Monica’s Indian Express: Spice Rubbed Purple Cauliflower

I am so pleased to share with you the next recipe in my series: Monica’s Indian Express: Simple & Sassy Weeknight Dishes.

So I have to admit that I am a bigger fan of purple foods than my family is. Purple potatoes, purple cauliflower .. I like them all. The kids have been slow to love them. (I guess this is why the purple ketchup failed!)  It took some convincing the boys but they did finally try this roasted purple cauliflower and, I am happy to report, it was a success. I purchased these at the Crystal City FRESHFARM markets. I simply seasoned the cauliflower with a lovely spice mix and a little olive oil and roasted it in a hot oven (400 degrees) for about 30 minutes. The trick here is to let the cauliflower crisp up without burning and it is hard to tell because you cannot really “see” when the purple cauliflower begins to brown! You will have to watch the texture and see that it starts to loose moisture and almost looks like it is shriveling up.. that means it is getting crisp!

I used this lovely spice mix (shown in the photo above) by the BBQ Queens – The Spud Rub. The Spud Rub contains onion powder for a little heat, lemon pepper for sassiness, Hungarian paprika for color (a classic barbecue maneuver), smoked paprika for just a little smoky flavor, cumin for its earthy quality, and sea salt to bring it all together.

Judith Fertig, one of the BBQ Queens, had this to say about the rub when I asked her about it, “Your e-mail got me to thinking about how American barbecue spice mixtures or rubs are similar to spice mixtures in Indian food.  With barbecue, you start with a somewhat sweet, raw food like potatoes or beef.  For the Flame-Licked Fingerlings with Spud Rub, we knew that the potatoes were going to grill over direct heat, so we didn’t want sugar in the rub, as that would make the potatoes burn.  However, if we were going to slow smoke a potato or a beef brisket at lower temperatures, we’d probably do a rub with brown sugar to help counteract the natural bitterness of smoke.”