Instant Pot Whole Roasted Cauliflower served in a thick creamy Indian Masala Sauce. A perfect centerpiece for the holiday season, this dish is sure to wow the crowd. Exotic yet easy to make. Can be made ahead of time.Vegan & Gluten-Free but full of rich flavors and aroma. Video Recipe.
Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Indian Masala
Also known as Gobhi Musallam, a vegetarian Mughlai dish from northern India. Traditionally the whole cauliflower head is packed with dry spices and then covered with a rich, flavorful sauce and then roasted. However, my grandma often pressure cooked it on a stove stop pressure cooker, since it was much easier. She made it on special occasions and it was always a show stopper. Never failed to impress a crowd. So for a long time I wanted to make this recipe in the Instant Pot and I am so happy that I finally got around it. Yay!!! Prep the sauce, pressure cook the cauliflower, plate it and your done.
BTW incase you are wondering if the Instant Pot is really worth it if you already have a pressure cooker?Or may be you already have an Instant Pot and haven’t gotten started yet, make sure you check out our post Is the Instant Pot Worth it? We share several reasons why we love our Instant Pot and how to master it with just 3 buttons along with some really easy recipes.
Traditionally this Cauliflower head is packed with stuffed with spices before it’s cooked with the sauce. Back home in India, Cauliflower heads are not to tight, given the warm temperatures. However here in the US, cauliflower heads are very tight. It becomes hard to separate to stuff the spices while making sure the rest of the cauliflower is intact. So to make sure the cooked cauliflower head isn’t bland, the trick is to flavor the sauce with lots of spices and herbs.
The Sauce
The sauce is a thick, rich in flavors and aroma and has a burst of flavors. Typically it’s an onion tomato based gravy. The onion tomato saute is flavored with Indian spices like cumin seeds, black cardamom, green cardamoms, cloves, black peppercorns, bay leaves, coriander powder, turmeric, red chilli powder, garam masala and some ginger and garlic. Don’t let the ingredient list discourage you to try this exotic cauliflower dish. It might seem a lot but you will realized in the video that it’s a pretty straight forward recipe.
If you don’t have a few spices readily available and you really do want to try making this Whole Roasted Cauliflower, you can use our minimalist Tikka Masala Sauce or the 30 Minute India Masala Curry too. The sauces can be made ahead of time and frozen too. I typically make a large batch and freeze it. Makes life so much easy when hosting a large crowd.
Trust me, it’s all about the sauce in this recipe. Ideally the sauce should be a little more flavorful than you typically would make any Indian sauce, because when you pour it over the pressure cooked cauliflower, the flavors will get diluted to just the perfect taste. For the thick creamy texture, it’s best to add cashews soaked in almond milk. You could either use an immersion blender to make a paste of the onion tomato mixture with the cashews and almond milk. Since I don’t have one, I used my Ninja to make a paste. Slowly add hot water to make sure the paste is really fine and smooth and give it another blitz. You don’t want it to be coarse.
How to cook a whole roasted cauliflower in Instant Pot?
This is the big question! When I wanted to make this recipe, this was exactly the question I was looking up online. Afterall this is a crucial element of the recipe. To get the perfectly cooked cauliflower head without it being to mushy or breaking apart. After a couple failed experiments I finally got the hang of the perfect way to cook a whole cauliflower head in an Instant Pot. It turned out exactly how I wanted it should be, soft and tender but yet a little firm, if you know what I mean.
The trick here is to thoroughly wash the cauliflower head, trim off the leaves and the bottom. Pour some water into the inner pot. Add some salt, it keeps your cauliflower from being bland. Fold the trivet and place the Whole cauliflower on the trivet. Pressure cook on high pressure for 00:00 minutes. What happens is the time taken to build the pressure inside is enough for the cauliflower to cook. Also another important step to get the perfectly cooked cauliflower head is – the quick release before the cauliflowers gets mushy. This is a fail-proof recipe and you can’t go wrong with this for sure!
Plating
Once the sauce and the cauliflower are ready, you can start plating. Keep the Cauliflower in a serving tray or plate. Pour some of the sauce on top of it until it’s completely covered. You will want to keep some sauce for later when serving. At this point you can choose either choose to broil the cauliflower for a couple minutes or just garnish it as is. If you broil the cauliflower, pour the remainder of the sauce on the cauliflower and then garnish it. For garnishing, I have used roasted sesame seeds, garam masala and chopped cilantro. Slice it like a pie and serve.
Tips and Tricks
- When pressure cooking the cauliflower, it’s always a good idea to salt in the water so the cauliflower doesn’t taste bland.
- You could you a colored cauliflower if you’d like.
- The number of people will determine the size of the cauliflower or multiple cauliflowers
- You could also use cauliflower florets instead of the whole cauliflower for this recipe. Just add the sauce to the florets.
What do I serve it with?
It goes really well with any Indian flatbreads like naans, kulchas, parathas, tandori rotis or rice. Check out our post on How to make Perfect Rice in the IP everytime, here. You can choose to make just plan rice with it or the Indian style Zeera(cumin) rice. You can find both recipes here.
