Colm O'Gorman's Roast Cauliflower with Tahini and Zhug

Zhug is a beautiful Yemeni chili sauce that has previously featured in this column. It used it in my falafel recipe a few months ago, if you have not tried that yet, you really must, it is wonderful. As exotic as the name sounds, zhug is very quick and easy to make, and uses very widely available ingredients. 

It is magnificent with this roast cauliflower dish, especially when paired with my creamy tahini sauce and topped off with fresh pomegranate seeds and more freshly chopped herbs. This dish is an irresistible combination of creamy, sweet, spicy, fresh, and savoury flavours that is guaranteed to delight.

The only ingredient I use here that some people might not be familiar with is sumac. Sumac is a Middle Eastern spice, made from the dried and ground berries of the sumac flower. Though it looks a little like chilli powder or flakes, it is a tangy rather than a ‘hot’ spice with a sour, acidic flavour a little like lemon juice. It is fairly widely available, Tesco for example stock an own-brand version. It adds a lovely flavour to the spice rub I use in this recipe.

Make sure you use as fresh a head of cauliflower as possible and remember that the size of the cauliflower may mean that you need to adjust the cooking time. The method below will help you with that, and this is an easy recipe, so you should find it simple enough to make. 

Roast Cauliflower with Tahini and Zhug

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

Have this as a vegetarian main course or serve it with my Harissa Chicken or any other of my Middle Eastern dishes - you will find all of those recipes on ieFood!

Servings

2

Preparation Time

 25 mins

Cooking Time

 50 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 15 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Middle Eastern

Ingredients

• Cauliflower

• 1 head of cauliflower

• 2 tbsp Olive oil

• 1 tsp cumin

• 1 tsp ground coriander

• 1 tsp sumac

• Juice of half a lemon

• Flaky sea salt to season

• 6-8 cherry tomatoes

• Tahini sauce

• 125g tahini

• 3 cloves garlic

• 50 ml of fresh lemon juice

• Pinch of sea salt

• Pinch of ground cumin

• 1 tsp honey

• 1-2 ice cubes

• Zhug

• 2 green chillies

• 2 cloves garlic

• ¼ tsp ground cumin

• ¼ tsp ground coriander

• ¼ tsp salt

• Juice of half a lemon

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• To serve

• Fresh chopped coriander and/or flat leaf parsley

• Fresh pomegranate seeds

Method

1. Trim all the leaves from the cauliflower and cut away the bottom of the stalk to leave a flat base. Wash and dry the cauliflower and stand it on a microwave prove plate or dish. Mix together the cumin, coriander and sumac. Drizzle about a tablespoon of olive oil over the cauliflower, using a pastry brush to work it in and cover as much of the surface as possible. Squeeze over the juice of half a lemon and scatter the mixed spices over the surface of the cauliflower, spreading them as evenly as possible.

2. Microwave on full power for twelve minutes. Check to see if the cauliflower is cooked through by sliding a skewer or small sharp knife into the centre. If the knife slides though easily, it is done. This will obviously depend upon the size of the head of cauliflower, so if it needs more time, pop it back in into the microwave for another three minutes and then check it again.

3. Once it is done in the microwave, drizzle over another tablespoon of olive oil, and sprinkle over some flaky sea salt. Transfer the cauliflower to an air fryer or preheated oven and roast it at 180 Celsius for twenty or until it is golden and toasted all over. This will take a little longer in an oven than in an air fryer; you will need to allow thirty minutes if using an oven.

4. While the cauliflower is roasting, make your sauces.

5. To make the tahini sauce, peel and roughly chop the garlic. Add that and the lemon juice to a blender and blitz for a minute. Next, add the tahini, cumin, coriander, and salt and blitz to combine everything well. At this stage you will likely find that the tahini seizes up and the mixture is very thick. Add an ice cube or two and blitz them in. If the sauce is still a little thick, you can add a few tablespoons of cold water and blitz that in until you have a very creamy, smooth sauce with a easy pouring consistency.

6. To make the zhuk, wash and remove the tops of the chillies. I like my chilli sauce to have some punch, so I leave the stalks and seeds in the chillies. Discard those if you want a milder sauce. Roughly chop the chillies and put them into a small food processor or blender, I use my Nutribullet for this which works perfectly for portions of this size. Peel and roughly chop the garlic, and add to the blender. Wash and add the herbs, along with the spices, salt, lemon juice and olive oil. Blitz to a smooth sauce and set aside.

7. When the cauliflower is almost done, roast the cherry tomatoes in the air fryer or oven on a separate tray until they are soft and just about popping out of their skins. They will need about five minutes to roast perfectly.

8. When the Cauliflower is roasted and golden all over, remove it from the roasting dish and place it on a serving platter. Roughly chop some fresh coriander or flat leaf parsley and prepare some fresh pomegranate seeds. Arrange the roasted tomatoes around the base of the cauliflower. Spoon generous amounts of the tahini sauce over the top of the cauliflower. Now spoon over some of the zhug. Add lots of pomegranate seeds and finish with the fresh chopped herbs.