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Royal Cauliflower Roast With Almond Cream

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Whole roasted cauliflower on a sheet pan with chopped cilantro.
Photo by Nik Sharma

This is an elegant entrée based on the creamy shahi (which means “royal”) dishes of the Moghul empire. It commands attention on a swanky dinner table. Bring the whole roasted cauliflower out after all the guests are seated, and use your best serving platter to present it as dramatically as possible.

This recipe was excerpted from ‘Veg-table' by Nik Sharma, one of our top cookbooks of 2023. Buy the full book on Amazon. Get more cauliflower recipes here →

What you’ll need

Cooks' Note

Blanch your own almonds or buy them blanched. Either way, the skins must be removed, or the sauce won’t taste as nice.

Be careful when maneuvering the cauliflower in the hot water; don’t be too rough with it, as you risk damaging the florets.

If you own a rotating cake stand, use it here. Place the cauliflower on it and rotate while you brush on the sauce.

Everyone salts their water differently when boiling vegetables or pasta. I use 1 teaspoon fine sea salt for every 4½ cups water. Adjust the amount of salt depending on the volume of water used. The salt helps with tenderizing the vegetables, but it also gets into those tiny nooks and crannies inside the cauliflower, helping with seasoning.

Romanesco is a lovely and quite dramatic alternative to cauliflower. 

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