Cauliflower and Parmesan Farinata | Egg-Free

I haven’t cooked Farinata for so long, years in fact – so long that I have forgotten how good it is. So it is back on the menu, with cauliflower, onions and parmesan. Farinata tastes a little like an omelette, and cooked right, it will slide right out of the pan. Served in wedges or squares with a salad (and some Celeriac Chips!), it makes a lovely lunch or light evening meal.

The idea for this farinata came from Ottolenghi’s recipe for Cauliflower Cake in Plenty More. That recipe uses eggs and I wanted to make something with similar flavours. So this recipe for farinata was created.

Ottolenghi says that cauliflower needs more attention. He says that it’s one of the most magnificent of all vegetables and is as versatile as potato. I reckon he is right.

Similar recipes include Farinata with Tomatoes and Cheese, Farinata with Onions and Tomatoes, and Making Socca, Pudla and Farinata.

Or browse our Farinata dishes, Cauliflower recipes and all our dishes from Plenty More.

Chinese Style Orange-Sesame Sauce

I have been playing around with this sauce recently. It is quite rich and dark in flavour – a current obsession of mine in the kitchen. Wintery flavours. This sauce is orangey with the depth of soy and a hint of sesame. It has sweet overtones. It goes well with anything deep fried – tofu, cauliflower, pakoda – or grilled items – eggplant slices for example – or roasted or stirfried veg – broccoli, cauliflower etc.

Use it as a coating sauce, dipping sauce (although it is quite thick) or spread the sauce on a plate and place ingredients on top of the sauce. I love roasted slices of eggplant and deep fried tofu on the sauce, scattered with tons of spring onions (scallions).

Today I made some deep fried cauliflower and coated them in the sauce for a delicious snack.

Similar recipes include Miso and Ginger Dressing, Orange Star Anise Sauce, and Chilli Soy Sauce.

Browse all of our Sauces and all of our Chinese recipes. Or explore our Mid Autumn dishes.

Roasted Cauliflower Tahini Puree

Another vegetable that can be blended into a puree to make a delightful dip, spread, or base for a vegetable dish, is cauliflower. Here I have made a puree from spiced, roasted cauliflower, but it can just as easily be made from steamed cauliflower (pop into the oven for 15 or 20 mins afterwards to remove excess moisture).

Here I have topped it with an Eggplant, Onion and Saffron dish (delicious), but it can be used with any vegetable dish, or simply layered with radishes, feta, grated carrot, pomegranate kernels, etc, and eaten with flatbread.

Similar dishes include Red Capsicum and Feta Dip, Roasted Cauliflower, Garlic and White Bean Puree, Cannellini Bean Puree with Pickled Mushrooms and Pitta Croutons, and Roasted Cauliflower with Cumin.

Browse all of our Cauliflower dishes and all of our Dips, Spreads, and Purees.

Cauliflower and Cumin Fritters with Yoghurt Sauce

These are some of the most delicious fritters that we have made. The soft bite of the cauliflower with the spices is a warming mouthful that you won’t forget quickly. Here we have served them with yoghurt with short mung sprouts and herbs.

The recipe appears in 2 books from the Ottolenghi family – Falastin by Sami Tamimi, and Ottoleghi by Ottolenghi and Tamimi. They are the sort of fritter you can have for a meal, as a snack (make them smaller), or packed in a lunch or picnic box.  Or shove them into some pitta bread with hummus and tomato for a great afternoon filler with a cuppa tea.

They keep a couple of days in the fridge (think – after school snack), and are best eaten either at room temperature or heated slightly in a warm oven. The batter will also keep a couple of days in the fridge if you want to cook on demand.

“These are not your usual fritters,” says cookbook author Yotam Ottolenghi. These are packed with cauliflower and spiced with cinnamon, cumin and turmeric. As a dipping sauce, he serves a spiked Greek yoghurt.

Of course, I have switched out the eggs in Tamimi’s recipe for my usual egg replacer in friters – 1 Tblspn chickpea flour, 1 Tbslpn or a bit less of cream and about 0.25 plain or lemon eno per egg.

Similar recipes include Roasted Cauliflower Tahini Puree, Buckwheat Upma, Crispy Couscous and Saffron Cakes, Sweet Potato Fritters, Mung Bean Flour Fritters, and Pakora.

Browse all of our Fritter recipes, and all of our Snacks. Our Tamami recipes are here, and the dishes from Falastin are here. We have written about our experiences cooking through Plenty More.

100 Vegetables: #33. Cauliflower

Cauliflower is one of my loves of Winter, along with Fennel, Jicama and Orzo Pasta. You can tell when you look at these recipes. Number 33 in our 100 Vegetables, there are over 30 recipes for you here.

