Creamy Cauliflower Stew with coconut milk is a hearty and delicious. It is a simple dish flavored with garlic and coarsely pepper.
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Here is a very easy vegan cauliflower stew/ curry made with coconut milk. It is an hearty recipe that is great can be served with bread or either rice or roti.
Most Indian style stews either have tomato or coconut or both as base. But this recipe uses just coconut milk and it is absolutely scrumptious.
The gravy in this curry/ stew is made with coconut milk, there are no ground spices or masalas.
The addition of garlic and freshly ground peppercorns adds a ton of flavor. You will be surprised that these 2 simple everyday ingredients can pack that much punch.
Recipe is adapted from Raghavan Iyer's 660 Curries. That is my curry bible and I highly recommend it to every Indian food or curry enthusiasts.
What I love about this recipe
- Easy to make
- Needs just a few ingredients
- Packed with flavor
- Creamy & delicious
- Eat as is or serve with either rice or roti
Ingredients
This recipe does not need any ground spices or masalas. It is a very simple dish with minimum ingredients.
Veggies:
- Cauliflower - fresh or frozen would work
- Tomato - freshly chopped preferred but feel free to use canned diced tomatoes
- Spinach - either fresh or frozen would work in the recipe
Other ingredients:
- Coconut milk - either full fat or low fat canned coconut milk
- Black Peppercorns
- Garlic
- Curry leaves - fresh or dried.
- Mustard seeds - either black or brown mustard will work
- Cumin seeds
Instructions
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat; add the mustard and cumin seeds. Once the seeds start to pop, add the cauliflower and cook till the florets are lightly browned, about 2~4 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute or until garlic is cooked through and smells fragrant.
Stir in the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Add salt, pepper and curry leaves.
Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and cook till cauliflower is tender, about 8~10 minutes.
In the meantime, coarsely grind the peppercorns and add to the stew. Add the tomato and cook till the tomato is tender, about 3~5 minutes. Add the spinach into the pan and cook till the leaves have wilted, about 3~4 minutes.
Tips
- Frozen cauliflower can be added to the pan directly - no need to thaw. Cook for a little longer until the florets start to brown around the edges.
- Shake the can of coconut milk well before using.
- Freshly grind peppercorn in a mortar or pestle or in a spice grinder.
Few more cauliflower recipes to try
Few more hearty dishes to try
- Potato lentil stew
- Vegetarian three bean stew
- Palak Badam Shorba
- Thukpa (Arunachal Pradesh noodle soup)
- Moroccan Chickpea soup
I love hearing from you!! If you've tried this or any other recipe on the blog, tag in your creations on Instagram @cook_hideout. I love sharing photos when people make my recipes. You can use the hashtag #cookshideout too.
Cauliflower Stew with Coconut Milk
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Canola or Coconut Oil
- 1 tsp Mustard seeds
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds
- 3 cups Cauliflower, cut into 1" florets
- 3~4 Garlic cloves, finely minced
- 1 can 13.5oz Coconut milk (about 1½cups)
- 1 tsp Pepper, coarsely ground
- 8~10 curry leaves
- 3 cups Baby Spinach or fresh spinach, well rinsed and chopped (or ½ cup of frozen spinach)
- 1 Large Tomato, chopped
- To taste salt
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large sauce pan over medium high heat; add the mustard and cumin seeds. Once the seeds start to pop, add the cauliflower and cook till the florets are lightly browned, about 2~4 minutes.
- Add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute or until garlic is cooked through and smells fragrant.
- Stir in the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Add salt, pepper and curry leaves.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and cook till cauliflower is tender, about 8~10 minutes.
- Add the spinach into the pan and cook till the leaves have wilted, about 5~6 minutes.
- Add the tomato and cook till the tomato is tender, about 3~5 minutes. Serve with rice or roti.
Notes
- Frozen cauliflower can be added to the pan directly - no need to thaw. Cook for a little longer until the florets start to brown around the edges.
- Shake the can of coconut milk well before using.
- Freshly grind peppercorn in a mortar or pestle or in a spice grinder.
Usha
My curries usually tomato and yogurt/milk based. I wanted to try something with coconut milk for this theme but stuck the regular ones. This one has minimal spices yet a delicious!! Bookmarking the recipe and I think I should order that cook book.
Srividhya Gopalakrishnan
I love the flavor of coconut milk curries. That 660 curry book sounds interesting. Got to check it out. Love the chunky cauliflower soup. Perfect for this weather.
Suma Gandlur
It is on similar lines as Kerala's ishtoo, right? Simple flavors to please the not so spice loving palates. 🙂
Amara
Such a flavourful yet healthy stew Pavani, I don't use much coconut milk as base but your recipe is tempting me. Will try it soon. That book sounds interesting, will have to order it.
Rajani
Great to see you here Pavani, it’s been quite a while since we did BM at the same time :-). Coming to 660 Curries, it’s a great book and a favorite of mine. I wish it had some pictures, but the stepwise description and simple recipes really make up for the lack of pictures. This is a lot in line with how my mother used to make stew. Instead of cauliflower, it’s potatoes and onions. That’s the main difference.
Harini Rupanagudi
Simple and very interesting base with coconut milk, Pavani. Bookmarked to try for sure.
Sandhya Ramakrishnan
I make a mixed vegetable stew (kerala style) that is very similar to this one. I love the idea of making cauliflower stew. My boys love cauliflower and they would be so happy when I make this.
Sushma Pinjala
I love coconut milk bases curries. It adds nice and unique flavor and taste to the dish. Perfectly done stew.
Byron Thomas
Oh, this looks beautifully delicious! I love the addition of the coconut milk to this stew -that's just a great idea! I often make a cauliflower curry that has coconut milk, so I know how well the two pair together. I'm pinning to make later this week!
Leanne - Crumb Top Baking
I never thought to make a coconut milk based gravy. That's a great idea! We love cauliflower in our house and this stew looks so hearty. Perfect for cold fall days!
Srivalli Jetti
That's surely a simple and quick one to make Pavani. After reading the intro I realize that we often keep our curry base so general!