This little curried side dish is a flavour-filled gem! Also, it looks more complicated than it is, so if you decide to make it for guests they’ll think you’ve gone to much more trouble than you actually have, and you’ll get brownie points and admiration and maybe even wine!

Also, if you decide you really like the blended up part of this dish, next time you just can blitz the entire thing up (except the chickpeas), put it in a big bowl, add a swirl of yoghurt in the centre, a sprinkle of chilli powder and a dash of olive oil (garlic infused olive oil would be PARTICULARLY amazing). Scatter the crispy chickpeas on top and hey presto! You’ve made a fancy-pants dip! I think it would be perfect on a picnic with chunks of warm Turkish bread to dip in it!

Seems to me the world is now your proverbial oyster. Go forth and prosper!

Curried Cauliflower w/ Crispy Chickpeas

Serves 2-3

Ingredients

1 can of chickpeas, drained

1 Tbsp grape seed oil

1 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp salt

3 cups of cauliflower, broken into medium-sized florets

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp black mustard seeds

1 tsp yellow mustard seeds

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2. tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup sultanas

1 thinly sliced brown onion

1 Tbsp maple syrup

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

1/3 cup Greek yoghurt

1 green chilli, finely diced

A handful of coriander

Method

Toss the chickpeas with the grape seed oil, garlic powder and salt. Place on an oven tray and roast at 200˚C for 30-40 minutes, or until the chickpeas are browned, crisp and crunchy. Remove from oven and set aside.

Put the cauliflower, olive oil, mustard seeds, turmeric, cumin, salt, sultanas and brown onion in a deep frying pan. Stir until everything is well combined and the cauliflower is coated in the spices.

Cover the frying pan with its lid and fry for 10 minutes, then uncover and add the maple syrup and lemon juice. Fry a further 10 minutes, until the onion has started to go turn a deep brown, caramelised colour.

Take 1/3 of the cauliflower mixture, add it to the greek yoghurt and blend with a handheld blender until very smooth.

To serve, take a spoonful of the blended cauliflower mixture (this also makes a great dip!) and spread it on a plate. Top with the fried cauliflower, crispy chickpeas, green chilli and coriander.

Note: This works as a side dish or as part of a collection of share plates, it would go really well with something like a bowl of spiced saffron rice, some curried fried potatoes, or maybe a bowl of dhal.

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