Indian Roasted Cauliflower – Not as Great as My First Attempt!

Some of you, even my most loyal of readers, may not be aware of the origination story of this blog.  

A little over ten years ago, a move to a much more expensive city, coupled with a pay cut, necessitated that I really learn how to cook.  Around the same time that I started to get into cooking at home, I realized that after only 5 years of knitting, I had already started to forgot techniques that I had learned, new modifications I had taught myself, and whether I liked certain pattern/yarns/etc.  I decided to create a blog both to help me keep track of my successes, failures, and lessons learned and to share that information with others.  

While this project has been largely successful for the 9 years I have been blogging – I regularly consult my blog for ideas and to jog my memory of certain projects – I recently failed to adhere to this founding principle.  Perhaps not surprisingly, I attempted to create a recipe that I had already tried, but with less great results than my initial attempt.

(2015 roasted cauliflower, ready for serving)

This project was an Indian-spiced, roasted cauliflower, which I initially made in 2010.  That initial 2010 attempt was fairly simple – just a few ingredients, and I sauteed the spices with the cauliflower before roasting the dish.  The 2015 version by contrast had far more ingredients, a little much oil, and I did not pre-cook the spices to get them fragrant, rather just threw everything in oven.  I'll consider this a lesson learned, and probably default to the original recipe in the future, instead of using the below attempt as my guidepost.

(pre-roasted cauliflower with spices)

2015 Indian Roasted Cauliflower

Ingredients

• 1 head cauliflower
• 1 tsp turmeric (this was too much!)
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 – 2 tbsp. olive oil (also too much!)
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees, and line a baking sheet with foil.
• Chop cauliflower into bite sized pieces, discard outer leaves, and toss pieces in a large bowl with the other ingredients.
• Place the cauliflower on the baking sheet, and spread out evenly.
• Roast for 10 minutes, and then toss the cauliflower a bit to re-adjust placing across the baking sheet.  Place back in the oven for 5 minutes or until cauliflower is roasted to your preference.

(Raw cauliflower, tossed with spices and oil)