This cauliflower and tomato curry is a hearty, healthy vegan main that delivers warm, aromatic spice and satisfying texture. The richly spiced tomato sauce, flecked with coconut, gets a pleasant tartness from tamarind—a hallmark of Gujarati cooking—and the dish makes a filling weeknight meal.
This recipe comes from Gujarat, a region of India with a strong vegetarian tradition. While store-bought spice blends can be convenient, this curry benefits from toasting and grinding whole spices for maximum fragrance and depth. —Jennifer Joyce
Cauliflower and Tomato Curry FAQs
Passata is uncooked, strained crushed tomatoes with seeds and skins removed. Often sold as “tomato purée” in some stores, it’s thicker and smoother than tomato juice or crushed tomatoes and produces a velvety sauce. If you don’t have passata, press canned crushed tomatoes through a sieve to remove seeds and skins.
You can prepare the curry base a day ahead but leave out the cauliflower. Cool the sauce, cover, and refrigerate. Reheat gently, then add the cauliflower and simmer until tender.
Cut the cauliflower into even-sized florets. Remove the outer leaves and core, quarter the head, then use a paring knife to cut uniform florets from the stalks so they cook at the same rate.
Cauliflower and Tomato Curry
David Leite
Mains
Indian
3 to 4 servings
245 kcal
1 hour
45 minutes
1 hour
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1 dried long red chile (Kashmiri chile, if available)
- 2 medium (14 oz) onions — 1 quartered, 1 thinly sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 (2-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
- 2 thumb-size green chile peppers — 1 halved and seeded, 1 thinly sliced
- 1 1/2 tablespoons mild vegetable oil
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 2 teaspoons black or yellow mustard seeds
- One (14-ounce) can tomato passata (puréed tomatoes)
- 1 3/4 oz tamarind purée
- 1 generous cup vegetable broth or stock
- 2 tablespoons desiccated or shredded coconut
- 1 medium (about 1 lb 2 oz) cauliflower, cut into florets
To serve
- Fresh cilantro leaves
- Steamed rice
- Mango chutney
Instructions
- Toast the coriander, cumin, and fennel seeds with the dried chile in a small skillet over medium heat until fragrant, about 40 seconds to 2 minutes. Grind to a fine powder in a spice grinder.
- In a blender or food processor, purée the quartered onion, chopped garlic, sliced ginger, and the halved green chile until smooth. A food processor may take several minutes to reach a silky consistency.
- Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add the thinly sliced onion and the puréed onion mixture. Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture begins to brown, 10 to 12 minutes.
- Stir in the ground spice mix, turmeric, and mustard seeds and cook for 2 minutes to bloom the spices.
- Add the tomato passata, tamarind purée, vegetable stock, and desiccated coconut. Bring to a boil, then add the cauliflower. Reduce heat to low and simmer until the cauliflower is tender when pierced with a knife, about 25 minutes.
- Serve topped with fresh cilantro leaves and sliced green chile, accompanied by steamed rice and mango chutney.
Adapted From
My Street Food Kitchen
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and should be used as an approximation.
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Recipe Testers’ Reviews
This recipe passed a rigorous blind testing process by multiple home cooks and earned the Leite’s Culinaria stamp of approval.
Angie Zoobkoff
This curry developed a deep, simmered flavor with tender onions and fragrant toasted spices that complemented the cauliflower perfectly. My kids even ate it without missing meat.
Melissa Maedgen
This recipe livens up cauliflower with bold but balanced spice. It’s a satisfying alternative to simple roasted cauliflower—pair it with a dal and rice for a complete vegetarian meal.