Well hello dudes and dudettes! How's summah going so far for you guys? Today was a gorgeous day here in New Haven. We were at a friend's son's birthday party outside, and the weather was perfect! Ate a lot of meat-laden pizza, so by dinner time my body was craving some vegetables! And I hear that Cauliflower is all the rage these days. It's the next best thing to happen to vegetarian diets since Kale, and why not? It's loaded with Vitamin C and K. I just love it anyway! In fact I grew up eating it on the regular (Aloo Gobhi, YUM!) So yeah, it's definitely not for hippies anymore.

And when I saw this big head of Cauli at Whole Foods, I jumped on it and decided to make our trusted family recipe of Baked Cauliflower in Indian Spiced Tomato Sauce.

You guys, it is so good! Roasted (and a bit charred) Cauliflower in a rich, spicy and slightly sweet tomato sauce infused with heaps of ginger and garlic and toasted Cumin, Coriander and Gram Masala. Rich, meaty and oh so delicious! All served with a fire roasted Pita.

This is one of the easiest and probably the most delicious ways to get your family's veggies in their diets. They won't even miss meat. Trust me! You gotta try it.

But first, let's see how to make!

Baked Caulifower with Indian Spiced Tomato Sauce

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 Large head of Cauliflower

1 1/2 Large red onions (2 if using medium size)

5 medium to large and ripe tomatoes

3 tbsp Tomato Paste

2" piece of fresh Ginger (peeled)

4 cloves of Garlic

3 tbsp Coriander powder

2 tbsp Cumin powder

2 tbsp Garam Masala

1/2 tsp Red Chili powder (skip if you prefer less spicy)

4 tbsp Grapeseed Oil (or any other high temp oil)

Salt to taste

1 cup Cilantro (washed and chopped)

1 tsp Pure Cane Sugar

4 pieces Pita bread

First we make our delicious sauce that's going to coat our Cauliflower and then baked.

Heat up a large dutch oven or a heavy bottomed pan on medium heat. While that's heating up, give the tomatoes and onions and rough chop and throw it in the food processor. Throw in the Ginger and Garlic (Don't bother chopping them before hand) Puree well. For 2-3 minutes.

The pan should be hot enough. Add the oil and throw in the tomato onion puree we just made, as well as the tomato paste. Give it a good stir and add in some salt, around 1 tbsp. Cover the pan, stir occasionally, every 5 minutes or so to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom. In around 30 minutes the sauce should be ready, and you know it's ready when the oil separates from the tomato sauce. At this time turn on your oven to preheat to 375 degrees.

Turn the heat a bit lower and add all our spices—Cumin, Coriander, Garam Masala and Red Chili powder, as well as the sugar. Stir well and let the sauce work for 5 more minutes.

While you give the finishing touches to your sauce, chop off the stem of the Cauliflower and break up the florets into bite size pieces. Totally your call on how big you want those florets to be. I kept it to medium size as they hold up while baking and they do reduce a bit in size.

Now the sauce should be done and smelling amazing! Give it a taste and make any adjustments on seasoning or spices. It should taste rich, sharp, warm and spicy with notes of sweetness. Once we're happy with the sauce, take the Cauliflower florets and incorporate them into the sauce. Fold the florets into the sauce gently, making sure you don't break them up.

Can't wait to dig in, looks so good already

You'll now need a large (ish) baking dish. Grease it liberally with some oil and transfer carefully (it's HOT!) the Cauli and sauce into the baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes on the bottom rack.

After around 30 minutes, check on the cauliflower, it should be fork tender, and if it is, remove the foil and broil for 15 more minutes (or as much caramelization as you'd like) to give it those crunchy burnt ends. When it looks too gorgeous to handle take it out and you're in business.

Yes! That's what I'm talkin' 'bout baby! Cauliflower-Power!

Now all we need to do is serve this up, and for that lightly toast the Pita bread on open flame till it gets some char marks and cut it up into quarters. Serve along a giant helping of the baked Cauliflower!

So delicious. This dish is so healthy and rich and warm and satisfying in a robust way that it gives you a whole new outlook on vegetarian food. Cauliflower is a versatile vegetable and this is just one of the many ways you can make it a part of your daily life.

That looks good doesn't it? Trust me, tastes waaay better!

As always I hope you guys get to make my recipes which I really hope bring you happiness and comfort and some nutrition points! There's nothing quite like the satisfaction of knowing that you've touched someone through food.

Love. Hugs. Nomaste.

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