Golden Cauliflower Quinoa Curry Is an Easy Weeknight Hit
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I grew up hearing that breakfast was the most important meal of the day, but from recent observation I’m pretty sure the most important meal of the day is lunch. If breakfast is a cup of coffee and a Twizzler, the day can still be saved by a glass meal prep container full of something healthful and delicious, like this cauliflower curry made with quinoa and turmeric. It’s bright gold and chock-full of vegetables, and it smells utterly fantastic. If you put it in the office microwave, everyone will stop and say, “Ooh, what do you have?”
This golden cauliflower curry takes no time, and very little chopping at all. Start by sautéing diced onion, garlic, and ginger in coconut oil for about five minutes until the vegetables have softened slightly. Then mix in ground turmeric, cumin, curry powder, salt, and pepper, and stir them while they fry so the vegetables get evenly covered in the spices. If the spices start to stick to the bottom of the pan or the pot gets too dry, add a splash of water and scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the pan.
Then add a cup of uncooked quinoa, a can of crushed tomatoes, and some vegetable stock to the pan, along with coconut milk and cauliflower florets. Mix all the ingredients up a bit to combine them, bring the pot to a boil, and then cover the pot and let the mixture simmer until the quinoa is fully cooked and the cauliflower is tender. That should take about 15 to 20 minutes, and you should lift the cover to stir the pot on occasion, just to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom. If you’d like some extra vegetables, the author says you can go ahead and add mushrooms, bell peppers, broccoli, or whatever you have at hand into the pot at this point. With a recipe like this, the more vegetables, the better.
Once the quinoa and cauliflower are fully cooked, stir in several cups of spinach. The heat from the quinoa will wilt the spinach, and it’s ready to be served. Top it with fresh cilantro if you like. If you have that thing where cilantro tastes like soap to you, top it with chopped parsley instead. Or just pile it into a meal-prep container and prepare for lunchroom plaudits. It’s gluten-free, vegan, and hearty enough to keep you full all afternoon.
Get the recipe: Golden Cauliflower Quinoa Curry from A Saucy Kitchen
