Tandoori Cauliflower with Mint Chutney & Cucumber Raita

All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2013

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Ok – I am posting this as a sweeping gesture of honesty.  If you follow this blog, you know I am in the throes of a passionate affair with cauliflower.   I have used it to mock Buffalo Chicken and  mashed potatoes & risotto and many other ways.  Check some out HERE.

Tandoori was the next frontier of my cauliflower exploration.  I made the tandoori spice from scratch

I marinated the cauliflower florets for about 6 hours.

I used a lot of red food coloring to mock that brilliant tandoori crimson.  I roasted & then broiled the florets until they had blackened bits.

I also made the mint chutney & cucumber raita from scratch.  The tandoori smelled SO GOOD roasting in my oven, it made me salivate.  Smelled good!  Looked GOOD!  When the cauliflower was done, I sat down with my little bowls of condiments & my tandoori cauliflower & eagerly popped a hot floret into my mouth.  It was then that the first wave of crushing disappointment hit me.  The floret tasted like someone had just poured a tablespoon of cumin into my mouth.  YUCK.  Secondly, the raw cauliflower hadn’t sufficiently tendered during the 25 minutes of roasting & subsequent broiling & was still too crunchy.  I am not sure how it all went so wrong.  Maybe I need to invest in a spice grinder.  Maybe my cardamom & coriander seeds were not properly pulverized by the mortal & pestle treatment I had given them.  The florets were definitely in more than enough moisture (yogurt) but they were still oddly dry & just WAY too heavily spiced.

I am not giving up on this idea, though.  Maybe I will buy a jarred tandoori paste & see what that turns out like.

My raita – on the other hand – turned out pretty good.  The mint chutney was OK, too, but not the best I’ve ever had.  The recipe still needs tweaking.  But – if you are curious – I will post the recipes for the condiments here now.

Mint Chutney

1 cup mint

1 bunch cilantro

2 TBS yogurt

1 tsp ground cumin

4 serrano peppers (this makes a VERY hot chutney – so reduce this if you desire) – seeded

1 TBS ginger paste or 1 inch chunk fresh ginger

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

Puree in a food processor & salt to taste.

Cucumber Raita

1 1/2 cup yogurt

1/2 cup water

1/2 – 1 cucumber – peeled & grated

1/2 sweet onion

1 jalapeno – seeded

2 serrano – seeded

salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

Peel & grate the cucumber.  Reserve some of the rated cucumber to the side & then puree the rest with all the other ingredients.  Salt to taste.  Add the reserved grated cucumber.