Description
Who needs regular steaks when roasted cauliflower with curry leaf oil and a red wine cherry sauce dances on your tastebuds?
Ingredients
Scale
For cauliflower steaks:
- 2 dense heads of cauliflower
- Safeyya’s Kitchen Yaji Spice to taste
- Salt to taste
- A few tbsp of neutral oil, like rice bran, grapeseed, or canola
- Pomegranate seeds for garnish
- Crushed pistachios for garnish
For curry leaf oil:
- 25 curry leaves
- Enough oil to cover, approximately ½ cup
For red wine cherry sauce:
- 2 tbsp + 1 tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup finely minced shallots
- 1 ½ tsp grated ginger
- 16 oz bag frozen pitted sweet dark cherries
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 1 tsp Safeyya’s Kitchen yaji spice
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 tsp curry leaf oil
- 1 tsp dark brown sugar
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Remove the leaves at the base of the cauliflower, then cut off the thick base. Next, slice the cauliflower lengthwise through the core into 4 steaks. The ends may fall apart; that is why you have 2 heads of cauliflower to get 4 good steaks.
- Mix the oil, Yaji spice, and salt to make a paste and rub on all sides of the cauliflower steaks.
- You can line a baking sheet with parchment paper so that the cauliflower doesn’t stick or coat it with some oil before placing it on it to get a caramelized golden crust. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until cauliflower is tender and cooked through.
- To make the curry leaf oil, preheat the oven to 225 degrees. Place the fresh curry leaves in a small ovenproof dish. Pour enough oil to cover the leaves and place in the oven for approximately 30-40 minutes or until the leaves have lost their green color and infused the oil with their flavor. Once cooled, place in a tightly sealed container and use within 2 weeks.
- Heat a saucepan and melt 2 tablespoons of butter to make the red wine cherry sauce. Add the finely minced shallots and sauté until lightly golden, then add the grated ginger and cook for 30 seconds.
- Next, add the thawed sweet dark cherries and stir. Let cook for a minute before adding the red wine and Yaji spice. Stir and cook for another minute.
- Pour the balsamic vinegar and curry leaf oil and sprinkle in the dark brown sugar. Add salt and pepper to taste and simmer until the flavors combine.
- The sauce may still be a little runny. To thicken, stir some of the sauce with the cornstarch, add back in, and cook for another 30 seconds.
- Finally, add a tbsp of butter, stir, and take off the heat.
- To serve, plate the cauliflower steaks, pour on the sauce, drizzle with a little extra curry leaf oil, and top with pomegranate seeds and crushed pistachios.