Healthy Tandoori Cauliflower Baked Whole My Food Story

on Dec 18, 2020, Updated Apr 16, 2021 Some of our favourite go-to vegetarian appetizers are Aloo Paneer Tikkis and Soya Hara Bhara Kabab. But every once in a while, I feel like making something unique and different. Something that’ll make everyone at the table curious and super interested in what I’ve served. By now you probably know about my love for cauliflowers – Check out my 21 Healthy Cauliflower Recipes! So I started experimenting and I present to you – Whole Baked Tandoori Cauliflower! This Tandoori Gobi looks like a king sitting on a throne, surrounded by humble subjects and all! It’s a gorgeous way to present a boring vegetable when you have guests over, not to mention that it actually tastes AMAZING. We’re all suckers for Tandoori dishes. The Tandoori masala marinade gives the bland cauliflower such a robust taste. And we’ve spared no effort to get those smoky, charred flavours of Tandoor right here at home. Homemade Tandoori dishes are not at all as intimidating as they sound! Also try these Homemade Tandoori Dishes:

Tandoori Paneer TikkaTandoori Prawns

It looks like a king sitting on a throne. Surrounded by humble subjects and all! No I’m not getting poetic about cauliflower, or maybe a little. But it deserves all the love you can show it. Plus it tastes amazing rolled into one of my instant naan. Tandoori Cauliflower Naan Tacos anyone? It’s marinated in the most amazing uncomplicated tandoori masala and then roasted with all the veggies till it becomes golden and charred from top and still says juicy when you bite into it. I feel like I’m describing a tender, juicy whole chicken, but this really does give me the same feeling! If you love Tandoori dishes, try these too!

Tandoori Paneer Tikka in the OvenThe Best Tandoori Prawns

How To Prep The Cauliflower

The ‘wow’ factor of this dish is when you present one big whole baked cauliflower, golden brown in colour, just waiting to be “carved”. So for this recipe, we are not going to decimate the gobi like we generally do for Aloo Gobi lol. You just need to cut off the stem and the stem leaves (as shown in the video). Reverse the cauliflower so that it sits stem-side up on the counter, and then use a sharp knife to slowly cut off the stems and leaves from around the cauliflower and the base. The stems are very hardy and you can use them to make curries or stock, but we are removing them for this dish because they won’t cook as fast as the florets. For this recipe, we have first blanched the whole cauliflower in water and salt. Blanch for about 5 minutes so that the cauliflower is cooked half-way through. Sometimes cauliflowers might have worms and dirt stuck in the crevices, and blanching the cauliflower will take care of all of that. The rest of the cooking process will take place when we bake it in the oven.

Tandoori Masala Marinade

This is by far the most uncomplicated Tandoori masala there is. Marinate the gobi in this masala, and OMG – such a transformation! The base of the masala is hung curd and oil. These act as tenderisers and make each bite juicy. The ingredients that really pack in the flavours are ginger-garlic paste, red chilli powder and Kashmiri chilli powder, Chaat Masala, Garam Masala, and coriander powder. We’ve also separately dry-roasted Kasuri methi and gently crushed it straight into the masala. As you can see, this masala will tantalize your taste buds! Whisk these ingredients together to make the Tandoori masala paste. Before you marinate the cauliflower, save one fourth cup of this masala to coat the potatoes and onions! These veggies will be baked along with the cauliflower later! Then, put the whole cauliflower in the paste and gently massage the paste onto the entire cauliflower.. Make sure the masala covers the entire gobi including all the nooks and crannies. The gobi will take on those robust desi flavours of the masala, it’ll be juicy and mouth-watering!

Smoking Cauliflower to get Tandoori Flavours at Home

You DO NOT need an actual Tandoor at home to get Tandoori flavours! How cool is that?! We’ve smoked the marinated gobi with hot coal for a couple of minutes. The cauliflower really takes in those smoky notes and you’ll get those distinct Tandoori flavours as promised! We’ve used a single piece of coal to smoke the cauliflower. Pick up the piece of coal with a pair of steel tongs and hold it over an open flame. The coal will take about 8-10 minutes to heat and will start turning red hot. Place the hot coal in a small steel bowl and use this to smoke the dish. After smoking the cauliflower, cover the coal bowl with a lid. The smoke gets trapped and this is what adds all the smokiness. You can use this simple smoking method for other recipes too! Finally, coat potato and onion pieces with the tandoori masala that we kept aside. Bake these veggies in the oven along with the cauliflower. Baking instructions are on the recipe card. Half-way through, gently brush the cauliflower and veggies with oil. Brushing with oil gives that golden brown colour and crunchy top! Include this Indian appetizer in your desi feast and it will proudly hold its own! Serve it with:

Lemon wedgesGreen ChutneyVeg PulaoSoft RotisPaneer Butter MasalaIndian Raita

More Cauliflower Recipes:

Curried Cauliflower Bowl + Tahini SauceHealthy Cauliflower Rice Broccoli CasseroleLow Carb Asian Cauliflower RiceCreamy Cauliflower ChowderLow Carb Mexican Cauliflower Rice