Tandoori Cauliflower with Chef Rajeev Basak

What an honor it was to interview Sr Executive Chef Rajeev Basak on the Windstar, Star Breeze Cruise Ship in Alaska along with my dear friend Shayda Soleymani from Healthy Cooking with Shayda. Chef Rajeev taught us how to make his incredible Tandoor Cauliflower two ways. You don’t even have to like cauliflower to fall in love with this dish!

It has all the wonderful Tandoori flavors from chopped tomatoes, onions, garlic and ginger. The Indian spices really make this dish pop with turmeric, coriander, cumin and some jalapeno peppers to taste – optional but highly recommended. You can choose to dry sauté the veggies on the stove top or oven roast them for even more flavor. Either way it will be incredible, but I do prefer the oven roasting method and so does Chef Rajeev.

Serve over your favorite grain like brown or wild rice, Jasmine rice, quinoa or millet. On the cruise ship they served it over thinly sliced cooked potatoes. Sprinkle with some chopped cilantro and you have a delicious, company worthy meal. In traditional Tandoori they use a little red food coloring to make it a more intense color. We don’t typically use food coloring so Chef Rajeev gave us the option of using some beet juice instead but it will make the dish sweeter. Leaving the food coloring or beet juice out and having a lighter colored Tandoori is perfectly fine and how Shayda and I will make it.

Our Cruise with plant based menu options was arranged by Lisa McCarl, CTA, ECC. Please note that “Plant Based” menu available cruises are not offered directly by Windstar. They are made available through a cooperative arrangement Lisa has facilitated with the NHA and Windstar Cruise lines. Lisa has future trips available as shown on the National Health Association’s “Health Science.org” web site. please visit https://healthscience.org and check under “EVENTS.” You can reach Lisa for trip inquires via email Lisa McCarl, CTA, ECC McCarl Travel, LLC lisa.mccarl@gmail.com

Tandoori Cauliflower (Roast Method) on Nutmeg Notebook

Chef Rajeev Basak

Sr Executive Chef Rajeev Basak from the Windstar Cruise Line created this delicious Tandoori Cauliflower. Everyone was swooning over it! He offers two ways to cook it, sauté on the stove top or oven roast. I highly recommend doing the oven roasted method for maximum flavor.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Main Course

Cuisine Indian

Servings 4

Equipment

• Oven, Blender

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 4 Cups Cauliflower, florets
• 2 Cups Onion, peeled, quartered
• 2 Cups Tomatoes, quartered
• 2 Garlic cloves
• 1 piece Fresh Ginger about 2 teaspoons
• 1 Tablespoon Fresh Cilantro , optional
• 2 teaspoons Benson Table Tasty Salt Substitute or your favorite salt substitute
• 1 Jalapeno Chili Pepper, halved deseeded
• 2 teaspoons Cashew nuts
• 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon Chili Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Cumin
• 2 teaspoons Paprika powder
• 1 Cup Vegetable Stock
• 3 Cups Cooked Wild Rice

Instructions

 

• Pre-heat oven to 180˚C/350˚F. Place onion and tomatoes on separate trays and roast for 12 minutes. Roast ginger, garlic, jalapeno for 5 minutes. Dry roast cashew nuts for 7-8 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.
• In a Vitamix blender add in roasted onion, garlic, ginger. Add cilantro (optional). Add rest of the ingredients and blend to a smooth paste.
• Marinate the cauliflower for 2-3 hours with the prepared paste. Pre-heat oven to 180˚C/350˚F. Transfer the cauliflower to a baking tray and spread it evenly across the tray and bake for 20 minutes until soft and tender with a slight char.
• Spoon the wild rice into a ring-shaped mold onto the center of the plate and gently press with the back of the spoon. Remove the mold and gently place the roasted cauliflower on top of rice.
• Garnish with a few sprigs of cilantro leaves. Use the remaining marinade and spoon it on top of the cauliflower and small drops around the plate.

Notes

Serving suggestions: Serve over your favorite grain like wild rice, brown rice, Jasmine Rice.

Serve over thinly sliced cooked potatoes like they did on the cruise ship for lunch one day.

Top with a cool, tangy Raita or Tzatziki Sauce they are very similar.  Made with plant based yogurt, cucumber, lemon juice, garlic cloves and some spices. 

You could also make a thin hummus to drizzle over the top.

 

Substitutions: Cashews – non dairy yogurt

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Tandoori Cauliflower (Sauté Method) on Nutmeg Notebook

Chef Rajeev Basak

Sr Executive Chef Rajeev Basak from the Windstar Cruise Line created this delicious Tandoori Cauliflower. Everyone was swooning over it! He offers two ways to cook it, sauté on the stove top or oven roast.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Main Course

Cuisine Indian

Servings 4

Equipment

• sauce pan, blender

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 4 cups Cauliflower florets
• 2 cups Onion, peeled, sliced
• 2 cups Fresh Tomato, roughly chopped
• 2 teaspoons Garlic, chopped
• 2 teaspoons Fresh ginger, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Cumin powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Coriander
• 2 teaspoons Paprika powder
• 1 cup Vegetable Stock
• 2 tablespoons Cashew nuts
• 2 teaspoons Benson Table Tasty Salt Substitute or your favorite salt substitute
• 3 cups Cooked Wild Rice
• Fresh Cilantro for garnish

Instructions

 

• Add sliced onions and chopped tomato to a medium size sauce pan and dry sauté on medium heat. Add water or broth as needed to prevent sticking. Add garlic and ginger and continue to sauté. .
• Add the spices and Benson Table Tasty salt substitute and paprika. Use the back of the spoon to mash the tomatoes. Add the vegetable stock and continue to cook.
• Once the onion and tomatoes are cooked, transfer to a Vitamix blender. Add in cashew nuts and blend to a smooth paste.
• Marinate the cauliflower for 2-3 hours with the prepared paste. Pre-heat oven to 180˚C/350˚F. Transfer the cauliflower in a baking tray and spread it evenly across the tray and bake for 20 minutes until soft and tender with a slight char.
• Spoon the wild rice into a ring-shaped mold onto the center of the plate and gently press with the back of the spoon. Remove the mold and gently place the roasted cauliflower on top of rice.
• Garnish with a few sprigs of cilantro leaves. Use the remaining marinade and spoon it on top of the cauliflower and small drops around the plate.

Notes

Serving suggestions: Serve over your favorite grain like wild rice, brown rice, Jasmine Rice.

Serve over thinly sliced cooked potatoes like they did on the cruise ship for lunch one day.

Top with a cool, tangy Raita or Tzatziki Sauce they are very similar.  Made with plant based yogurt, cucumber, lemon juice, garlic cloves and some spices. 

You could also make a thin hummus to drizzle over the top.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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