Since discovering Midnight Tokyo Diner on Netflix, we don’t often do a lot of meal planning per se, we just grab what is fresh and what looks delicious, plus a good helping of pantry staples and favorites. It has been working for us, especially during the lockdown, so there’s no point in changing anything. Right?
So of course when I set eyes on a beautiful head of cauliflower, I knew what I wanted to do with it…and I just had to do some Jedi mind trick to get the Hubs to request cauliflower steaks. Turns out, great minds think a lot and I got to keep my Jedi tricks for another day. His request was simple: cauliflower steaks, seasoned for any style of cuisine I chose.
Gotta love a man who knows you!
The cauliflower steaks will take the longest to cook so I recommend that you season it first and set aside to let the flavors marinate. If you want to be a lazy vegan, may I suggest a good Jerk seasoning spice pack. It’ll make sure you have all the right ingredients to make it authentic without having to worry about it. But if you want to use individual ingredients, here you go: cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, ginger, scallion, scotch bonnet peppers, garlic and thyme.
I used vegan yogurt instead of oil to marinate the cauliflower, letting it get good and flavorful while I prepped the vegetables and grains.
When you’re ready, cook the cauliflower steaks on 180ºC for 30 minutes, adding more time if it’s not cooked all the way through.
The hardest part is out of the way…yay!
For the veggies you can keep it simple. Onion, bell peppers, garlic, ginger and chickpeas. I used a splash of oil (about 5 grams) for the veggies and chickpeas, otherwise I didn’t want to muddy up the flavor profile.
Finish it off with a grain of your choice, I chose bulgur because it has surpassed rice as my favorite short grain in recent years. And that’s it. Pretty easy, right?
Now all that’s left is to plate everything up!
You might notice the eggplant on the left and you’re probably wondering, doesn’t she dislike eggplant…a lot? Yes, I do. A lot.
But this wasn’t my plate, ti was the Hubs and he LOVES it, so I scored it and added the rest of the veggiegurt-jerk seasoning and popped it in the oven. It was a tad overcooked so I suggest adding it during the last 15 minutes of cooking because–DUH–cauliflower and eggplant doesn’t have the same cook time.
Next time you think there’s nothing to be done with cauliflower, think again. This is a quick and easy vegan dinner that you can cook again and again, switching up the seasoning and the grains to go from Jerk spice to Mexican, Indian, French or whatever else floats your boat.
This vegan meal was delicious, it was healthy and well-balanced.
Enjoy!
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