If you've ever have wanted to try an Indian dish, the curry cauliflower Tikka Masala would be the one you should start with. It's a subtle Indian dish with plenty of traditional curry and Tumeric. Traditional Tikka (meaning bits or pieces) Masala is usually made with marinated chicken in a spiced curry and white plain yogurt sauce. In our recipe here, we've omitted the chicken and replaced it with cauliflower to make it vegetarian. We also serve it with Naan on the side to dip into the sauce. Variations available for this recipe include:

• For a meat (chicken) version, just add grilled or marinated boneless chunks of chicken.  You can find the chicken tikka masala recipe here
• Make it Aloo Gobi by adding potatoes and peas

My husband and I used to watch this amazing woman named Alamelu Vairavan on the PBS channel who made these wonderfully appetizing Indian dishes. My husband had been over in Afghanistan for some time so he was familiar with Indian food and loved it - and I had also tried it many times and loved it myself. We would often go to a local Indian restaurant about every other week, but I never thought about making it myself... until we saw Alamelu. It was because of her that we decided to try cooking Indian food ourselves. Our favorite that we made was a chicken masala. It is kind of like the Aloo Gobi, but it doesn't have the potatoes in it. And since I've been on Keto and trying to convert dishes into a vegetarian, this was perfect to leave out the chicken. This meal really is super easy to whip up because you just put everything together in a dish and cook it up! I had the pleasure of speaking to Alamelu back in 2019 just before the pandemic came around and she was just so sweet on the phone... I really wished I was able to meet her in person. She was working on a vegetarian cookbook at the time and she later published it in November 2020 - and it is fantastic! I loved all the recipes in it! If you are vegetarian or love to incorporate vegetarian dishes into your meal choices, grab this cookbook and add it to your stash. I hope you try this and please go ahead and check out Alamelu's cookbooks below.  

Curry Cauliflower Tikka Masala Recipe

   

Ingredients

• 1 head cauliflower
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 small onions (or 1 large onion) finely diced
• 1 can coconut milk
• 8 oz plain greek yogurt
• 3 oz can tomato puree
• 2 tb garlic finely grated
• 1 tb ginger finely grated
• 1 1/2 teaspoons garam masala (optional)
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tb brown sugar or brown sugar alternative for Keto (this is optional, use a low-carb replacement if needed)

Additions & Variations

• 2 cups rice to serve with
• 2 packages of naan to serve with
• meat version - brown 1 package chicken breasts cut up into 1-inch cubes
• aloo gobi version - add cooked potato chunks and 1/2 package of frozen peas

Directions

1. Place head of cauliflower into 1-inch pot of water to steam until not quite fully cooked, remove from heat and set aside
2. In a separate pan on medium heat melt the butter and fry the onions until soft (about 3 minutes) while scraping up any browned bits stuck on the bottom of the pan.
3. Pour the coconut milk in and whisk in the yogurt until smooth
4. Add in the tomato paste and whisk until smooth
5. Add in spices, mix until blended well
6. Let sit for 3 minutes while spices simmer and combine
7. Add in cauliflower and fully mix into the sauce to be fully covered. let simmer for 5 more minutes until cauliflower is cooked al dente.

Note:

• cook rice separately while preparing sauce if you want to serve over rice
• heat up naan in stove (store bought)
• add in other variations as you'd like

 

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Read more about Alamelu and her cooking show on PBS called Healthful Indian Flavors with Alamelu. See her books below.

Alamelu's Cookbooks:

Vegetarian Flavors with Alamelu: Wholesome, Indian Inspired, Plant-Based Recipes 

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Healthful Indian Flavors with Alamelu - Paperback