Brown Butter Cauliflower and Pea Makhani

Name: Brown Butter Cauliflower and Pea Makhani
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 15 unsalted, raw cashews; Sliced red chilli (optional), to garnish; ½ tbsp grated (shredded) root ginger; ½ tbsp coriander seeds; 1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves, plus extra to finish; 300 g (10½ oz/1½ cups) peas, fresh or frozen; ½ tsp Kashmiri chilli powder; 2-4 whole dried Kashmiri chillies; ½ tsp cumin seeds; 600 g (1 lb 5 oz) cauliflower, broken into bite-sized florets; 1 tbsp concentrated tomato purée (paste); 2 green cardamom pods, seeds ground, to finish; 2 tbsp light brown sugar; 4 green cardamom pods, cracked; 500 g (1 lb 2 oz/scant 2¼ cups) tomato passata (strained tomatoes); 1 onion, cut into rough chunks; 100 ml (3½ fl oz/scant ½ cup) double (heavy) cream, plus extra to garnish; ¼ tsp ground turmeric; 1½ tbsp Garam Masala; 1½ tsp salt; 1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander (cilantro), to garnish; 1 tbsp crushed garlic, about 3 cloves; 150 g (5¼ oz/scant ¾ cup) unsalted butter; 500 ml (17 fl oz/2 cups) hot water

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Easy
Ready in
1 hr

Appears in

Sanjana Feasts

By Sanjana Modha

Published 2024

About

Butter chicken who? Kundan Lal Gujral of Moti Mahal fame’s signature creation of butter chicken is undisputedly one of India’s most popular dishes. Here’s my vegetarian take on the Delhi wonder-turned-global-icon, murgh makhani, using brown butter, cauliflower florets and peas. One sure-fire way to make butter taste more buttery is to brown it, initiating a Maillard reaction. Without getting too scientific, the process of cooking the butter to the point of golden toastiness causes a series