Baked Cauliflower Curry

I went for lunch at a Chinese restaurant the other day. There’s a big screen showing a tv documentary programme. Unfortunately, I didn’t know the title of the programme. Never mind anyway. It talked about some antioxidant foods, including turmeric powder. According to Wikipedia, “Turmeric is currently being investigated for possible benefits in Alzheimer's disease, cancer, arthritis, and other clinical disorders.” It’s a good news for those who love eating curry too, as turmeric is one of the main species in cooking curry, especially the Indian curry.

I used turmeric to cook a dish of cauliflower curry, or called Cauliflower in Portuguese sauce. Amazingly, I found my daughter ate a lot of them. I thought it’s the magic of the thick curry sauce. I’m glad to find another way to get my kid eat more greens. Apart from hiding vegetables, I can cook the vegetables in a thick and delicious sauce to intrigue my daughter.

Baked Cauliflower Curry (Printable recipe)

Ingredients:

• 420 gm cauliflower
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 250 ml vegetable stock or chicken stock
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 120 ml coconut milk
• 2 Tbsp thickened cream (or light thickened cream)

Thickening:

• 2 tsp cornflour
• 2 Tbsp water

Method:

1. Rinse cauliflower and cut into pieces. Blanch in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain well.
2. Preheat oven to 200C (395F).
3. Heat butter in a wok or sauce pan over medium-low heat. Add turmeric powder and curry powder until fragrant. Pour in vegetable stock (or chicken stock) and bring it to boil. Cook until reduced to 2/3, about 5 minutes. Add coconut milk and thickened cream. Season with salt and sugar. Toss back cauliflower and coat with sauce well. Continue to cook for another 5 minutes. Add thickening and cook to the preferred consistency.
4. Transfer cauliflower together with sauce into an oven-proof baking dish into the preheated oven. Bake for 5 to 8 minutes and let the cauliflower well absorb the sauce and softened. Serve hot.

Notes:

• You can use other vegetables if desired, e.g. broccoli. It’s a great way to get my kids to eat more vegetables, including cauliflower or broccoli because they like them in delicious and thick sauce.
• Before transferring into the preheated oven, it’s better to taste the sauce by yourself, and adjust by adding more salt or sugar to suit your own taste.