This is basically  a makhani or butter chicken sauce with a whole roasted Romesco cauliflower on top. You can also use a regular cauliflower, either way it’s delicious! The sauce is spicy and creamy (without the normal amount of butter and cream. You could use it for a variety of dishes and it’s really easy to make.

The whole roaste dromasco gets nice and crispy with the deep colour giving a fire roasted flavour that works so well with the makhani sauce. You can easily control the spice level of this sauce by toning down the chilli. You do you –  as always.

Serve the sauce in a generous circle on the base of the plate with the whole roasted cauliflower or romesco on top for a show stopping look, or you can cut the cauliflower/romesco up and serve the pieces piled on top or stirred through the sauce.

You can keep things more fructose friednly in the sauce by using the green part of spring onion and skipping the garlic. Remember this is not going to be the most authrntic recipe on the internet as I make adjustments to suit m,y dietary preferences and taste preferences. The whole point of butter chicken is meant to be loads of butter and cream for a silky sauce, this sauce will be less luscious as I’ve used milk to temper it rather than cream. It also makes it lower in fat. Use a plant based milk to make it vegan.

Serves 4

Ingredients

One whole romesco cauliflower

1 Tbs extra virgin oil

1 tsp ground cuming

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp smoked paprika

Sauce

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbs ginger

2 tsps garlic

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground chilli powder (increase to 1 tsp to make it hotter)

2 medium – large tomatoes, roughly chopped

1/2 cup milk of choice

1 tsp maple syrup

1 tsp dried fenugreek

Directions

Preheat oven to 190 degrees celsius. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.

Place the romesco in the centre to the tray and drizzle with oil and sprinkle over the spices. Season with a generous pinch of salt. Place in the preheated oven and roast for 20 minutes, turn the temperature down to 170 degrees and roast for another 30 minutes.

Meanwhile: make the sauce: heat a medium high sided fry pan over medium heat. Once hot add the oil, then the onion saute for one minute then add the garlic, ginger and spices. Saute for a further 2 minutes or until the onion has softened and the rest are fragrant.

Add the tomatoes and stir to break down. Turn the heat down and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the colour of the sauce has darkened to a deeper red. Remove from the heat and transfer to your blender, or use a stick blender in a high sided bowl. Puree for 30 seconds and then add the maple syrup, fenugreek and slowly add the milk – use just 1/4 cup at first and add the rest 1 Tbs at a time until you have a smooth well blended sauce. Add salt to taste. Return to your pan just before you’re ready to serve and bring to a simmer.

Serve the sauce on the base of your serving dish and place the tender whole roasted romesco cauliflower on top. Serve wedges of the cauliflower with plenty of the sauce.

HH. x