Video Recipe
Instant Pot Whole Roasted Cauliflower in Indian Masala
Whole roasted cauliflower, served with a thick creamy Indian Masala Sauce. A perfect centerpiece for the holiday season, this dish is sure to wow the crowd. Exotic yet easy to make. Can be made ahead of time.Vegan & Gluten-Free but full of rich flavors and aroma.
Ingredients
- 1 whole cauliflower head
- 2 large onions, diced
- 5 tomatoes, diced
- 1/2 cup cashews, soaked in 1/2 cup almond milk
- 1 tsp ginger chopped
- 1 tsp garlic copped
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 black cardamoms
- 1 green cardamom
- 3 cloves
- 4 peppercorn
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp red chilly powder (optional)
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 1 tbsp cilantro, chopped
- 1 tsp roasted sesame seeds (optional)
- Salt to taste
- 2 cups water
Instructions
- Heat Instant Pot to “Saute.” Add oil, cumin seeds, cloves, peppercorns, black cardamoms, green cardamom and bay leaf. Stir.
- Add onions. Add ginger garlic. Add salt and cook until onions are translucent.
- Add in the spices at this point, coriander powder, chilly powder, and turmeric. Cook for another 2 minutes while stirring occasionally.
- Add in the chopped tomatoes and mix well. Cook until the the oil starts separating. Remove the bay leaf and black cardamoms.
- If you have an immersion blender, throw in the cashews and milk and blend into a smooth paste. Slow add hot water..
- If you don thave an immersion blender than make a use your blender to make a smooth paste, adding hot water slowly.
- Now thoroughly wash the cauliflower and remove the bottom.
- Add the trivet and a cup of water to the Instant Pot.
- Set Instant Pot to High “Pressure” for 00:00 minutes. Turn valve to Seal. When the timer goes off, turn valve to Vent to Quick release the pressure.
- Keep Instant Pot open and allow the cauliflower to cool.
- Plate the Cauliflower in a serving dish and pour half the sauce made earlier.
- You may choose to broil the dressed cauliflower for a couple minutes.
- Garnish it with cilantro, garam masala and roasted sesame seeds.
Freezer Meal
- To make ahead or turn into a freezer meal: Make as directed and then pour into a glass jar or glass container. Freeze or refrigerate until ready to eat.
- Thaw it if frozen or warm it up in a sauce pan before use.
Notes
Can be served with Rice or any Indian flatbread.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 161Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 150mgCarbohydrates: 16gFiber: 5gSugar: 6gProtein: 5g
All information and tools presented and written within this site are intended for informational purposes only. We are not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information on TheBellyRulesTheMind.net should only be used as a general guideline. This information is provided as a courtesy and there is no guarantee that the information will be completely accurate. Even though we try to provide accurate nutritional information to the best of our ability, these figures should still be considered estimates.
Marylou Wagster says
Can I use a can of diced tomatoes without the juice instead of the 5 tomatoes?
Soniya Saluja says
Hi Marylou, yes you can.
Tina Alison says
I made this tonight. First, I thought the recipe instructions were somewhat unclear. Some of the comments cleared up a few things, but instructions like “remove the cloves and bay leaf before blending” should be in the recipe. also, my stick blender didn’t make the sauce smooth enough, so I had to use my blender. I liked the dish, but I have to say that it was blander than I expected given all of the different spices that were included. I only ended up using a cup of water. I think 2 cups would have made the sauce too thin.
TheBellyRulesTheMind says
Hi Tina,
Appreciate your feedback, thank you. Sorry to hear you found this to be a little bland. It shouldn’t be the case. It’s definitely not like the hot Indian dishes, this one has mild flavors. For next time may be you can add more garam masala.
karen says
i too would like to know how much almond milk do you use
Soniya Saluja says
We love (so delicious almond milk)
Tabitha says
It says set instapot for 00:00 minutes. Um…how long is it really supposed to cook?
Anvita says
Hi Tabitha, so its cooks just till the pressure builds up. Hope’s this helps :)
Wynesome says
Do I use cardamon seeds or pods?
Soniya Saluja says
Wynesome, you can use seeds as you need to blend eveything in the blender later . hope this helps!
Esther says
Hi, just made it for dinner (will be served soon). Looks and smells delicious. A bit confused re cooking instructions. Thought there was a reason for using an instant pot but seems like the onion/tomato/etc simply needs to be blended with the soaked cashews once done saute. That’s what I did so hopefully that’s right :-).
Bett says
Where is the video?
Nicola says
How much almond milk do you use?
Aly says
Amount per serving question…how would I calculate this if I’m using a smaller cauliflower head? My smaller one made maybe four decent sized portions and I had sauce left over, so 8 yield wasn’t true for me, but that means the amount per serving isn’t spot on. I know most calories come from the sauce, so could you just tell me the calories associated with the sauce and the total yield (in cups) for the sauce? I can look up the cauliflower easier. Thank you!
Jennifer says
Do you take out the bay leaf, cardamom pods and/or cloves before blending?
Anvita says
Hi Jennifer, yes we did. Will edit the recipes and mention it in notes. Do share your feedback with us after you make it. Xoxo
Debra says
Great idea to do this in the insta pot. Oven space is at a premium on the holidays. I’m excited about that sauce too…so many great things to pour that over.
