Last Updated on December 22, 2025 by Chef Mireille
After not participating in Valli’s CCC Challenge for several weeks, I am back to cooking recipes from my cookbook and food magazine collection again. This recipe from Sandeep Chatterjee’s The Spice Trail is a delicious way for my books to welcome me back. Every recipe I have made from this book is a winner and this one was no exception. I only made a few minor changes to the quantities of the spices for my personal preference.
We are today traveling to Kashmir, the Indian state of rolling green hills, also known as the Switzerland of the East, with the fragrant scent of ginger, cardamom and fennel in this vegetable preparation.
If you’re looking for some new entries to your Thanksgiving table, this makes an out of the ordinary side dish to compliment your turkey. It’s a dry curry where the Middle Eastern influence on Kashmir cuisine is evident.
Kashmiri Indian Cauliflower Ingredients
- ghee
- cauliflower
- onion
- ginger
- ground coriander
- red chile powder (cayenne pepper)
- tomatoes
- fennel seed
- ground ginger
- cardamom seeds
- salt
- fresh cilantro
How to make Kashmiri Style Cauliflower with Fennel
In a dry skillet, toast the fennel seed and cardamom seed until fragrant. Cool and then grind using a spice/coffee grinder to a fine powder. Set aside.
Heat 2 tablespoons of ghee in a deep skillet. Add cauliflower and saute for 7-8 minutes on medium high heat. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Add the remaining ghee and add onion. Saute until golden. Add chopped ginger, coriander, chile powder, 1 tablespoon water and tomatoes. Cook for 5 minutes on medium heat.
Add cauliflower, cover and cook another 5 minutes.
Add fennel-cardamom powder, ground ginger and salt.
Cook for another 2 minutes. Add cilantro and stir to combine.
Indian Cauliflower Side Dish
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons ghee
- 14 oz. cauliflower florets about 3/4 of an average sized head
- 1 large onion chopped
- 2 tablespoons ginger chopped
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 3/4 teaspoon red chile powder cayenne pepper
- 2 tomatoes chopped
- 2 teaspoons fennel seed
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon cardamom seeds
- salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons cilantro chopped
Instructions
- In a dry skillet, toast the fennel seed and cardamom seed until fragrant. Cool and then grind using a spice/coffee grinder to a fine powder. Set aside.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of ghee in a deep skillet. Add cauliflower and saute for 7-8 minutes on medium high heat. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Add the remaining ghee and add onion. Saute until golden. Add chopped ginger, coriander, chile powder, 1 tablespoon water and tomatoes. Cook for 5 minutes on medium heat.
- Add cauliflower, cover and cook another 5 minutes.
- Add fennel-cardamom powder, ground ginger and salt.
- Cook for another 2 minutes. Add cilantro and stir to combine.
Nutrition
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Mireille, great low carb dish! How about adding it to the Food on Friday: Low Carb collection over at Carole's Chatter? Cheers
Mir, your clicks are tempting me to try this dish right away. With all those spices, this is such a flavorful side dish..
The cauliflower surely looks very inviting..good to see another recipe from a cookbook!
I can almost smell the aroma of fennel & cardamom 🙂 looks delicious, Mir!
Wow this looks amazing and sounds packed with flavour! Thanks for hooking up with November's round of Simple and in Season 🙂