the baking sheet and set aside.

For the gravy, heat oil in a sauce pan and sauté onions till light brown. Add green chilli and garlic and brown for additional couple of minutes. Stir in tomatoes, dry masalas (cumin, coriander, chilli, turmeric), cinnamon stick and salt. Cook on medium low heat, until tomatoes are soft and the spices are not raw, about 5 minutes.

Dissolve chickpea flour in 3 cups of water, without any lumps and add to the onion+tomato mixture. Bring this to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. The gravy will thicken as it boils. Stir in coconut milk and heat through.

Plate the gravy with roasted cauliflower florets on top. I served mine with brown rice.

Marinated Cauliflower In Coconut-Chickpea flour Gravy

Marinade cauliflower with 2 tbsp of yogurt instead of oil+lemon juice, for a vegetarian version. Recipe heavily adapted from Vij’s.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dish looks so delicious,awsome picture. Love the idea of vegan dishes for event, wil send in my entry.

Namratha said...

I love cauliflower so I'm surely gonna try this....looks awesome!

Anonymous said...

Awesome cauliflower. Happy Deepavali to you dear.

Sia said...

i am drooling @ the pic sug...give me some more time to go through the recipe;)
happy diwali:)

FH said...

I Veganized for you too, will post tomorrow!:))
Gobi dish looks yum!

Rina said...

Love the vegan dish pic. Perfect gravy. Why don't you send this to SRA from "When My soup came alive" for the "Grindless Gravies Event"

Kribha said...

Beautiful pic as usual and nice recipe. I see that you are hosting the vegan event. I do not know much about it. Will have to do some search and try to come up with something.

Rajitha said...

yum...besan and coconut milk..would taste awesome for sure...

Mandira said...

Looks fabulous Suganya. Great idea for the event... will surely try to participate. Happy diwali to you and your family!

A, mama of twins said...

this sounds so perfect and looks delicious. By the way, I have eaten at Vij's a couple of times. Their food at the restaurant is really good. I am tempted to buy that cookbook!

KellytheCulinarian said...

That looks amazing. I never really like cauliflower as a kid, but we only ate it steamed -- yuck. I'll have to try this though, I've recently started to appreciate it again.

Anonymous said...

Wow. An amazing dish. Congratulations on your conversion to vegetarian. Cauliflowers are so well suited to indian cooking, don't you think? Blessings for Diwali.

Bong Mom said...

Looks so good

Cynthia said...

This is new and interesting to me.

Cynthia said...

Happy Diwali!

Ramya's Mane Adige said...

This dish looks really good!!! Have never tried adding besan to any gravy.. Lovely pic too!

Bharathy said...

I too have drafted a recipe for the vegan event..and all the same ingredient cauliflower!!..
Love this veggie,eventhough not up in nutritive values..:)

..sO you are in Vij's cooking spree,it seems...

do you really need to soak coconut gratings in hot water before extracting milk??I'd never done that..is it really necessary for our pretty good and fresh "thengai poo" Sugi??;)

musical said...

Yummy! thats what i would say :).

Laavanya said...

What a unique and yummy dish.

Susan said...

Suganya, this is a beautiful vegan adaptation. BTW, did you know there is a Thai brand of coconut milk w/ reduced fat?

Anonymous said...

the gravy looks good,have bookmarked this recipe:)
paati

Sig said...

Wow, I love the look of this dish... and the way you have described the taste, the gravy sounds like a must try!

TBC said...

Suganya-http://www.bakeorbreak.com/2007/11/11/dmblgit-october-2007-the-roundup/

Congratulations!!!

KayKat said...

*drool*

Everytime I see your pictures, I sigh and drool and stare for a long time :)

This gravy sounds delicious - obviously a must-try!

Rachna said...

oh wow i love the look of this dish it will be a must try for me.... i esp like the grilled look on the cauliflowers!!

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