Hope Rusnak says
How long do you soak the cashews for?
TheBellyRulesTheMind says
Rusnak, soak for a minimum of 20 minutes atleast.
Nelofar Shaik says
WOnderful recipe. Full Cauliflower… who would have thought of it. Thanks for new ideas.
Ina says
Maybe this is a dumb question – do you take the sauce out of the IP before adding the water and cauli head/trivet? Or are you adding the water to the sauce? If taking sauce out then just pouring over the cooked cauliflower, I think I’d rather just make the sauce on the stove while the cauliflower cooks in the IP? Thank you.
Soniya Saluja says
Hi Ina , the sauce is made separately from the cauliflower. You can certainly make it outside the instant pot, however the objective of doing it in instant pot is to reduce the guess work and baby sitting out of cooking by following instructions. Feel free to perpare it outside if you are comfortable with the same.
Laura says
Quick question. Do you really set the timer for 00:00 minutes?
Soniya Saluja says
Hi Laura, YES :) 0 minutes.. the cauliflower Cooks in the time the IP comes to pressure .
preethi says
Tried it out for Thanksgiving and it was amazing!! Tasted really great and cauliflower was amazing!
TheBellyRulesTheMind says
Preethi,
So glad to hear that it turned out well and you liked it. Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. Appreciate it.
Kristy B says
I love roasted cauliflower! I’ve never tried it with Indian Masala – it sounds delicious!
TheBellyRulesTheMind says
Go for it Kristy, you won;t be disappointed at all. It’s always a hit.
Patricia @ Grab a Plate says
Wow! What great flavors! This is definitely a cauli recipe I can get my husband to enjoy! Adding it to my list!
TheBellyRulesTheMind says
Patricia, I have yet to come across someone who hasn’t enjoyed this recipe. when you try it, do let us know your thoughts on it.
Charlotte says
Wow this looks delicious and so easy to make. I am definitely keeping a note of this. Thanks for sharing.
TheBellyRulesTheMind says
Charlotte, what I love about this is that it looks exotic but is super easy to make. :)
Kasey Ma says
Wow this looks spectacular! I’ve never cooked a cauliflower like this before.
Kasey Ma
TheStyleWright.com
TheBellyRulesTheMind says
Kasey, this is from the era when the Mughals rules India. Typically it was whole red meat served with this sauce but the vegetarians came up with this tweak :)
Jen Seislove says
The flavor profile here is just awesome and I can’t believe it is made in an instant pot. Saved!
TheBellyRulesTheMind says
Yup, looks exotic but made in an IP, easy peasy. Try it if you get a chance.
Heidi Middleton says
Thank so much for this delicious looking recipe. I am keto (not always the strictest) and its really hard to find fast meals that taste great. I just got an IP and its been even harder to find Keto IP recipes. Im a working mom and an hour commute so time is precious. I am pinning this now so I can make it for supper next week!
TheBellyRulesTheMind says
Hiedi, I can related to the limitation with Keto IP recipes and the time constraint. Hope you get around trying this recipe and when you do, we would love to hear what did you think of it. So don;t forget to come back and leave us a comment. :)
Ingrid says
With all that herbal seasoning I know the INSTANT POT WHOLE ROASTED CAULIFLOWER would taste good. But is it used as in place of meat?
♡Stephanie Stebbins♡ (@stephsteb) says
Oh, my goodness! This looks so delicious and easy to make. I am definitely going to give it a try!
Whitney says
This recipe is right up my alley! Trying soon!
KP says
This was so yummy! Totally hit the spot when all I wanted was cauliflower. I made it without the cashews but added a bit of almond milk. I may or may not have eaten a whole head of cauliflower at 10am.
TheBellyRulesTheMind says
KP, you took this cauliflower to a whole new level by having it for breakfast. Glad to hear that. I know of people who tried it on special occasions as a meal and you just made it for breakfast when you were under the weather :) glad you liked it and thank you for taking the time to share your review. Appreciate it.
Teresa says
Totally want to make this! Looks delicious!
TheBellyRulesTheMind says
Sure thing Teresa. Go for it and let us know what did you think of it.
blissfulmomboss says
I absolutely love Cauliflower! I would try this recipe with the Cauliflower florets. Yummy post!
TheBellyRulesTheMind says
Awesome, I’ve made it with cauliflower florets too and love that version too. Hope you like it.
Kathryn says
This sounds delicious, I’m a huge cauliflower fan. I’ll have to try it.
TheBellyRulesTheMind says
Sure thing. Try it and let us know what did you think of it? we would love to hear back from you.
Adriana Renee says
I’ve been obsessed with cooking with cauliflower and this looks so yummy!
TheBellyRulesTheMind says
Yup, lately cauliflower is like the new kale. Ofcourse because of it’s benefits. Who doesn’t like a healthy yummy cauliflower recipe.
Lam Bam says
This is super yummy 😋 and nice . Thank you for sharing.
TheBellyRulesTheMind says
Thank you. Hope you get to try it sometime.