Recipe- Whole Roasted Tandoori Cauliflower With Pickled Onions

Whole roasted spicy tandoori cauliflower garnished with pickled onions, buttery pistachios, and crunchy-sweet pomegranate seeds is a show stopper vegetarian dish for family meals and parties. Served with a cooling cucumber raita this tasty and visually inspiring meal is ready in 15 minutes.

One dish that visually took my breath away was the whole roasted cauliflower. It had a brilliant yellow hue and was topped with little gems of pistachios, pomegranate, dried olives and more. As I started this year’s Thanksgiving preparation, I wanted to create a visually appealing side dish, but it looks like this dish can actually hold its own as a main! My version has hearty tandoori flavors with a cooling cucumber Raita.

With finely grated piles of cool-crispy persian cucumbers dunked in creamy yogurt and a hint of garlic, cucumber raita makes the perfect accompaniment to spicy tandoori cauliflower. Simply cut the cauliflower into thin steaks and serve with raita and a lemon wedge.

Ingredients

1 cauliflower head trimmed (2.12 pounds before removing the leaves and stems, 1.3 pounds after)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon olive oil for basting
2 tablespoons yogurt
1 to 3 teaspoons kashmiri red chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ginger grated
1 teaspoon garlic grated
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup greek yogurt
2 small persian cucumbers peeled and grated
1 garlic clove grated
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons cilantro chopped
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons roasted pistachios rough chopped
2 tablespoons pomegranate seeds or cranberries/raisins
2 tablespoons cilantro finely chopped
5 pickled onions
4 Lemon wedges

Method

* Add 1 cup water to Instant Pot.

* Place the cauliflower head on the trivet and place the trivet inside the Instant Pot

* Mix salt and turmeric in 2 tablespoons of water and brush it all over the cauliflower.

* Turn the cauliflower over and evenly pour any remaining paste on it.

* Then place the cauliflower back on the trivet with the stem down.

* Close the Instant Pot with pressure valve to sealing. Set the Instant Pot to Manual/Pressure cook(hi) for 1 minute.
* Quick release and open the Instant Pot.

* Mix all the ingredients for the marinade in a small bowl.
* Apply the marinade on the steamed cauliflower using a brush or silicone spatula.

* You can also turn the cauliflower over to get any remaining marinade under the cauliflower.

* Then place the cauliflower back on the trivet with the stem down.

* Apply the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil over the cauliflower.

* Place the CrispLid on top of the Instant Pot and adjust the temperature to 400 degrees and cook time to 5 minutes.

* You can also roast in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 5 to 10 minutes.

* In a bowl, add finely grated cucumber, salt, grated garlic, ground cumin and cilantro. Add yogurt and mix well.

* Place the cauliflower in a medium serving platter.

* Pour Raita ground the cauliflower. Garnish with cilantro, pistachios, pomegranates and pickled onions. Add lemon wedges to the side.

* Cut into ½ inch steaks while serving.