I want to apologize in advance to write too many cauliflower recipes, but hey, I am helpless because where I live, cauliflower is one of the “all year round”, “known” and delicious vegetables to get! So here again, I am presenting the delicious, spicy cauliflower curry recipe which I got from an amazing Bangladeshi youtube channel – Sohoj Bengali Ranna (Easy Bengali Cooking).

As expected, we need cauliflower and I took a medium one. We also need potatoes, tomato or tomato paste, muug daal (Vigna radiata), chili (of course) and few spices! I cooked this dish with normal vegetable oil but it would taste better if you could use Bangladeshi Mustard oil.

I cut cauliflowers in big florests, as the curry would be cooking in water. If I cut them too small, cauliflower tends to get soften and disappear in the sauce! I also cut the potatoes in bigger chunks, as you can see in the picture.

So first, I heated vegetable oil in a heavy bottom pan and added cauliflower florets. We need to shallow fry them just until they look golden brown. I did not add any turmeric powder or salt, as salt tends to make them soggy and turmeric powder burns easily, leaving dark burned flecks on the curry.

Setting shallow fried cauliflower on the side, I added potato chunks in the same pan. This time I added salt and turmeric power to the potatoes, as we need to soften the potatoes a little bit and turmeric adds a really nice color to potatoes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, I made a spice blend of all the ground spices, and ginger paste by adding 1-2 tbsp water.

I also dry roasted the muug daal in a heated frypan until the released fragrance and got golden in color. Then I washed roasted daal very well 2-3 times with slightly warm water and kept them soaked until I added them in curry.

Tips: When dry roasting Muug Daal, heat the pan very well and then add daal. Always keep on stirring as daal get burned very easy.

Potatoes are nicely roasted and golden brown by now, so I took out from pan and kept them separated too.

Now, to the main cooking process. In the same pan, where I fried cauliflower and potatoes, I added whole cumin seeds and split a bay leaf. I kept the pan in low heat at this point.

Once the spices start popping, I added the spice blend/paste to the pan that I made earlier. The spices need to cook in low heat until the oil starts separating from the pan and raw smell of spices are gone.

In the cooked spice, I added roughly chopped tomatoes. You don’t necessarily use cherry tomato as I used, any kinds of tomato will do here. Best would be to use tomato puree for this recipe, but I did not have them at home, so I improvised!

I added a splash of water to the pan with tomatoes and let them cook for about 4-5 minutes till the paste comes to a thickened texture, and starts frying in oil.

Then I added the roasted cauliflowers, potatoes and soaked muug daal to the pan and mixed well so that the pieces are well coated in spice mixture. I let them cook in the spice for about two minutes in low flame.

Now its time to add water. I have added just enough to cover the veggies. I cooked for 10-15 minutes with lid on low-medium heat. I have not used too much water because when cooking veggies on low-medium heat it releases water. I have also checked them once in a while but I did not stir them, as cauliflowers break very easily!

Finally my cauliflower curry gravy went down to my desired consistency! I looks so pretty isn’t it? Cauliflowers still looks firm and potatoes are soft and creamy and the tomato gave a really nice color! I turned the heat off and put in serving dish.

Look how gorgeous the dish looks! If you want, you can sprinkle some fresh coriander to garnish on top! Great thing about this curry is you can serve them with rice, hand made bread, naan bread or even with toast!

Recipe: 5-6 Serving Prepping time: 5 minutes, Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients: Vegetables 1 big head of Cauliflower 2 medium Potatoes 100g Muug Daal 3 tbs Tomato paste or 1 big tomato Spice and Condiments 20ml Vegetable Oil 1tsp Cumin Seeds 1-2 Bay leaves 2 Green Chili 1tbs fine Salt 1tsp Turmeric powder 1tsp Coriander powder 1tsp Cumin powder 1tsp Chili powder 1tsp Ginger Paste (or Ginger powder)

Instruction 1. Wash cauliflower and pat them dry. Cut into medium florets. Cut potatoes in big chunk. 2.In a small bowl, make a spice blend of ginger paste, coriander, chili, cumin powder with 2-3 table spoon of water. 3. Heat a fry pan and dry roast muug daal, stirring continuously until they release nice fragrance and got reddish brown. Then wash them well 2-3 times and soak them in water until needed. 4. Meanwhile, heat oil in a heavy bottom pan. Shallow fry cauliflower until they are golden. Set them aside. In the same pan shallow fry potatoes with salt, turmeric powder until until golden brown. 5. In the same pan, add cumin seeds, bay leaves and let them cook until starts popping. 4. Then add spice mix and cook in low heat until they release oil. Add tomato paste or tomato chunks in the spice, add water and cook to a smooth spice paste. 5. Add shallow fried potatoes, cauliflower and soaked muug daal. Coat them well with spices and cook for about 2 minutes. 6. Add 100ml or just enough water to cover the veggies. Cook for 10-15 minutes with lid on low-medium heat and check them once in a while but do not stir them, as cauliflowers break very easily. Check salt and add more if needed. 7. When the curry gravy is at your desired consistency, turn off heat and serve in bowl! Optionally add fresh coriander leaves as garnish! Serve with rice, flat bread, naan bread or toast!