Recipe: Spiced Roast Cauliflower, Green Lentils & Toasted Almonds with Smoky Yoghurt
I encourage you to be adventurous with roast cauliflower as it makes a wonderful, neutral salad base. Taste-wise, its subtle presence means the sky’s the limit when it comes to the flavours you can add to it. I particularly love combining cauliflower with legumes, such as chickpeas and lentils, or gluten-free wholegrains, such as quinoa or millet, to create a solid salad base. I’ve chosen green lentils for this delicious salad, and yum, what a salad it is. The aromatic spiced cauliflower plays against the carefully curated lentil mixture, and it’s beautifully finished with a generous drizzle of the flavoursome smoky yoghurt to conquer an outstanding, hearty salad.
Ingredients
- Spiced cauliflower
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets, then thickly sliced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- A pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
Lentil base
- 1 cup dried green lentils, rinsed
- 3 cups water
- ¾ cup sliced almonds
- 1½ cups finely sliced curly kale or cavolo nero leaves
- 1 cup roughly chopped fresh mint leaves, plus extra mint leaves to serve
- 2 tablespoons tamari
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Smoky yoghurt dressing
- ½ cup coconut yoghurt
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons tamari
- 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup
- ½–¾ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
How to
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) fan-bake. Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
For the Spiced cauliflower, place all the ingredients in a bowl and toss until the cauliflower is evenly coated in the spices. Transfer to the prepared tray and spread out in a single layer. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until cauliflower is tender.
For the Lentil base, place the lentils and water in a saucepan, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20–25 minutes, until soft. Drain and set aside.
Heat a small frying pan over medium–high heat. Add the almonds and toast, swirling the pan almost constantly to avoid burning, for about 2 minutes or until fragrant.
For the Smoky yoghurt dressing place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix to combine.
To make the salad, put the kale, mint, tamari, lemon juice, coriander seeds, maple syrup and salt in a large bowl. Add the roasted cauliflower, lentils and most of the toasted almonds, then toss to combine.
To serve, transfer the salad to a serving plate and scatter over the reserved almonds, and the extra mint leaves. Drizzle over the smoky yoghurt. Serve any remaining dressing on the side.
Images and recipe extracted from ‘Simple Wholefoods’ by Sophie Steevens
Published by Allen & Unwin NZ RRP: $49.99. Photography by Lottie Hedley.
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