My husband loves this easy zucchini and cauliflower curry and requests it at least once a week. I will vary the vegetables depending on what’s available and what we are in the mood for. I’ve made this curry with eggplant, green beans and potatoes. I’ve made it with pumpkin and kale. I’ve also made it with cubed paneer, green peppers and baby corn. This recipe is versatile!
A make ahead tip: Because I make this curry so often (did I mention we love it?!), I’ve started making the curry sauce in bulk and freezing it. It’s easy. Once you are done with step 5 in the recipe below, just spoon the curry sauce into ice cube trays and freeze it. When solid, put the frozen curry cubes in freezer bags and return to the freezer.
You now have a delicious vegetarian, vegan curry base sitting in your freezer to pull out anytime and heat up along with vegetables of your choice!
I prefer the taste and convenience of canned tomatoes for this recipe. If you want to use fresh tomatoes, core them, and puree them in a blender. You will need 3 cups freshly pureed tomatoes + about 1 cup water. If the fresh tomatoes make a tart curry, you will want to add a little sugar at the end of cooking.
My favorite tomatoes to use for this curry:
- Muir Glen fire roasted diced tomatoes
- San Marzano crushed tomatoes
- Del Monte diced tomates with basil, garlic and oregano
And the curry powder I used is Frontier Indian curry powder from Whole Foods, which is mild, very fragrant, tasty and has a hint of lemon peel. If you use a stronger curry powder, you may want to use less.
Easy Zucchini and Cauliflower Curry Recipe
serves 3-4
Ingredients
1 ½ tablespoons Oil
½ teaspoon Cumin seeds, optional
A pinch of asafetida, optional
½ large red onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons curry powder
One 14 oz can of diced or crushed tomatoes. I like San Marzano or Muir Glen.
2 zucchinis, about 12 oz
6 cauliflower florets (about 1 heaping cup of florets)
1 carrot
¼ cup coconut milk
Chopped cilantro or mint for garnish
Method
1.Heat oil in large sauté pan. Add cumin seeds if using. When they sizzle, add the asafetida if using.
2. Immediately add chopped onions. Cook on medium heat till the onions are lightly browned.
3. While the onions are cooking, puree the tomatoes. Place the canned tomatoes in a blender. Fill the empty tomato can with water, pour this into the blender as well. Puree well. You should have about 30 oz of puree now. Set aside.
4. When the onions are browned, add minced garlic and stir for 30 seconds.
5. Add curry powder and stir another 10 seconds. Then pour in pureed tomatoes and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-high, partially cover the pan with a lid and let the sauce simmer for about 15 minutes or till the sauce thickens a little. Careful, the sauce will bubble and splatter.
6. While the sauce is cooking, prepare the vegetables. Cut the zucchini into 3/4th inch rounds. Peel and cut the carrot into ½ inch pieces. Break up the cauliflower into florets.
7. Toss the vegetables in the curry sauce, cover and cook till the zucchini is soft, about 10 minutes.
Turn off heat and stir in the coconut milk. For an extra creamy curry, add 1/2 cup coconut milk instead of the 1/4 stated in this recipe.
Garnish with chopped cilantro or mint. Serve hot with brown rice or roti or pita bread. My grandmothers multi colored raita goes well with this dish.
I love how the sauce hugs the veggies…. beautiful colour too
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Sala @ Veggie Belly Reply:
August 20th, 2012 at 9:15 am
“sauce hugs the veggies”…wow what a great way to put it! thanks! i do enjoy thick curry sauces that coat the veggies nicely
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A delightful curry! It looks so tasty and beautiful.
Cheers,
Rosa
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I love the sound of this recipe. I’m a fan of canned tomatoes but the (R)oomie isn’t. This recipe is definitely going to be stalked.
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hey i am new to reading blogs and i think it will be easier for newbies like me if the pics of steps were placed alongside text..what i did was read a step n then scroll up.. btw,i am already a fan of ur photography skills and great recipes. m surely gonna try my hand at cooking.
