This Spicy Whole Roasted Cauliflower is my tribute to that philosophy. It is actually also similar to something my mother makes, a beautiful large oven roasted vegetable platter with this beautiful cauliflower at its centre. While it is similar in looks I cannot say for sure that it is similar in taste because I cant recall ever eating it – cauliflower used to not be my thing. However over time that has changed and in no small part because of my love for Aalu Gobi (spiced potato & cauliflower).
While I have shared my mother’s Aalu Gobi recipe here this Spicy Whole Roasted Cauliflower is inspired by a grandmother. My friend Marium’s to be precise. Her recipe doesn’t have tomatoes and starts with a simple onion garlic base and is finished off with a flavor trifecta of freshly ground ginger, cumin seeds and black peppers. If you had told my tomato loving soul that another Aalu Gobi could complete with my moms I would have laughed in your face, but it is clearly true. Here I use Marium’s grandmothers approach and add a masala paste first and then scatter over the gingery mix at the end, but should you want you can certainly combine it all at the beginning, the longer cook time will tame some of the gingers assertiveness, but to no ill effect especially if you aren’t a fan of ginger.
