Henry's Coconut Curry Cauliflower Mash recipe (that he learned from a book)

11:43 am - Thu, Jan 17, 2013: 25 notes

Henry’s Coconut Curry Cauliflower Mash recipe (that he learned from a book)

This dish is super tasty and takes about 25 minutes to make. It’s from the book The 4-Hour Chef. I’ve successfully prepared it 4 times now, so this is all from memory.

This dish serves 2 adults, and makes a nice side dish.

HERE’S WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

Equipment:

1 medium-sized pot w/lid, something that can hold 3 qts (For example, I use this combo cooker)
Oven mitt
Fork
Food scale (optional)

Ingredients:

1 floret of cauliflower (medium-large size)
1 can of coconut milk (I recommend Thai Kitchen brand, unsweetened)
A handful of cashews (ideally, roasted and unsalted)
Salt
Curry powder
Cinnamon (optional)

PREP (stuff you can do ahead of time):

1) Rip up that floret of cauliflower. Pick off the leaves, then wrap the floret in a towel and use your big muscles to crush it until the stem comes off. Then pick out smaller florets. You want about 1.5 lbs in little white cauliflower trees. (Weigh that on a food scale, if you’ve got one, but most florets yield about this much.) Put the florets in the pot.

2) Open your can of coconut milk and stir it with a spoon. This stuff is yogurty at the top and liquid at the bottom. Carefully stir it so it’s all consistent, then spoon about half the coconut milk into the pot. (Put some plastic wrap over the top of that can and put it in the fridge. This recipe’s going to be so good you’ll want to make it again soon, so save the can for that.)

3) Crush up about 35 grams of cashews with your bare hands, you savage. This is roughly one handful, if you don’t have a kitchen scale. Put the cashews in the pot.

4) Add a little bit of water in the pot. About 2 teaspoons. Just enough so you have some liquid in the pot for when we boil this mofo later.

PICKUP (the part where you actually cook):

1) Put the pot on the stove. Set the stove to high, until the water / coconut milk mixture comes to a boil. After you’ve reached a boil, lower the heat to low/medium so the contents are simmering. You want the liquid in there to look vaguely pissed off but not quite boiling.

2) Cover the pot and leave it simmering for 20 minutes.

3) Remove the pot from heat, then take the lid off it. Add 2 three-finger pinches of salt and 1 three-finger pinch of curry powder. (A three finger pinch is you pinching the spice with your thumb, pointer, and index fingers. I don’t even know what this translates to in teaspoons or whatever, but it’s made it easier to remember the recipe.)

4) Put on an oven mitt and mash that cauliflower with a fork! (Seriously, wear the oven mitt, then hold the fork in your oven mitt hand.) The cauliflower should mash up nicely. I recommend holding the pot steady with your other hand, so get another oven mitt if you’re super rich and just have tons and tons of oven mitts from all your money.

5) Transfer the contents of the pot to a serving bowl, if you’re feeling fancy. Before eating, top your serving with a little bit of cinnamon. It adds a nice bit of sweetness.

6) Enjoy. Seriously, I got the motherfucking chills the first time I ate this, because holy shit I created this deliciousness myself.