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Home » Entrées » Vegetable Dishes

Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini Sauce and Pomegranate Molasses

Mar 15, 2018 · 21 Comments

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Crispy Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini Sauce and Pomegranate Molasses. You won't find a better tasting cauliflower than this. A must try! | ifoodblogger.com

Cauliflower is always best served cooked rather than raw, and my favorite has been roasted cauliflower. I normally roast it with some olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and Parmesan cheese but when visiting a local Middle Eastern restaurant I was inspired by their version of cauliflower served with tahini sauce and sprinkled with ruby red pomegranate seeds and pomegranate molasses. Their cauliflower dish tasted very different from what I was accustomed to, yet so delicious that I got determined to recreate it at home.

Jumping a little bit ahead, let me tell you how my roasted cauliflower turned out. In one word - delicious! The nutty, creamy tahini sauce really complemented the toasty, crunchy texture of cauliflower. The sweet and tart taste of pomegranate molasses added a new dimension and brought balance to the dish. The crunch from pomegranate seeds was a great addition as well, it was almost like eating a salad with crunchy croutons in it. It really is hard to mess up this dish, unless you overcook the cauliflower or screw up the tahini sauce. I will definitely be making this dish again, for snacks and as an accompaniment to main dishes.

Roasted cauliflower ingredients

A little bit of asking about what goes in their tahini sauce and some questions about the dish - they were quite reluctant to share their secrets - yielded a general idea and I was well on my way to replicate it.

Most, or perhaps all, of the ingredients in this recipe are commonly available locally.  Pomegranate molasses is something that sounded quite intimidating at first, but in reality they are quite easy to buy locally, if you have a Middle Eastern supermarket nearby, from Amazon, or make from scratch. Making tahini sauce turned out to be super simple as well as soon as I procured tahini, aka sesame seed butter, from a local health food store.

How to roast cauliflower?

The trick to making crunchy on the outside, beautifully caramelized roasted cauliflower is not cut it into small pieces. You want large florets. Bite-size and roasted cauliflower cannot be in the same sentence. I've seen so many cauliflower recipes out there that would be great otherwise, but they fail miserably because of  this little detail. Cut them too small and they will dry out before getting perfectly caramelized. And if you pull them out once they are done - they won't be sufficiently brown. I also like adding some paprika which gives cauliflower an amazing color.

Top down view of crispy browned cauliflower pieces on a blue plate with black rim.

Another trick is high temperature. I could never get my cauliflower crispy and caramelized enough at 375F, which many recipes recommend. At 425F on the other hand, I always get great results. That's the temperature that I used in this recipe as well.

Close up of golden brown roasted cauliflower florets.
Crispy Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini Sauce and Pomegranate Molasses. You won't find a better tasting cauliflower than this. A must try! | ifoodblogger.com

Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini Sauce and Pomegranate Molasses

5 from 8 votes
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes
Total Time: 1 hour hour
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 205kcal
Author: Victor

Ingredients

For the roasted cauliflower:

  • 1 head cauliflower ( cut into large florets)
  • 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1 1/2 tsp Hungarian paprika

For the tahini sauce:

  • 1 garlic clove (pressed)
  • Juice of 1/2 a lemon
  • 3 Tbsp tahini
  • 1 Tbsp water (plus more as needed)
  • 2 Tbsp Greek yogurt (heaping)
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt (optional, to taste)
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper (optional, to taste)

For the garnish:

  • 2 Tbsp pomegranate molasses
  • 2 Tbsp pomegranate seeds
  • 1 tsp fresh mint leaves (finely chopped)
  • 1 Tbsp parsley leaves (finely chopped)
  • juice of 1/2 a lemon

Instructions

To make the roasted cauliflower:

  • Preheat oven to 425F.
  • In a large bowl, toss the cauliflower florets with the olive oil, paprika, salt and pepper until evenly coated.
  • Transfer the cauliflower onto a large baking sheet and spread around in a single layer. Avoid crowding as that will impact roasting.
  • Roast until crispy and golden brown, about 45 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking. Remove cauliflower from the oven and transfer to a serving platter and let cool.
  • To make the tahini sauce:
  • In a small bowl, combine the garlic, tahini and lemon juice. The sauce will thicken at this point so you will need to add water. Start with one tablespoon and mix well. You are looking for yogurt like consistency. Add more water as needed to achieve the right consistency. Add the Greek yogurt and mix well. Taste for salt and pepper and add as needed. Set aside.
  • When the roasted cauliflower has cooled down, sprinkle with the tahini sauce, lemon juice, pomegranate molasses, chopped mint and parsley leaves, and serve immediately.