You can browse all of our Cauliflower recipes here. And check out our 100 Vegetable Series.

Beetroot and Mint Salad, and Mustardy Cauliflower Vinaigrette Salad

Sometimes on weekends I like to pull together a grazing plate for lunch – an opportunity to eat a range of delicious items in a very lazy way while chatting and enjoying each others company. It also has a side bonus, one that you will love. I can use up anything left in the fridge before doing the weekly shopping.

This week we had cooked beetroot, roasted sweet potato and Fennel a la Grecque in the fridge, and a lot of vegetables in the crisper drawers. The beetroot was peeled and tossed with mint. The sweet potato and fennel were used as they were. The cauliflower from the crisper drawer was steamed and then tossed with a mustardy vinaigrette and capers. Mushrooms, baby King Oysters, were lurking at the back of the fridge so were pan fried with garlic and butter.  Various other veg were sliced and diced, and the plate was finished with cottage cheese and sliced 5-spice tofu. Divine!

The dressing for the plate can be mayo, a yoghurt based dressing, or any other dipping sauce or dressing. Today we made a sweet-tart dressing made with mango puree.

Similar recipes include Tomato and Lettuce Salad with Croutons, The Little Italy Salad, Fennel, Tomato and Potato Salad, and Raw Vegetable Salad.

Browse all of our Salads. Or explore our Late Winter dishes.

Pepper and Turmeric Cauliflower with Lime | Milagu Cauliflower

Wow! When you need a taste bomb to add real spark to your day, this is the dish for you. Cauliflower is cooked in a paste of liberal amounts of pepper with garlic, ginger and warming spices. It has plenty of bite from the pepper and ginger and tang from lime juice. You will adore it. This dish is commonly known as the Cauliflower Pepper Fry and there are many variations of the dish. Serve with rice or chapati with yoghurt.

Similar dishes include Roasted Cauliflower Tahini Puree, Black Pepper Tofu, Pepper Rasam, and Pepper Rice.

Browse all of our Cauliflower recipes and all of our Peppery recipes. All of our Indian recipes are here, and our Indian Essentials are here. Or explore our Late Autumn recipes.

Turmeric Cauliflower with Cumquats and Chilli-Orange Sauce

Although it might sound unusual to cook cauliflower with oranges, it is not unknown in Indian and relatively common in China. This is an Indian dish in which I have found a use for the abundance of cumquats in our garden. The oranges adds a beautiful sweetness to the dish while the cumquats balance the sweetness by adding a delightful sweet-sour tang. The cauliflower is coated in turmeric and sauteed before adding to the sauce.

Similar dishes include Pepper and Turmeric Cauliflower, Roasted Cauliflower with Cumin and Sumac, Roasted Cauliflower with Green Tahini Dressing, Cauliflower Fry, and Cauliflower Roasted with Black Mustard Seed.

Browse all of our Cauliflower dishes. All of our Indian recipes are here, and our Indian Essentials are here. Or explore our Mid Autumn recipes.

Roasted Cauliflower with a Citrus Chilli Tomato Sauce

Who else can eat half a cauliflower by themselves? If the dish is delicious it is all I might make for a meal, and between the two of us a whole cauli will disappear. This is one of those recipes. I make it with any of my tomato sauces that are sitting in the freezer, so it is an incredibly easy dish to pull together. Great for coming home late from work or a day out – it can be on the table in about 30 mins if you prepare the cauli quickly. (Or chop it ready to roast before you go out.)

Similar recipes include French Tomato Sauce, Turmeric Cauliflower with Chilli-Orange Dressing, Roasted Cauliflower with Cumin and Sumac, Cauliflower Roasted in Olive Oil, and Crispy Cauliflower with Capers.

Browse all of our Cauliflower recipes and all of our Roasted Cauliflower dishes. Or explore our Mid Autumn dishes.

Aloo Gobi

Recipes for Aloo Gobi, the much loved potato and cauliflower dish from India, are so various that there must be a different one in every household in India and beyond. Each is glorious in its own right.

Some have yoghurt sauces, some have tomato based sauces. This recipe has one based on tomato, cumin, ginger and coriander leaves. It’s pretty good. I like it with a cumin pepper rice or a simple jeera rice.

Similar dishes include Turmeric Cauliflower with Chilli-Orange Dressing, Roasted Cauliflower with a Chilli Tomato Sauce, Aloo Gobi with Yoghurt Sauce, Aloo in Aloo, and Simple Cauliflower Curry.

Browse all of our Potato recipes and all of our Cauliflower dishes. All of our Indian recipes are here, and our Indian Essentials are here. Or explore our Mid Autumn recipes.