Vegan roasted cauliflower recipe

In with the new

Once you begin to phase out animal products from your diet, you make room for unexpected new pleasures. Case in point: serving up a beefsteak with curry and peas wouldn’t be the most appetising prospect even if we ate meat. But a roasted cauliflower steak with curry and peas? Now you’re talking, baby!

Vegetables are often so much more versatile than meat products are. They make beautiful bases for complex flavours and unusual pairings. We’ve always felt that spreading your table with a miscellany of vegan dishes, making sure to include some substantial centrepieces such as this dish, can result in much more tantalising prospects and possibilities.   

Slice away

Once you perfect the delicate art of slicing symmetrical cauliflower steaks that all cook through at the same time, the sky is the limit as far as seasoning and garnishing goes. Don’t worry – we’re still working on our brassica-cutting skills too! One can always hope…

In the meantime, be sure to carefully monitor your cauliflower in the oven so that you can rescue the smaller pieces from overcooking. If you can restrain yourself from eating it all at one sitting, leftover roasted cauliflower is perfect for topping salads or healthy pizzas.

We’ve always had a weakness for the combination of cauliflower, curry, and peas, and it’s lovely to remove it from the (albeit just as nice, if perhaps a bit greasier) context of Indian curry houses and reinvent it in a different setting. Protein is especially important for vegans to include in each and every meal. Make sure that if you are opting not to include peas in this dish, you are adding another source of these essential building blocks for your body, such as lentils, quinoa or amaranth.(2)

Cauliflower is an excellent source of vitamins C and B-6.(2) Although most people think of citrus fruits when identifying good dietary sources of vitamin C, one cup of cooked cauliflower contains nearly our entire daily recommended amount of this valuable stuff, helpful for tissue healing and regeneration.(3) In turn, vitamin B-6 is the anti-anxiety vitamin no small thing in this age of self-awareness. Vitamin B-6 is beneficial for serotonin levels and, subsequently, our overall state of being.(4)

Other good sources of vitamin B-6 include pistachio nuts, sunflower seeds, hazelnuts and tahini paste, which is made from toasted sesame seeds. The tahini sauce goes especially well with roasted cauliflower. How to make a delicious tahini sauce? It's simple. First of all, choose high quality tahini. We are big fans of Al Yaman & Sons.

For this recipe, you'll need about 3/4 cups tahini, one small garlic clove, 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1/4 cup (or more) cold water, one cup fresh chopped parsley leaves and a pinch of Maldon sea salt. In a mortar and pestle, crush the garlic clove together with the salt.

Then, in a bowl combine garlic, lemon and tahini. Mix well, and start adding small amounts of cold water gradually until you have reached the desired consistency. Finally, stir in the parsley and pour the sauce over your roasted cauliflower. Voilà! You've got a quick and, most importantly, nutritious meal ready.

And on top...

Finally, there’s the finishing touch of Erbology Organic Milk Thistle Oil. The light, nutty flavour adds subtlety and delicacy to our roasted cauliflower. And that’s not even to start on the health benefits. Milk thistle oil is rich in omega-6 fatty acids, vitamin E and other valuable phytonutrients. It can gently cleanse your body and boost heart activity. Sesame seeds add texture and interest – think of them as being the healthy version of sprinkles on an ice cream sundae.

We’re longing to experiment with a lemon-based dressing for this dish instead of the balsamic vinegar, and with some fresh herbs. Cauliflower is beautifully compatible with such a wide variety of herbs, as are peas. Fresh cilantro, parsley, basil, and mint all go well with curry powder, so we are thinking to start with some juxtaposition. A plant-based yoghourt dressing could also work quite well. Right, off to the kitchen we go…