Nutrition

Calories: 205kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 600mg | Potassium: 159mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 80IU | Vitamin C: 15.6mg | Calcium: 30mg | Iron: 0.7mg

 

 

 

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    Recipe Rating




     

  1. Henri says

    July 04, 2023 at 1:13 am

    5 stars
    Made it many times. Everybody loves it, even kids. Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply
    • victor says

      July 04, 2023 at 8:52 am

      Enjoy!

      Reply
  2. Henri says

    March 10, 2023 at 6:16 pm

    5 stars
    Thought it sounded good, but when I was making it thought "not enough to coat the cauliflower" and wondering if it would be good. Was very pleasantly surprised. It's delicious! Will be looking for more recipes from this site. Thanks.

    Reply
    • victor says

      March 12, 2023 at 9:31 am

      You are very welcome. Enjoy!

      Reply
  3. Chris says

    March 17, 2022 at 8:34 pm

    5 stars
    Easy recipe that is absolutely delicious! Followed it to the letter.
    The dressing will be used for other dishes as well!

    Reply
  4. Pauline says

    August 05, 2021 at 5:06 am

    I love cauliflower & this was so good & different to other recipes I’ve tried - Delicious👍

    Reply
  5. Nathalie Larsen says

    June 22, 2021 at 3:04 am

    Do you have any suggestions for mains it should go with? Cant wait to make it!

    Reply
    • victor says

      June 24, 2021 at 8:04 am

      Hi Nathalie, that's an interesting question. I would keep it light, grilled or pan-seared chicken, lamb or fish with roasted vegetables or grains such as wild rice, or any rice, quinoa, buckwheat, etc. Mediterranean-style meatballs or stuffed peppers/tomatoes... Something like that.

      Reply
  6. Renee says

    October 30, 2020 at 7:58 am

    Pepper??? 1/2 tsp???? Just says pepper-thx

    Reply
    • victor says

      October 31, 2020 at 11:46 am

      Yes, 1/2 tsp.

      Reply
  7. Alain says

    September 22, 2020 at 8:48 pm

    5 stars
    excellent recipe ! very delicious

    Reply
  8. D says

    May 19, 2020 at 12:24 pm

    Hi,

    The recipe sounds delicious however I would like to correct your use of caramelize. To caramelize a vegetable means to cook slow and low to bring out the natural sugars to make it light brown And sweet (like caramel). I’ve found small pieces of cauliflower to roast wonderfully when cooked slow and low to achieve that sweet flavor. This would not be crunchy however.

    Reply
    • victor says

      May 19, 2020 at 5:39 pm

      Thanks for clarifying. I indeed used an incorrect term.

      Reply
    • Ritecz Orsolya says

      June 27, 2020 at 3:06 pm

      5 stars
      Dear Victor
      I tasted this dish in a restaurant
      And searched for the recepie
      I found yours and it's truly a superb recepie
      And the detailed explanation is a bonus
      I am already searching for an other one of your recepie

      Reply
      • victor says

        June 28, 2020 at 9:30 am

        Happy to hear that. Enjoy!

  9. Zo says

    January 08, 2019 at 4:31 pm

    Sounds delicious. I'm making this for dinner tonight. You mention paprika in the ingredients but I do not see it in the prep instructions. I assume you add to the roasting ingredients?

    Reply
    • victor says

      January 08, 2019 at 5:04 pm

      Yes, and I fixed it. Sorry about that.

      Reply
  10. Connie says

    March 30, 2018 at 10:33 am

    5 stars
    So I'm just discovering the wonder of roasted vegetables and this recipe was a treat to find. Truly excellent recipe! I have to admit that I skipped the molasses as I could not find them, still, this dish was amazing! Thank you!

    Reply
    • victor says

      March 30, 2018 at 11:18 am

      Thanks for the feedback, Connie. You can use balsamic vinegar in place of molasses, if you want that sweetness.

      Reply
  11. Cathy says

    March 24, 2018 at 11:07 am

    5 stars
    We used an entire head and didn't change anything else. Next time we'll do two heads and double it. So yummy!

    Reply
  12. Karen says

    March 22, 2018 at 6:32 pm

    5 stars
    OMG!!!! I will never make cauliflower any other way….love it!!!

    Reply

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