Here's a lively twist on a traditional Thanksgiving vegetable. It's delicious and would go equally well with some buttery mashed potatoes or brown Basmati rice!
Indian Spiced Cauliflower with Almonds and Currants
Preheat the oven to 425 F
Toast
1/2 cup sliced almonds until lightly brown (about 3-5 minutes). Watch them like a hawk as they easily over brown!
Set aside to cool.
In a heavy skillet, preferably cast iron, roast over medium heat
1 Tablespoon Coriander Seeds,
1 Tablespoon Cumin Seeds and
1 Teaspoon Fennel Seeds. Stir with a wooden spoon to mix them up and let cook until they have browned slightly and start to give off an aroma. 4-6 minutes.
Place the roasted seeds in a mortar and pestle, or a spice grinder, and grind to a fine powder. Crumble
Two Dried Hot Red Chili Peppers into the powder along with
1 Teaspoon of Turmeric,
1 Teaspoon of Black Mustard Seeds and
1 Tablespoon of Brown Sugar.
Slice into thin rounds
One Large Onion and split them up as if you would when making onion rings.
In a large skillet melt
7 Tablespoons of Unsalted Butter and add the onion rings, cook over medium heat until wilted - about 5 minutes. Then add
2 Tablespoon of roughly chopped peeled Fresh Ginger and cook another 5 minutes until the onions start to brown.
Add the spice and sugar mixture and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.
Then add
1 cup currants and
3/4 cup water, stir and cook again for another 2 minutes then remove from heat.
Place
3-4 pounds of Cauliflower Florets (cleaned, trimmed and broken up into edible sized pieces) in a large baking dish, toss lightly with olive oil and generously season with
salt and freshly grated black pepper, pour over the onions/ginger/spice mixture and mix together (I used my hands).
Cover the baking dish with tin foil and places on the lower rack of the preheated oven for 25 minutes.
While the cauliflower is baking you can clean and roughly chop
1 cup of Fresh Cilantro, stem and all. Measure out
1 cup of full fat Yogurt - I use Greek but any will do.
After 25 minutes remove the tin foil from the Cauliflower and bake another 10 minutes.
When cooked until tender (but not mushy!), remove from oven and toss in the Cilantro and Yogurt. Taste and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Garnish with toasted almond slices.
There is a wonderful balance of spice and sweet in this along with a lovely creamy finish. So no need for chutney! Unless of course you want it; I always like to offer sides of more yogurt, hot sauce and chutney so people can adjust the dish to their tastes.
A wonderful way to spice up a traditional Turkey dinner! It's not too late to order your
Heritage Bird.
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