I love serving whole vegetables as a starter. They´re simple, easy to make, not seen every day, and with the right spices and herbs, can be sooo tasty. Cauliflower is not the most exciting vegetable ever. Often, it’s boiled and served as a boring side dish, but cauliflower can be so much more than that. Combined with the right ingredients, it is super tasty and flavorful. I love to roast vegetables, and especially for cauliflower, it’s a great cooking method to bring its taste forward.
I tried roasted tahini cauliflower for the first time in a small wine bar in Buenos Aires and the combination with some sparkling wine was just, WOW! So, the next day I bought tahini paste and a bunch of cauliflowers and experimented with them in my kitchen. That’s how I came up with the combination of – spices that make it so flavorful. Add yogurt sauce to soften the bulky taste of the tahini roast.
You can serve an entire cauliflower as a starter for 4, or as an appetizer for more people, serve it on a platter with a knife so your guests can cut it up and serve themselves… Either way, it’s super tasty and suitable for a lot of different occasions.
ROASTED TAHINI CAULIFLOWER
INGREDIENTS
Roasted Tahini Cauliflower
- 1 tbsp olive oil for parchment paper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp paprika powder
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp curry powder
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 2 tsp salt
- 100 ml of water
- 50 ml lemon juice
- 100 g sesame paste tahini
- 1 large cauliflower
Yogurt sauce
- 200 g natural yogurt
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp fresh peppermint finely chopped
- 3 tbsp fresh parsley finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove grated
- ½ tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp salt
- A little black pepper
To serve
- 1 tbsp black sesame seeds
INSTRUCTIONS
Roasted Tahini Cauliflower
- Preheat the oven to 170° Celsius (340° Fahrenheit). Prepare a baking tray with parchment paper and coat with olive oil.
- In a medium bowl, mix up olive oil, all the spices, water, lemon juice, and sesame paste. If the consistency is very thick, add a little more water.
- Wash the cauliflower and cut off the green leaves. Place on parchment paper and coat with the tahini mixture on top and along the sides. Bake in the oven for about 50-60 minutes until the cauliflower is roasted and dark brown.
Yogurt sauce
- Mix all the ingredients for the yogurt sauce.
To serve
- Serve roasted tahini cauliflower with yogurt sauce and sprinkle it with some (black) sesame seeds.