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This seriously looks so delicious!
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I love the idea of emergency frozen curry sauce! Who doesn’t have curry emergencies, right?
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Simply delicious!
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Is it possible to use canned or jars of tomato sauce instead of blending the canned tomatoes? I only say this because this week I’m INCREDIBLY short of time and skipping a step would be SO helpful. haha!
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Sala @ Veggie Belly Reply:
August 20th, 2012 at 7:56 pm
I prefer using diced or crushed tomatoes. Puréed should work too. Or simply throw in the diced tomatoes without pureeing for a chunky curry
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Erin Renee Reply:
August 22nd, 2012 at 6:20 am
Oooo…that last one sounds super good. I like chunky soups and curries anyway. Great…now I’m drooling all over my new dress…haha! Thanks for the tip!
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Love the freezing part.. I should try that!!
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coconut milk, cilantro, yum! Thanks for this freezable recipe. A great idea to have it on hand!
Keep writing…
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I made this last weekend, but in the crockpot on high for 4 hours. I did add the entire can of coconut milk and next time I think I will add cashews for some crunch. I love the Frontier Curry Powder from Whole Foods. Just the right amount of flavors with a very mild spice. Thanks for the recipe!
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Thats a great tip about freezing the sauce in a ice cube tray. I usually find it messy using freezer bags and its a pain to thaw out, so I’m definitely looking forward to trying this!
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Tried this receipe. Turned out yummy. Thanks for such a wonderful receipe.
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Will the cauliflower fully cook thru during that 10 minute time window after adding to the tomato based sauce?
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Sala @ Veggie Belly Reply:
September 18th, 2012 at 9:09 am
It will. But for some reason if it’s not cooked enough, you can always put the lid back on and cook it a few more minutes
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I love the idea about freezing the sauce in ice cube trays. If you were to do that and make this recipe how many cubes would you use?
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Sala @ Veggie Belly Reply:
October 1st, 2012 at 9:14 am
I’ve never counted the cubes! I make the sauce as per this recipe and if I freeze it, I simply use all of it, continuing to follow this recipe.
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Thank you so much! We love this recipe, good bye jarred sauces.
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Lovely looking dish – that’s why I tried it. Tasted wonderful as well. Friends came over and to impress them I fixed this. Was a hit to say the least. Great and healthy recipe.
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i tried this recipe… it creamy and yummy.. a must try for all…. thanks for sharing
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austin Reply:
December 18th, 2012 at 10:54 am
thats what she said
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I made the curry tonight for dinner. I thought it was lacking a bit of flavor. I opted to use 1/2 c of light coconut milk and I also left out the optional spices. I used cumin powder instead of cumin seeds. Would leaving out the optional spice take away from the flavor? I added cashews for some crunch and topped it with cilantro and a dollop of greek yogurt.
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super yummy curry. must try for all
do post some more recipes like tis.
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I tried this – green beans, diced tomatoes, coriander seeds instead of your ingredients because that is what I have in my garden right now and can only say thanks for the recipe! You’re bookmarked and I’ll be back – often.
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What kind of oil do you recommend using in this recipe?
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Sala @ Veggie Belly Reply:
February 11th, 2014 at 10:09 pm
Vegetable or olive oil
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andrea Reply:
March 8th, 2014 at 9:37 am
I just made it per the recipe, didn’t blend the tomatoes, because the ones i buy are mostly pureed, and I’m always short on time.
I used coconut oil.
Thanks for a great easy recipe. I look forward to swapping out other veggies. Are there any that you tried that didn’t go well?
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Sala @ Veggie Belly Reply:
March 8th, 2014 at 9:40 am
Potatoes and eggplant will be good. Or you could try this recipe with fried okra.
This healthy recipe was delicious. It was my first time making curry and it turned out really well. I’ll definitely make it again and share this with friends. It’s great for vegetarians and vegans. Thanks!
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