Thai Red Curry Whole Roasted Cauliflower
Whole Roasted Cauliflower
I’ve been wanting to roast a whole cauliflower for a while now. And what better time than the holiday season. In general, there’s going to be a lot of attention on the turkey or any other protein that might take center stage. But why not allow the vegetables to take center stage once in a while. That is exactly what this Thai red curry whole roasted cauliflower is. A star! And definitely deserves the spotlight. You can downgrade it to a side dish, but I would suggest you allow it its 15 minutes of fame up front and center. Make a nice bowl of rice to accompany it and enjoy this Thai curry goodness.
Tip!
Cauliflower not your thing? Use the same curry paste with some coconut milk and substitute the cauliflower with some chicken, fish or shrimps and veggies. Voila!
Red Thai Curry Paste
I can’t even believe that at first, I hesitated on making this curry paste. With all the fresh ingredients it turned out amazing. While in the oven the smell starts filling your kitchen and I’m transported to Thailand. I used galangal which Andrea has used before in her Tom Kha Gai. In her post it’s mentioned that if you are unable to find galangal you can substitute with ginger. But since ginger is already included in the recipe you can just omit the galangal. In the Netherlands it’s also known as laos and can also be found in powder form. If you have an option definitely go for the fresh alternative as this will give you the most flavor. The curry also includes lemongrass and fresh ginger.
Tip 2!
Once you cut into the cauliflower you will discover plenty of sauce at the bottom. Don’t let it go to waste, pour it over your cauliflower and enjoy!
Craving Curry:
Thai Red Curry Whole Roasted Cauliflower
Ingredients
Thai Red Curry Paste
- 1 red onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 red peppers sliced. You can use 3 instead of 2 for a spicier curry. All depending on the level of hotness of the pepper
- 3 cm galangal diced
- 5 cm ginger grated
- 1 lemongrass
- 1 lime juice
- 2 tbsp ghee
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground coriander seeds
- ½ tsp black pepper
Roast
- 1 big cauliflower
- ½ cup coconut milk
- Handful fresh coriander
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Chop the bottom section of the lemongrass off and remove the dry outer shell. Beat with rolling pin to soften up and release fragrance. Chop up into small pieces.
- Add all red curry paste ingredients to your food processor and blend till you have a smooth paste. You will get roughly 1 cup of curry paste. Use ¾ cup of the curry paste to cover the cauliflower save the rest for later.
- Remove all the leaves from the cauliflower and slice the dry section of the stem off.
- Place the cauliflower upside down in a pot and pour a little bit of the paste over it. This allows the paste to drizzle in between the florets and not just on the outside.
- Turn the cauliflower over and use a brush to cover it with the remainder of the red curry paste.
- Cover with a lit and place in the oven for 1 hour.
- Mix the ¼ cup red curry paste that you set aside with ½ cup coconut milk.
- After 1 hour remove cauliflower from oven. Pour paste and coconut milk mixture over it and place back in the oven for another 30 minutes uncovered.
- Remove from the oven decorate with fresh coriander and serve as a side dish or main with cooked rice.