Vegan Butter cauliflower is a rich creamy curry made with roasted cauliflower, coconut cream, and lots of spices. This recipe is inspired by Indian butter chicken, but with cauliflower. So another delicious, healthy, and flavorful rich vegan curry Indian Butter Cauliflower Recipe for your main course menu.
This tastes the same but is a vegan version of butter chicken. I have also made vegan butter chicken with tofu. I will be publishing that soon. However, thisย vegan butter chicken cauliflowerย is heavenly and delicious, too.
In this recipe, I've roasted my cauliflower for a good 20 minutes, which enhanced the flavor. You can directly also add your cauliflower to the butter masala curry. But in my experience, the roasted cauliflower in this curry tastes better.
Again, this curry is loaded with many flavorful spices that make the curry so heavenly and delicious. So, with some preparation and a tastyย vegan butter, cauliflowerย is ready.
This creamy, rich curry goes best with both rice and flatbreads. For a full-course menu, serve the butter cauliflower withย vegan naan/ย tandoori rotiย orย lachha parathaย and any of thisย raita.
What is butter cauliflower?
Butter cauliflower is an Indian curry. This is also known as gobi Makhani. Makhani is a rich gravy made with lots of butter and cream and rich ingredients like cashew nuts. Authenticย Indian Butter Chickenย orย Murg Makhani inspires these vegetarian makhani recipes. You can add paneer or cauliflower for the vegetarian version in this rich, creamy gravy.
Since this is vegan, we will avoid dairy products like paneer, & heavy cream, etc. But these roasted cauliflower tastes equally great. You can also make this vegan butter chicken with roasted or baked tofu. The gravy recipe will remain the same. The only difference is that tofu is used in place of cauliflower. The richness of gravy comes from coconut cream and lots of cashew nuts. If you are allergic to nuts, then skip that.
How to Make Vegan Butter Chicken or Butter Cauliflower?
Ingredients & Preparation:
Cauliflower Head - Take a large head. Clean and wash 3 /4 times. Pat dry with a kitchen towel. Now cut into bite-sized florets. If florets are large, cut into 2 - 3 pieces.
Coconut Milk - This will make the curry thicker and creamier. We will use half of the cream/ milk to marinate the florets.
Marination Mix - Keep it simple with salt, paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder. Add in coconut milk or cream.
Butter Masala Gravy- Vegan butter/ olive oil, whole spices (bay leaf, clove, cardamom, black pepper, cinnamon), ground spices (coriander, red chili powder/ paprika, cumin powder, turmeric powder), salt, onion, tomatoes, ยผ cup cashew nuts (or 2 tbsp cashew paste), and coconut milk.
Instructions:
This is an easy 2-step recipe and takes less than 20 minutes to make the rich, creamy gravy.
Step - 1 : Make Roasted Cauliflower
Make a marination mixture. Add into chopped cauliflower. Leave it for 20 minutes to marinate. Then, spread the florets on a baking tray.. bake for 20 minutes at 350 - 400 degrees.
Step - 2 : Make Gravy
Heat a pan. Add vegan butter/ oil. Put whole spices and saute for 15 - 20 seconds or until fragrant. Next, add chopped onion and ginger-garlic (paste/ minced) and saute till translucent. Add ground spices and stir. Add chopped tomatoes or 14oz canned tomatoes and saute till tomatoes are cooked soft and start releasing oil.
Once puree the cooked onion, tomato, and spice mixture in a high-speed blender (remove the bay leaf before grinding). Then, transfer the pureed sauce to the cooking pot or pan again.
Now add the rest of the coconut milk and cashew paste. Add roasted cauliflower and simmer for 5 minutes more. Garnish with chopped fresh coriander leaves and serve hot.
Serving ideas for vegan butter chicken or butter cauliflower
This is a rich and creamy curry recipe. It pairs up well with steamed rice or any of theย flatbreadsย you love. Or with this vegan naan. I like it with rice too. And it's delicious and addictive.
More Indian vegan curry recipes here:
Recipe Card for Vegan Butter Cauliflower aka Vegan Butter Chicken
Vegan Butter Cauliflower (Vegan Butter Chicken)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 large cauliflower head
- 1 can coconut milk (240ml)
Marination Mixture
- ยฝ cup coconut milk
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ยฝ tsp salt
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Curry Gravy/ Sauce
- 2 - 3 tbsp vegan butter or oil
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 clove
- 4 cardamom
- ยฝ inch cinnamon
- 5 - 6 black pepper
- 1 tbsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- ยฝ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp red chilli powder
- 3 - 4 medium onion roughly chopped
- 2 medium tomato roughly chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- ยพ cup water
- 3 tbsp coriander leaves finely chopped
- 1 tsp ginger garlic paste 4 garlic pods + ยฝ inch ginger
- Rest of the coconut milk
Instructions
- Take a large head cauliflower.
- Clean and wash 3 /4 times.
- Pat dry with a kitchen towel.
- Now cut into bite-sized florets.
- If florets are large, cut into 2 - 3 pieces.
- In a bowl take ยฝ can coconut milk.
- Add salt, paprika, garlic powder and onion powder.
- Add in the chopped cauliflower. Mix it well.
- Leave them for 20 minutes to marinate in the spices.
- Then spread the florets on a baking tray.
- Bake for 20 minutes at 375 - 400 degrees
Making Curry Gravy/ Sauce
- Heat a pan. Add vegan butter/ oil.
- Put in whole spices (bayleaf, cardamom, cinnamon, peppers, cloves) and saute for 15 - 20 seconds or till fragrant.
- Add chopped onion, ginger garlic (paste/ minced)
- Saute on medium flame till onions turn translucent.
- Add ground spices and give it a nice stir.
- Now add chopped tomatoes and saute till soft and starts releasing oil on sides.
- Turn off heat and allow it to cool down slightly.
- Then transfer the cooked spices into a blender and puree it to smooth paste.
- Transfer the pureed curry paste to pot/ pan again.
- Add ยฝ - ยพ cup water and bring it to simmer.
- Now add rest of the coconut milk.
- Next, add in the roasted cauliflower and simmer for 5 - 7 minutes more.
- Turn off heat once the gravy thickens to the desired consistency.
- Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Emmeline
I just love this idea, saving to try soon! Love a good butter chicken but I also love cauliflower - so I think this might just be a dream come true ๐
Jacqueline Meldrum
This looks utterly delicious. I'm saving this to try. Is it ok to be craving this at 10 in the morning?
Sam G
Itโs currently 8:37am and I am debating heading to the store to grab the ingredients. Iโm right there with ya! ๐
Ipsa Faujdar
Aww, that's so sweet. Lots of love. Hope you enjoyed the curry ๐
David
Yum! I love this idea! I actually frequently serve a roasted cauliflower with Indian butter chicken -- this recipes combines the two ideas in one tasty recipe!
Dannii
What a great vegan twist on butter chicken. I can't wait to try it.
Jen
You photos have my stomach growling so this just shot to the top of my "to make" list! Thanks for sharing.
Katya
Just made this- it was delicious. Left the cauliflower in the oven for significantly longer tripled the red pepper powder but it was a great recipe
Ipsa Faujdar
thank you.glad u liked it ๐
Selina Jamal
This is a keeper recipe. The kids love it too. as itโs just the right spice level for them.
I usually get two days worth of meals out of this recipe by reheating and adding chickpeas to the sauce the next day and then putting it in wraps with some basmati rice (which is also a great way to freeze leftovers for lunches).
Thanks so much for this wonderfully impressive yet easy recipe.
Ipsa Faujdar
Oh I'm so glad to hear that. Thank you so much.