Russ over at The Domestic Man showed us this very dish just a few days ago and he pins it as a dish from Uttar Pradesh, simply a northern province of India nestled up in the north east against the Himalayas, although you'll find this over in the north west, Punjab and further north into Jammu Kashmir.
It's a whole, baked cauliflower ...
... for which you'll need the following Ingredients:
Cauliflower (optionally, broccoli) and turmeric.
Red onion, ghee (or butter), ground coriander, ground cumin, chilli powder, paprika, fenugreek, asafoetida, garlic, ginger, black pepper, Indian black salt and optionally, yoghurt if you want to do a more Kashmiri version.
I do. We have a sizeable Kashmiri population here in Bradford, quite unusual in fact.
Tomatoes.
Fish - firm white fish, smoked is good. Haddock, cod, pollock, coley, that kind of fish.
Cauliflower
First, simply boil your cauliflower in water and turmeric - this will colour up the 'flower. I also boiled a head of broccoli, just because ...
... also draw an X into the bottom of a couple of tomatoes per person and drop them into the water for 60 seconds, retrieving and plunging into iced water. They'll stop cooking and the skins will be really easy to peel.
Gravy
North Indians call their sauce, gravy. As an aside, it's also nice to hear North Indians call a raita (as you might hear them called in the south) simply, chutney. Those Anglicisms are fun.
So, the gravy ...
Caramelise some chopped red onion in ghee. No ghee? Use butter - caramelisation happens at a low temperature, certainly way below the smoke point of butter.
Add in ground coriander, ground cumin, asafoetida, fenugreek, chilli powder, paprika, some sliced garlic and sliced ginger. I made mine more Kashmiri with my spice mix.
Add in a little black pepper and Indian black salt. Again, no Indian black salt? Regular sea salt is fine.
Once softened, caramelised and sweet gorgeous, peel your tomatoes, de-seed and dice up the flesh. Add to the onion mix and cook on until the tomato flesh is soft.
Blend ...
... and add in a couple of tablespoons of probiotic yoghurt. Goat is best. Again, I want a more Kashmiri version, so I did this. It's optional.
Pour over the cauliflower ... and broccoli.
Fish
Now, let's make it a meal ...
... with some smoked haddock, sliced and pushed into the gravy.
Embellish
Optionally, faff it up!
I went with some black mustard seeds and some chopped parsley. I really like parsley with this kind of curry. Consider it my Anglicisation. Coriander, otherwise.
My cooking tin? Prison issue enamel. Wink. I've had it years.
Cook
Cook in the oven set to 200C (400F?) for maybe twenty minutes, half an hour ...
... meanwhile, if you're so inclined, cook some rice. I did.
Serve
Serve onto a plate, spooned on, rice alongside.
How good? Immense! Cheers, Russ!
